The Bushmen/San were the original inhabitants of Southern
Africa and are commonly known as Bushmen or San.
They were hunter-gatherers, hunting with bows and arrows,
trapping small animals and eating edible roots and berries.
They lived in rock shelters, in the open or in crude
shelters of twigs and grass or animal skins. They made
no pottery, rather using ostrich eggshells or animal
parts for storing and holding liquids. For these reasons,
animals and nature are central features in the Bushmen's
religious tradition, folklore, art and rituals. 
Because the Bushmen lived entirely of the land, they
had to be nomadic. The groups, however did not wander
aimlessly or relentlessly to pursue herds of antelope.
Instead, they followed a carefully planned annual route
that took them to different areas of plant food, as
season by season, these foods ripened.
These small mobile groups comprised of up to about 25
men, women and children. Certain times of the year groups
joined together for exchange of news and gifts, for
marriage arrangements and for social occasions.
There are many different Bushman peoples - they have
no collective name for themselves, and the terms 'Bushman',
'San', 'Basarwa' (in Botswana) are used. The term, 'bushman',
came from the Dutch term, 'bossiesman', which means
'bandit' or 'outlaw'. It was given to the Bushmen during
their long fight against colonial powers.
The Bushmen interpreted this as a proud and respected
reference to their valiant fight for freedom from domination
and colonization. Many now accept the terms Bushmen
or San. The San or Bushmen people of today are those
that speak San languages.
The principal San-speaking groups remaining today live
in Botswana, South Africa, Namibia and Angola. The South
African San are refugees from the Angolan and Namibian
wars. Their languages, although fundamentally similar,
vary considerably from place to place. San is primarily
a linguistic label, adopted by anthropologists to describe
people speaking these related but distinct languages.
These languages, all of which incorporate 'click' sounds
are represented in writing by symbols such as !, /,
//, ‡, |.
They have been oppressed and dispossessed by both Bantu
and European immigrant groups. The Bushmen were regarded
as not just animals, but as vermin, and history even
documents hunting of them for sport.
This has lead to the total population of the Bushmen
dropping to 100 000 throughout southern Africa.
