San people
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| ca. 160,000 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Namibia | 71,201 (2023 census) |
| Botswana | 63,500 |
| South Africa | ca. 7,000 |
| Angola | ca. 16,000 |
| Zimbabwe | 1,200 |
| Languages | |
| Languages of the Khoe, Kxʼa, and Tuu families, English, Portuguese, Afrikaans | |
| Religion | |
| San religion, Christianity | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Khoekhoe, Coloureds, Basters, Griqua, Sotho, Xhosa, Zulu, Swazi, Ndebele, Pedi, Tswana, Lozi | |
The San peoples (also Saan), or Bushmen, are the members of any of the indigenous hunter-gatherer cultures of southern Africa, and the oldest surviving cultures of the region. They are thought to have diverged from other humans 100,000 to 200,000 years ago. Their recent ancestral territories span Botswana, Namibia, Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, and South Africa.
The San speak, or their ancestors spoke, languages of the Khoe, Tuu, and Kxʼa language families, and can be defined as a people only in contrast to neighboring pastoralists such as the Khoekhoe and descendants of more recent waves of immigration such as the Bantu, Europeans, and South Asians.
In 2017, Botswana was home to approximately 63,500 San, making it the country with the highest proportion of San people at 2.8%. 71,201 San people were enumerated in Namibia in 2023, making it the country with the second highest proportion of San people at 2.4%.