i know many of us remember the movie the gods must be crazy the 1980s
so-called comedy portrays a traveling son who encounters aspects from modern civilization
and made the world laugh at his people and his culture well this movie did not age well and
has received a lot of backlash because of the way the movie depicts the koisan and rightfully
so the movie depicted the whole community as a goofy crazy aloof and backward people
but here is their story the story that all africans need to know
in today's video we'll be taking a look at the real story of the khoisan people
one of the oldest people to walk the earth before we get into today's video be sure to like comment
and subscribe if you haven't already and hit the notification bell it really helps us out a lot
the koisan are the first people in southern africa genetic research shows that there are once the
largest group of humans huai-san is a combination of both the koi people and the sun people
who many people mistake to be the same but that is further from the truth a koikoi or a division
of the koisan ethnic group got it the koikoi people were nomads and maintained large herds
of cattle throughout the country while the sun was skilled hunters and gatherers who many considered
survival instincts are tremendous and they have great insight in how to live with nature in short
they are one with their environment they have comprehensive knowledge on the medicinal values
of plants and they use them to cure all kinds of ailments up to date the koikoi maintained large
herds of cattle in the cape region this provided a stable and balanced diet for the community
it also allowed them to live in larger groups than the sun people their hearts grazed in the
fertile valleys until the 19th to 20th century when it was affected by expansion of the white
settlers in the area another distinction between the koikoi and the sun is that the koikoi society
had both the rich and the poor as cattle which were owned by individuals were a sign of wealth
this was completely the opposite of the sun who shared everything equally amongst themselves
the koisan language is one of the most unique and beautiful languages
spoken on the continent as they have click sounds as a rule of thumb linguistics believe
that the more clicks a language has the older the language tends to be the language is so
unique that unesco has recognized khoi speaking culture as a world heritage meant to be preserved
speaking of preservation the quesan have been documenting their lives through art for centuries
sun art is often found inside caves and what might look like mystic figures at a glance is actually
art with deep and spiritual significance one of the most painted animals with the
most spiritual significance is the airland if you don't know what an island is it's a large antelope
the painting actually is a ceremonial act which in mind of the sun opens a portal into the spiritual
realm many of the paintings are done in reddish brown orange white yellow or black the koikoi were
the first african population to bear the branch of white invaders and have over the centuries faced a
lot of degradation and humane acts by the european and white settlers in the 18th and nineteenth
centuries hawkeye women were publicly displayed in zoos because of their presumed sexual powers
the europeans believed that the koikoi people were half human and half ape and used the women
to exhibit their so-called primal sexuality of africans this was not the only hardship
they had to face as they were also dispossessed exterminated and enslaved by the dutch invaders
as of now the quesan community is quickly becoming extinct and the men who once were the majority are
now less than one hundred thousand in botswana there's a law that the hunter-gatherers cannot
hunt anymore there are land disputes and in many cases they are being pushed off the land that
they used to hunt or considered sacred also just recently amazon planned a new african headquarters
in south africa but was met with a lot of opposition as it was previously ancestral land
if big corporations continue to grab their land where will they go they'll have nowhere to go
now i hope when you hear about the koisan your views of this majestic community have changed
they are not just a goofy and backward people as the movie portrays they are
one of the oldest people to walk the earth and with that hold many secrets we will never know
thank you for watching and if you haven't subscribed yet please do so and hit the
notification bell if you've enjoyed today's video be sure to give it a thumbs up also make sure to
watch our other videos we celebrate our mama africa we have the mysteries of africa series
and the amazing people of africa series it's been me linda from tuna travel be sure to head
on over to my channel and check it out until the next video stay safe and i'll see you then
you