Modern society is thought to have first encountered the San people/Kung bushmen as early as the 17^th century. These interactions resulted in changes in the way of life of the San in terms of land usage, interpersonal relationships, work roles and self perception. In the 17^th century, approximately 200,000 San lived all over their Southern African territory. They occupied the deserts, the mountains, the grasslands and lands along the coast. The San people were traditionally hunter-gatherers and as a part of the larger Khoisan group are related to the Khoikhoi; traditional pastoralists. The settlement of the Dutch at the Cape of Good Hope region at the Southern tip of Africa was the first interaction of the San with the modern world. The Dutch seized the lands of the San in the south, slaughtered them and drove them northwards. This first interaction was particularly hostile and detrimental to the psychological self perceptive roles of the San. This is the case since the Dutch were especially contemptuous of them and considered them wild people only slightly better than animals.

In the 18^th century, the San people interacted further with the people of the modern world. White settlers, moving north from Southern territories in Africa almost completely exterminated the San; systematically killing the men and enslaving the women and the children. By the end of the 19^th century, white South Africans, German traders and missionaries began to settle further north in Namibia, further displacing the San. The Kalahari Desert and the San people resident there were spared of this white expansion but later, these desert San came into contact with another group of settlers; Bantu speaking black people from southeastern Africa. These interactions adversely changed the lives of the San people. They were dehumanized, slaughtered, dispossessed of their ancestral land, pushed to the outer edges of society and converted to Christianity. They were forced to adopt warfare, cattle theft and the rearing of livestock in some cases in order to adapt to the changes. Intermarriage and cultural assimilation has also occurred between the San people and their Bantu neighbors in the Kalahari Desert.    

The San people in their traditional culture had set up systems to ensure limited conflict and competition between groups in their society. The San people relied on a kinship system that closely reflected their social interdependence as small mobile foraging groups. Traditionally, the San people were a non hierarchical/egalitarian society with decisions reached among them by consensus. A hereditary chief existed but mainly in a symbolic role as their authority was limited. In terms of economics, the San reduced the chances for resource based conflict by establishing a ‘gift economy’ where the economy was based on the exchange of gifts on a regular basis rather than on conventional monetized trade of goods and services. These systems, coupled with the emphasis on acquisition of critical survival skills by all members of the society such as water harvesting, tracking and foraging limited conflict considerably in the San society.

Social harmony was also ensured in the San society by their ‘equal rights’ policy for the womenfolk. Women enjoyed high status in the San society and even claimed matriarchal family leadership in some groups. The women were involved in making important family and group decisions and were also empowered to claim ownership of water holes and foraging ranges. The women were mainly involved in the gathering food but were invited for the hunt during lean times. In the San society, children were not expected to perform any social duties apart from play and leisure. For the San people; of all ages, playtime and leisure is an important daily activity. The San spent large amounts of time conversing, singing, telling each other jokes and performing sacred dances. It is thought that these daily leisurely interactions went a long way in maintaining harmony and reducing competition amongst the San people.

The San people today still deal with a variety of problems. The land dispossession issue remains major. The land the San traditionally hunted on is continuously being fenced and converted to farming and grazing land. The game that the San hunted has also become extremely rare due to heavy hunting by the settlers. Problems related to climate change and droughts have resulted in the San having trouble producing sufficient food for survival. Access to running water and other natural resources is now even more difficult for the traditional San to achieve. The San also face unfair discrimination in the job and labor market both by the society and the government alike. The stereotypic view of the San is that of an uneducated people either unwilling or incapable of modernizing. These cultural-economic problems breed social instability in the San society with research pointing to rampant alcoholism. Health related problems also afflict the San people with the first case of HIV and AIDS among the San reported in 1998 just after the resettlement programs commenced in 1996.

100 years from now, the San people could be quite advanced and developed as a people. If their heritage and culture is preserved, the San would be among the societies of the world representing and championing cultural diversity and heritage. In 2003, the San people went into consensus with a pharmaceutical company over resource sharing for the patent on a new diet drug developed from a plant the San have utilized for generations. This points out to a possible future of research and development in this society based on application of science to their traditional remedies and interventions. With their wide knowledge on flora and fauna as well as the terrain and geography of Southern Africa, it is reasonable to envision these people engaged in successful eco-tourism in these parts of Africa in the century to come.     

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