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Bantu-speaking communities attached too much security importance to the
mountains, hence the Bahananwa came to occupy the Blouberg range,
while the other groups of the Bakone, Batšhadibe, and other smaller
groups, occupied the Makgabeng range. The safety of these communities
which was offered by the mountain strongholds, was actually part of how
they defined themselves as people (i.e., their identity). The notion of “shared
experience”, which is important in identity creation, is applicable here as
communities identified themselves as one as they occupied the same
mountain fortresses in the face of common threat of attacks.
With such habitable and secure environmental conditions, it was not
surprising that the Makgabeng area attracted so many different
communities, from the San, the Khoikhoi, the Bantu-speakers, the European
travellers, hunters, traders, explorers, missionaries, the Boers and the
British. During these successive occupations by different communities,
various identities were formed in the Makgabeng area while others were
destroyed. This is also in accordance with the notion of “shared
experience” 125 , in which interaction with others (whatever form of
interaction) plays a role in identity formation – in this case, identities were
shaped by the interaction among various groups which were attracted and
met in the Makgabeng area.
125 M. Castells, “Globalisation, Identity…”, p. 7.
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