Gainou

The Gainou were among the Khoekhoe people associated with the Breede River valley in the western Cape. Before European settlement, Khoekhoe livestock keepers and San hunter-gatherers inhabited the valley and its mountain surroundings. The Gainou and other Khoekhoe groups traded livestock with settlers, even as colonial occupation spread into their grazing country. By 1709 European farmers had obtained grazing rights beyond the Breede River, and a smallpox epidemic in 1713 took a heavy toll on Khoekhoe communities.