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The Hottentot is one of three tribes of South Africa which may be divided — Bantus, Hottentots, and Bushmen. When the first Europeans (the Portuguese) came to South Africa, they found what is now Cape Colony divided between Bushmen and Hottentots. The Bantu tribes were chiefly north of the Zambesi. The Bushmen were smaller than the Hottentots physically.

The origin of the Hottentots is a question which has given rise to much discussion. Several writers have suggested a North African origin; and Dr. Bleek has detected important points of similarity between the Hottentot language and those of North Africa; but it is too soon to build on these slight indications. Dr. Theal appears to suggest that the first Hottentots were a mixed race. "The probability seems to be that a party of intruding males of some slight brown or yellow race took to themselves women of Bushman blood, and thus gave origin to the people whom Europeans term Hottentots." This suggestion merely puts this question among the insoluble problems.
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