Out of all the peoples of South Africa, only the San people are truly indigenous.As scientific and genetic studies have proven, the San people where the first modern humans. The nomadic San have lived in Southern Africa from around 100,000 BC, and may be the first humans to have occupied the area of the Kalahari Desert around 30,000 years ago. The San have left a lasting record of their life through thousands of paintings throughout this region of the world. San rock paintings are among the oldest forms of art found on the African continent. Originally it was thought that the paintings were simply random drawings of everyday events, but it is now believed to have been representations of cosmological and spiritual beliefs and occurrences.
Europeans first encountered the San people more than 500 years ago when Bartolomeu Dias set foot ashore on South African soil and encountered the Khoi-San people of Africa. It took another 10 to 20 years before trading with outside worlds began when Vasco da Gama traded directly with the San. As hunter-gatherers, the San live in highly mobile groups following the game/food around the country - with leadership among the San reserved for those who have lived within that group for a considerable time, who have achieved a respectable age, and who have desirable personal qualities.
The San, being nomadic, lack institutions, they have no chiefs or formal systems of leadership and individual decision-making is part of their culture. San are largely characterized by a belief in equal political, economic, social, and civil rights for all people and live in close rhythm with the land and its seasons, truly in touch with the power of nature. Surviving for thousands of years in the Kalahari, the San people have had to develop a keen awareness of their surroundings and have learned to benefit from a seemingly harsh environment. The same harsh environments in which the San have lived for thousands of years have led them to become expert botanists. They can readily identify several hundred different types of plant with different properties for healing and nutrition. In recent years, many San have begun to settle into larger groups around water sources, and many have also settled into the communities of their neighbors . Unfortunately, the San have often been regarded as second-class citizens during the course of history and have been displaced and victimized by each successive wave of immigrants from northern Africa and Europe. Efforts are underway as to assist the San people regain their identity and independence after pharmaceutical companies tried to commit bio-piracy by patenting the plants andknowledge of the San people without returning anything to them for their expert knowledge developed and honed over thousands of years. As Alex Wijeratna, a campaigner for ActionAid, the international development charity, has stated: "Corporations are scouring the globe looking to rip off traditional knowledge from some of poorest communities in the world. Consent or compensation is rarely given. The patent system needs urgent reform to protect the knowledge nurtured over generations by groups like the San."
