Koranna people
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| Unknown c. 2 to 5 million |
|
| Regions with significant populations | |
| South Africa, Namibia | |
| Languages | |
| Afrikaans, English, Korana | |
| Religion | |
| various Protestant denominations, especially Dutch Calvinist ones | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Coloureds, Khoikhoi, Basters, Oorlam, Afrikaners |
The Griqua (/ˈɡriːkwə/; Afrikaans: Griekwa, sometimes incorrectly referred to as Korana or Koranna) are a subgroup of Southern Africa's heterogeneous and multiracial Coloured people, who have a unique origin in the early history of the Cape Colony.
Similar to the Trekboers, another Afrikaans-speaking group at the time, they originally populated the frontiers of the nascent Cape Colony. The men of their semi-nomadic society were mobilised into commando units of mounted gunmen, but chose to leave Dutch society. Also like the Boers, they migrated inland from the Cape, and established several states in what are now South Africa and Namibia.
During apartheid, the Griqua people were classified as Coloureds, as they were mostly descended from mixed-race unions between Dutch male colonists and Khoikhoi women, in addition to some Tswana and San women. They have since mostly integrated with other mixed-race populations in South Africa and Namibia.
The Griqua are a racially and culturally mixed people who are primarily descended from the intermarriages and sexual relations (sometimes rape) between European colonist men and primarily Khoikhoi women. Genetic studies of the 21st century have shown these people also had Tswana, San and Xhosa ancestry. Later the Europeans chose mixed-race women of the Khoikhoi, who were living in the Cape during the 17th and 18th centuries. As time went on, mixed-race people began to marry among themselves, establishing a distinct ethnic group that tended to be more assimilated to Dutch and European ways than tribal peoples in separated villages.
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Wikipedia