Khoisan and Boers[edit]

Political map of Southern Africa in 1885

The Khoisan lived in the southwestern Cape Province, where winter rainfall is plentiful. Earlier

Khoisan populations were absorbed by Bantu peoples, such as the Sotho and Nguni, but the Bantu
expansion stopped at the region with winter rainfall. Some Bantu languages have incorporated
the click consonant of the Khoisan languages. The Khoisan traded with their Bantu neighbors,
providing cattle, sheep, and hunted items. In return, their Bantu speaking neighbors traded copper,
iron, and tobacco.[205]
By the 16th century, the Dutch East India Company established a replenishing station at Table
Bay for restocking water and purchasing meat from the Khoikhoi. The Khoikhoi received copper,
iron, tobacco, and beads in exchange. In order to control the price of meat and stock and make
service more consistent, the Dutch established a permanent settlement at Table Bay in 1652. They
grew fresh fruit and vegetables and established a hospital for sick sailors. To increase produce, the
Dutch decided to increase the number of farms at Table Bay by encouraging
freeburgher boers (farmers) on lands worked initially by slaves from West Africa. The land was taken
from Khoikhoi grazing land, triggering the first Khoikhoi-Dutch war in 1659. No victors emerged, but
the Dutch assumed a "right of conquest" by which they claimed all of the cape. In a series of wars
pitting the Khoikhoi against each other, the Boers assumed all Khoikhoi land and claimed all their
cattle. The second Khoikoi-Dutch war (1673–1677) was a cattle raid. The Khoikhoi also died in
thousands from European diseases.[207]
By the 18th century, the cape colony had grown, with slaves coming
from Madagascar, Mozambique, and Indonesia. The settlement also started to expand northward,
but Khoikhoi resistance, raids, and guerrilla warfare slowed the expansion during the 18th century.
Boers who started to practice pastoralism were known as trekboers. A common source
of trekboer labor was orphan children who were captured during raids and whose parents had been
killed.[208]