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, people numbering about 55,000 mainly in Namibia and in W South Africa. The Khoikhoi have been called Hottentots by whites in South Africa. In language and in physical type the Khoikhoi appear to be related to the San (Bushmen), i.e.
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(self-designation, Khoi-Khoin, “the real people”), people living in the central and southern regions of Namibia (South West Africa; approximately 40,000 people, 1967) and in the Republic of South Africa (1,000 people). The people speak Hottentot languages, and many of them have a knowledge of Afrikaans. Most of the Hottentots are Protestants. The Hottentots and the Bushmen—the oldest inhabitants (nomadic livestock raisers) of South Africa—were driven back into the southwestern desert regions of the continent by the Bantu peoples (during their migration southward in Africa) and were exterminated to a considerable extent by the European colonizers from the 17th to the early 20th century. At the present time some of the Hottentots live on reservations and engage in livestock raising and farming; most work on farms and ranches of the Europeans and in the cities.