The Khoekhoe are the herding peoples of southern Africa, who kept sheep and cattle [IC]. They arrived in the Cape about 2,000 years ago [IC]. In this part of the Overberg, the two main Khoekhoe peoples were the Chainoqua and the Hessequa [IC]. When Georg Schmidt opened his school at Baviaanskloof in 1738, his students were Khoekhoe, among them Africo and Vehettge (Magdalena) [IC].
What the letters in square brackets mean
Facts on this page are followed by a tag that shows where they come from.
- [IC] Independently Corroborated. Confirmed by at least two sources that do not depend on each other, or by an official record.
- [MS] Mission-Sourced. Comes from the records or statements of one side only. For the peoples of the early Cape, almost every written record was made by outsiders: Dutch East India Company officials, travellers, and missionaries. None of it was written by the people it describes.
- [TBV] To Be Verified. Seems likely, but nobody has confirmed it yet.
A living heritage
Descendants of the Khoekhoe and San live in the valley today, and many hold their own knowledge of this history. This page is written from outside sources, and it will be corrected and added to as descendants give their own accounts. See Have your say below.
At a glance
| Also called | Khoikhoi, Khoi. The old colonial name “Hottentot” is now considered offensive [IC]. |
| Way of life | Herding cattle and sheep, moving with the seasons [IC] |
| In the valley | The Chainoqua and the Hessequa, whose kraals stood near present-day Genadendal and Greyton [IC] |
| Language | Khoekhoegowab and related languages, with click consonants [IC] |
The name
“Khoekhoe” (also written Khoikhoi) means “people of people”, or “real people” [IC]. It was a name of respect the herders used for themselves, and it set them apart from the San hunter-gatherers [IC]. The colonial name “Hottentot” is now considered offensive [IC]. The combined term “Khoisan”, for Khoekhoe and San together, was coined by scholars in the 1920s, and some San object to being grouped with the Khoekhoe [IC].
Way of life
The Khoekhoe moved their herds with the seasons between grazing grounds [IC]. They lived in kraals of matjieshuise, houses of reed mats that could be taken down and carried [IC]. Each kraal had a headman, and a camp could hold from 20 to more than 100 houses [IC]. Cattle were the measure of wealth [IC]. Land was held by the group as a whole, and nobody could divide it up for themselves [IC].
The Khoekhoe of the western Cape formed several peoples, each with its own leaders and grazing lands. Among them were the Cochoqua, the Goringhaiqua, the Chainoqua, and the Hessequa [IC].
Meeting the colony
Portuguese sailors described large Khoekhoe herds at the Cape in 1488 [IC]. In 1510 Khoekhoe warriors defeated a Portuguese force at the Salt River and killed its commander, Francisco de Almeida [IC].
The Dutch East India Company set up its station at the Cape in 1652 [IC]. It needed Khoekhoe cattle, and at first it traded for them [IC]. As colonists took grazing land, conflict followed. The Khoekhoe fought the colony in 1659 to 1660 and again in 1673 to 1677 [IC]. In the second war the Chainoqua sided with the Dutch against the Cochoqua [IC].
Smallpox, brought by ships, killed many Khoekhoe in 1713 and again in 1755 [IC]. By the end of the 1700s most Khoekhoe in the western Cape had lost their land and herds, and many worked on colonial farms [IC]. The Caledon Code of 1809 forced them to have a fixed home and carry a pass, until Ordinance 50 of 1828 gave free people of colour legal equality [IC].
Mission stations became one of the few places where Khoekhoe families could live on land of their own [TBV]. More than 1,000 Khoekhoe were living at Genadendal by 1806 [MS]. See History of the Valley.
Beyond the valley
The Khoekhoe story reaches far beyond this valley. Two parts of it are widely known in South Africa.
Sara Baartman (about 1789 to 1815) was a Khoekhoe woman born in the Gamtoos River valley in the Eastern Cape [IC]. She grew up on colonial farms and worked in households in Cape Town [IC]. In 1810 she was taken to London and shown to paying crowds as the “Hottentot Venus”, a name built on the colonial word explained above [IC]. In 1814 she was taken to Paris, where she died on 29 December 1815 [IC]. Her remains were kept and put on display in a Paris museum until the 1970s [IC]. President Mandela asked France to return them after 1994, and she was buried in South Africa on 9 August 2002 [IC]. She has no known link to this valley. She lived in the same years that Genadendal grew to more than 1,000 residents, and she left the Cape in 1810, the year after the Caledon Code [IC].
