Who are we really? The Untold Genetic History of Southern Africa

Long before borders, before tribes, and before the idea of "race"—people were moving, mixing, and making families across Southern Africa. In this video, we go all the way back to 40,000 years ago, tracing how the San, Khoekhoe, East African pastoralists, and Bantu-speaking farmers shaped the people we are today.

Using cutting-edge genetic research, we uncover:

How the Khoe-San lived for tens of thousands of years

When the Bantu-speaking groups actually arrived in Southern Africa

Where and how mixing between groups took place

What ancient DNA tells us about population replacement and shared ancestry

Why many of our modern-day divisions make no sense

Whether you're Tswana, Zulu, Xhosa, Venda, or anything in between—your story might be more connected than you think.

Let’s talk about it.
Drop a comment, like the video, and subscribe if you want more African history, identity, and deep conversations we should’ve been having ages ago.

#AfricanHistory #BantuMigration #KhoeSan #SouthAfrica #Genetics #Ubuntu #WhoAreWe #DNAHistory #Education

[mongezisibande]

Love this video! I was actually thinking about a similar thing recently. Namely how xenophobic we tend to be towards our neighbours, especially Zimbabwe. But when you look at migration that was happening during 1800s onwards, alot of our ancestors would have been people who moved from those same geographical areas to South Africa.

[samp]

I'm from a Xhosa ethnic group who is from Eastern Cape and lived in Cape Town for six years. I just want to say God bless you boeta, you made me have hope in today's diversity, keep educating, peace.

[lindleyheynes]

Good to see young people investing their time wisely and creating useful material that can benefit many. Subscribed. God bless.

[MbuRasmeni]

This is the most succinct, honest and unbiased video on this topic. Great job! You’ve earned yourself a new subscriber 👊🏾

[CROCO]

This is the most beautiful thing I have heard from a young South African. Glad to see the younger generation informing themselves and teaching others. I have blood from Angola, Mozambique and South Africa if I go down my lineage. My father was Zulu but his great great grandma was Angolan. My mother was Zulu but her great great grandma was Mozambican. My great grandpa was given a Zulu princess as a gift for serving the Zulu family well and that is how my Pedi family was absorbed into KZN and bought themselves into the Zulu clan.... 🤣🤣🤣 a mixture of cultures and bloodlines became one. This feeds in to your well put video.

[lonwabolungaselaledi]

Finally someone explaining genetics of South Africans. People are so routed in the idea of race that they get blinded by the truth and reality. Thanks for making this video hopefully more people watch it

[mzwandilengwenya]

Thanks Kaapie, this makes sense from the recent findings made by Mr Zazo Shongwe and most South African historians I've listened to....Thank You Brother....

[Ntlotleng]

Please we need a part 2 explaining more about southern africans

Greetings to all southern africans🇸🇿🇱🇸🇧🇼🇳🇦🇿🇼🇲🇿 from South Africa🇿🇦

[bantuboxingworld]

I listened for two seconds and I subscribed.

[Mbali]

Thank you for a well balanced, researched, fact based informative video. My mother side of the family are Tswana who resemble the Khoisan, as South Africans we have more in common than we think.

[taps]

Greetings from Zimbabwe 🇿🇼 very educative video

[ZAR_]

This explains a lot. South Africans generally have a look that's unique to them and different from other Bantu groups across the continent. The Khoi-San mixing explains why this is the case. I remember hearing that our Venda and Tsonga brothers would sometimes get confused for being foreigners by the Operation Dudula guys. This explains why because it's the look which is informed by genetics. The Nguni and Sotho-Tswana groups have a higher San genetic influence which manifests phenotypically. Some people even look more San than Bantu if you're comparing them to a Bantu person from Uganda for example. Examples can be president Mandela, Zenzo Ngqobe; and even Relebohile Mofokeng or Grant Kekana does have a strong San resemblance

[MSbu-cx]

9:43 I totally agree with that point. Having learned, over the years, that I'm more "mixed" than I would have ever imagined has taught me that it would be folly to discriminate against other ethnic groups; there's a good chance that I'd be discriminating against my own blood. As South Africans, we are far more related than we are aware of (even across colour lines).

[HMot-gx]

This is very well researched! I really liked the homely Saffer Kaap references 😄
You've got a good teaching style, mate, you're doing good things here 👍🏻

[TendaSithole]

Your conclusion on the matter, actually applies to most people in the entire southern African region.

[charontheferryman]

I wish this video was more in depth and more detailed because this was super insightful


Maybe if you have time you could make a mini documentary

[patnovalive]

Great video bro 👌🏾 looking forward to seeing more.

[Sterfillah]

You deserve a follow. I hope you channel grows bigger.

[ricaard]

I'm a Damara from Namibia. We speak Khoekhoegowab but are phenotypically unlike the other Khoi and San people. However, the genetic studies suggest we are unlike or unrelated to all the other groups, I read also there could've been other archaic non San hunter gatherers, I think that's the strongest explanation of where we're from.

[barbaralouisebenjamin]

Well said! Focus on what we have in common and not our differences. Genetics tell another story.