The earliest representatives of South Africa’s diversity, at least the earliest that can be named were the San and Khoekhoe peoples, also know individually as the Bushmen and Hottentots or Khoikhoi. Both were residents in the southern tip of the continent for thousands of years before its written history began with the arrival of European seafarers. Before this, modern human beings had actually lived here for more than 100,000 years. They arrive in three different ships, well provided with seeds and with tools for agriculture and building. Their purpose was to establish a secure fort, to acquire cattle from the Khoikhoi and to develop a vegetable garden to provision passing Dutch ships.
San, the hunter-gather ranged widely over the area, along the southern and western costal strips, where capable grazing was to be found. So eventually the early European settlers first came into contact, much to the disadvantage of the Khoekhoe. In result of diseases such as smallpox that came from the Europeans, of assimilation with the settlers and mainly from the slaves who were to arrive in later years, the Kohekhoe have effectively disappeared as an identifiable group.
The settlers and slaves were of little import to Jan van Riebeeck and the 90 men who landed with him in 1652 at the Cape of Good Hope, under instructions by the Dutch East India Company to build a fort and develop a vegetable garden for the benefit of ships on the Eastern trade route. Their relationship with the Khoekhoe was initially one of bartering, but mutual animosity developed over issues such as cattle theft and the growing suspicion on the part of the Khoekhoe that Riebeeck’s outpost was becoming a threat to them.
The descendants of some of the Khoisan, slaves from elsewhere in Africa and the East, and white colonists formed the basis of the mixed-race group now known as the “coloured.” It is noteworthy that the slaves from the East brought a potent new ingredient to South Africa’s racial and cultural mix, especially with their religion of Islam.
This relates back to Guns, Germs & Steel in the way of going into depth about the cities first evolving and how different civilizations have conquered others. It strongly ties into relations with the type of peoples involved in Guns, Germs and Steel and the populations and diseases, like smallpox discussed. Obviously the agriculture and hunting aspect was a lot different in South Africa in the early days than it was with Eurasians civilization.
For More Information on the Earliest People in South Africa visit:
South African History http://www.sahistory.org.za/article/pre-1500. On this website you will find numerous resources on information about South Africa. Not only does it share great insight on the timeline of events and settlement that occurred in Africa but you can also learn about people biographies, arts & culture and much more.
South African Settlers http://www.geni.com/projects/South-African-Settlers-Dutch/9704 Here you’ll find a brief overview of the type of settlers devoted to South Africa. This website is great because it gives you a bit more different information than the other sites about South Africa.
South African History http://www.sahistory.org.za/article/pre-1500. On this website you will find numerous resources on information about South Africa. Not only does it share great insight on the timeline of events and settlement that occurred in Africa but you can also learn about people biographies, arts & culture and much more.
South African Settlers http://www.geni.com/projects/South-African-Settlers-Dutch/9704 Here you’ll find a brief overview of the type of settlers devoted to South Africa. This website is great because it gives you a bit more different information than the other sites about South Africa.
The map above depicts the expansion and diversity of Southern Africans and the British settlers in the 1820's.
The graph above of the population in 1970 is depicting
Image 1: Health; People living with HIV in South Africa (all ages, numbers)
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This 1657 map of the Cape of Good Hope above depicts the area where settlement was beginning to take hold just prior to the first war against Khoikhoi.
The graph above of the population in 2000 is depicting
Image 2: Education; Completion rate in primary schooling for boys.
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Image 3: Environment; Renewable water (cu meters per person)
The first Gapminder Image is an image depicting the total number of persons in all ages that are estimated to be infected by HIV, including those without symptoms, those sick from AIDs and those healthy due to the treatment of the HIV infection. The second Gapminder Image is an image of the rate of boys that completed their education in a primary school. The third Gapminder Image is an image depicting the actual quantity of renewable water resources per person per year in cubic meters. Renewable water resources refer to the average annual flow of rivers and recharge of groundwater generated from precipitation, which corresponds to the maximum theoretical yearly amount of water actually available for a country at a given moment and the resources shared with neighboring countries have been taken into account.