Sotho people
Europeans first visited the country north of the Orange River towards the close of the 18th century. One of the most notable visitors was the Dutch explorer Robert Jacob Gordon, who mapped the region and gave the Orange River its name. At that time, the population was sparse. The majority of the inhabitants appear to have been members of the Sotho people (colonial form Basuto), but in the valleys of the Orange and Vaal were Korana and other Khoikhoi, and in the Drakensberg and on the western border lived numbers of Bushmen. Early in the 19th century Griqua established themselves north of the Orange.