The Griqua treks. Adam Kok I (about 1710 to 1795) was born to an enslaved mother [IC]. He farmed and hunted at the edge of the colony near Piketberg, and the company gave him a staff of office [IC]. After he lost his farm in 1771, he and his followers were pushed north into Little Namaqualand and towards the Orange River [IC]. At the urging of missionaries, his people took the name Griqua [IC]. In 1861 to 1863 his great-grandson Adam Kok III led about 2,000 Griqua from Philippolis across the Drakensberg at Ongeluksnek, and founded Griqualand East, where Kokstad stands [IC].
Both stories are told in the documentary series The Khoekhoe Saga [IC].
Today
After 1994, many South Africans of Khoekhoe descent began to reclaim their history, languages, and names [IC]. The Traditional and Khoi-San Leadership Act of 2019 provides for Khoi-San communities and leaders to be recognised by the state for the first time [IC]. Many people of Khoekhoe descent in the Western Cape, including in this valley, belong to coloured communities, and some also identify as Khoi or KhoiSan [TBV].
In 2023 SABC2 showed The Khoekhoe Saga, a seven-part documentary series by a director who says he is of Khoekhoe descent [IC]. It sets out to answer the idea that the Khoekhoe died out, and follows descendants among the Hessequa, the Nama, and the Griqua [IC]. Speakers in the series describe a rise in Khoi and San revival over the past thirty years, with people classified as coloured rejecting that term and identifying with their Khoi and San roots [MS].
People in this story
- Soeswa and Dorha, leaders of the Chainoqua
- Stoffel Koekson, a leader Greyton’s histories call Hessequa
- Africo, Kupido and Willem, Christina, Magdalena, and Janneke Tikkuie, the first Khoekhoe Christians at Baviaanskloof
What is still open
- What Khoekhoe families in the valley remember of their own history and names.
- Which Khoekhoe place names in the valley survive, and what they mean.
- Whether any Khoi-San community in the valley has sought recognition under the 2019 Act.
- Whether any families in the valley trace their descent to the Griqua, or to the Khoekhoe of the Eastern Cape.
Have your say
If you are of Khoekhoe descent, or hold knowledge of this history, contact the moderators via How to Submit. Accounts are added in the words of the people who give them.
Related
References
- Wikipedia. Khoekhoe. The name, way of life, language, western Cape peoples, the Salt River battle, smallpox, and the revival after 1994.
- Wikipedia. Khoisan. The origin of the term, its critics, and the 2019 Act.
- Wikipedia. Khoikhoi–Dutch Wars. The wars of 1659 to 1660 and 1673 to 1677, and the Chainoqua alliance.
- Wikipedia. Dutch Cape Colony. Smallpox in 1713 and 1755.
- South African Government. Traditional and Khoi-San Leadership Act 3 of 2019. The law recognising Khoi-San communities and leaders.
- CapeNature. Riviersonderend Complex Protected Area Management Plan 2021 to 2031, section 2.5. Khoekhoe arrival, kraals, and land in the Overberg.
- Elphick, R. Khoikhoi and the Founding of White South Africa. The standard history of the Khoekhoe and the early Cape.
- Wikipedia. Sarah Baartman. Her birth, life in Cape Town, exhibition in London and Paris, death, and return in 2002.
- South African History Online. Sara “Saartjie” Baartman. Her life and the return of her remains.
- Camissa Museum. Adam Kok I (circa 1710 to 1795). His origins, farm, and move north.
- Daily Maverick. The Kok family and the longest trek in South Africa (21 April 2021). Adam Kok I, the staff of office, the move north, and the name Griqua.
- Wikipedia. Adam Kok III. The trek of 1861 to 1863 and Griqualand East.
- Wikipedia. Griqua people. The Kok family and the number who crossed the Drakensberg.
- SABC. SABC2 introduces The Khoekhoe Saga: The Legacy of the Forgotten People. The series, its director, and the descendants it follows.
- IOL. Legacy of the forgotten people to be unpacked on SABC2’s ‘The Khoekhoe Saga’. The series and the descendants it follows.