The survivors: the oldest people on the planet, the !kun san

The !Kung San, also called Bushmen, inhabit the Kalahari and Namib deserts in southwestern Africa and are currently a very ancient human remnant cornered in marginal locations in southern Africa.

They are part of the first and oldest civilization on the African continent, probably dating back more than 100,000 years.

In this sense, it can be said that the !Kung San are the true First Nations of the African continent (and perhaps of the planet).

In Botswana and Namibia there are cave paintings over 70,000 years old that show the presence of the San living at that time in the surroundings of the Kalahari Desert.

This surviving culture, which has been reduced by the advance of other African societies, is organized in small communities of about twenty or thirty people during the rainy periods, concentrating in greater numbers in the dry season.

They feed on small animals and gather plants, particularly the nuts of the “mongongo” tree (Schinziophyton rautanenii), which provide most of their food. This tree-like, deep-rooted, drought-resistant plant, which can reach a height of 15 to 20 meters, grows in the sandy soils of the Kalahari or Namib. Its fruits have a hard rind and can be stored and consumed after several months.

Like many traditional societies that live in close contact with nature and live in family and tribal communities, the !Kung San attach a deep spiritual meaning to the natural elements, individual freedom, and solidarity with other members of their group. . They are not hierarchical societies and therefore do not have bosses or subordinates. These characteristics are not exclusive to this Kalahari nation.

There were and are many others with similar attributes on all continents. Humans in small groups and in close dependence with nature tend to develop the best gregarious traits of the species: the coordination of individuals to obtain sustenance for all, respect for the freedom of group members, solidarity with weaker,

The invasion of South Africa by the advancing Bantu first, and European colonization later, resulted in the expulsion of the !Kung San from their ancestral lands and extreme economic and social marginalization.

Despite living in an unproductive environment, they have achieved year-round subsistence systems, and even, despite their marginal social status, they have come to provide tripe-based food to nearby Bantu populations in times of scarcity. .

Today the !Kung San are limited to the desert environments of the Kalahari and Namib deserts and their land and cultural rights are unknown by the governments of the countries in which they live, South Africa, Botswana and Namibia. They are hardly visited by anthropologists for their studies and by filmmakers to show the interesting curiosity that they represent for the urban cultures of the world.

Those who migrate to the cities become part of the poorest and most excluded sectors of the societies where they live. According to recent estimates, there are at least 95,000 people: 40,000 in Botswana, 33,000 in Namibia, 8,000 in Angola, 7,500 in the Republic of South Africa, 1,500 in Zambia and 500 in Zimbabwe.

The ǃkung or san are related to several African peoples, who speak some of the languages ​​classified as Khoisan that are characterized by incorporating clicking or clicking sounds. Among them, the Khoi Khoi, also known as Hottentots, stand out for their importance at the time of colonization, whose current population, also marginalized as the Kun San, amounts to about 60,000 people. Both the Kun San and the Khoi Khoi constitute an ethnic family of various peoples, related to each other, usually called the family Koisan.