Abstract
The presence of the Abantu phenotype in 38 Southern African populations has been established. It reached its highest frequencies in San and Khoikhoi peoples and it is postulated that Abantu is primarily a Khoisan character which has only secondarily (and relatively recently) been acquired by the Negro as he migrated southwards. This would explain its virtual absence in West African Negroes and their descendants in the New World. Family studies have established that the Abantu phenotype is determined by an allele designated Abantu and that the Abantu phenotype is dominant to O, recessive to A1 and A2 and co‐dominant with B.