History of Botswana

The Botswana, a term also used to denote all citizens of Botswana, refers to the country's major ethnic group. Prior to European contact, the Botswana lived as herders and farmers under tribal rule. Before European contact In October 2019, researchers reported that Botswana was the birthplace of all modern humans about 200,000 years ago. Sometime between 200 and 500 AD, the Bantu-speaking people who were living in the Katanga area crossed the Limpopo River, entering the area today known as South Africa as part of the Bantu expansion. There were two broad waves of immigration to South Africa, Nguni and Suthooswana. The former settled in the eastern coastal regions, while the latter settled primarily in the area known today as the Hiveld, the large, relatively high central plateau of South Africa. By 1000 AD the Bantu colonization of the eastern half of South Africa had been completed. The Bantu-speaking society was highly a decentralized feudal society organized on a basis of crawls, headed by a chief, who owed a very hazy allegiance to the nation's head chief. According to Neil Parsons's online brief History of Botswana From around 1095 Southeastern Botswana saw the rise of a new culture, characterized by a site on Mordshane Hill near Gabane, whose pottery mixed the old western style with new Iron Age influences derived from the Eastern Transvaal. The Mordshane culture is historically associated with the Kalagari chiefdoms, the westernmost dialect group of Sothoospeakers, whose prowess was in cattle raising and hunting rather than in farming. In east-central Botswana, the area within 80 or 100 kilometers of Saro saw a thriving farming culture, dominated by rulers living on Toutsway Hill, between about 600 to 700 AD and 1200 to 1300 AD. The prosperity of the state was based on cattle herding, with large corrals in the capital town and in scores of smaller hilltop villages. The Toutsway people were also hunting westwards into the Kalahari and trading eastwards with the Limpopo. East coast shells, used as trade currency, were already being traded as far west as Sodilo by 700 AD. The Toutsway state appears to have been conquered by its Mopangubwe state neighbor, centered on a hill at the Limpopo-Shashi confluence, between 1200 AD and 1300 AD. Mopangubwe had been developing since about 1050 AD because of its control of the early gold trade coming down the Shashi, which was passed on for sale to sea traders on the Indian Ocean. But Mopangubwe's triumph was short-lived, as it was superseded by the new state of Great Zimbabwe, north of the Limpopo River, which flourished in control of the gold trade from the 13th to the 15th centuries. It is not known how far west the power of Great Zimbabwe extended. Certainly its successor state, the Butuwa state-based it came near Bulawayo in western Zimbabwe from about 1450 onwards, controlled trade in salt and hunting dogs from the eastern Makadikati pans, around which it built stone-walled command posts. Neil Parsons, Brief History of Botswana Betchwanaland Protectorate In the late 19th century, hostilities broke out between the Shona inhabitants of Botswana and Ndibele tribes who were migrating into the territory from the Kalahari Desert. Tensions also escalated with the Boer settlers from the Transvaal. To block Boer and German expansionism the British government on March 31, 1885 put Betchwanaland under its protection. The Tadi concessions land, formerly part of the Matabele Kingdom, was administered from the Betchwanaland Protectorate after 1893, to which it was formally annexed in 1911. When the Union of South Africa was formed in 1910 out of the main British colonies in the region, the Betchwanaland Protectorate, Basutoland, and Eswatini were not included, but provision was made for their later incorporation. However, a vague undertaking was given to consult their inhabitants, and although successive South African governments sought to have the territories transferred, Britain kept delaying, and it never occurred. The election of the National Party government in 1948, which instituted apartheid, and South Africa's withdrawal from the Commonwealth in 1961, ended any prospect of incorporation of the territories into South Africa. An expansion of British central authority and the evolution of tribal government resulted in the 1920 establishment of two advisory councils representing Africans and Europeans. Proclamations in 1934 regularised tribal rule and powers. A European African Advisory Council was formed in 1951, and the 1961 constitution established a Consultative Legislative Council. Independent Botswana In June 1966, Britain accepted proposals for democratic self-government in Botswana. The seat of government was moved from Mafikame, South Africa, to newly established Gaborone in 1965. The 1965 constitution led to the first general elections and to independence on September 30, 1966. Tsaretsi Kama, a leader in the independence movement and the legitimate claimant to the Mwado chiefship, was elected as the first president, re-elected twice, and died in office in 1980. The presidency passed to the sitting vice-president, Ketamal Messiah, who was elected in his own right in 1984 and re-elected in 1989 and 1994. Messiah retired from office in 1998. The presidency passed to the sitting vice-president, Festus Magi, who was elected in his own right in 1999 and re-elected in 2004. In April 2008, Excellency the former President-Lieutenant-General Dr Tsaretsi Kama I Mkama, son of Tsaretsi Kama I President, succeeded to the presidency when Festus Magi retired. On April 1, 2018 Mukweetsi Eric K. Abetswe-Massesi was sworn in as the fifth president of Botswana succeeding I Mkama. He represents the Botswana Democratic Party, which has also won a majority in every parliamentary election since independence. All the previous presidents have also represented the same party, People of Botswana. All citizens of Botswana regardless of color, ancestry or tribal affiliation are known as Botswana or Motswana. In the lingua franca of Swana, tribal groups are usually denoted with the prefix Ba, which means the people of, therefore, the Herero are known as Baherero, and the Kalagadi is Baikalagadi, and so on. Botswana's eight major tribes are represented in the House of Chiefs, the country's second legislative body. The Swana are the largest ethnic group in Botswana. Botswana's second largest ethnic group are the Baikalanga. Who mainly live in northeastern Botswana and western Zimbabwe and speak Kalanga. In Botswana they are based mainly, although not exclusively, around Francistown. Modern Baikalanga are descended from the kingdom of Butua. Herero The Herero probably originated from the eastern or central Africa and migrated across the Okavango River into northeastern Namibia in the early 16th century. In 1884 the Germans took possession of German southwest Africa and systematically appropriated Herero grazing lands. The ensuing conflict between the Germans and the Herero was to last for years, only ending in a calculated act of genocide which saw the remaining of the tribe flee across the border into Botswana. The refugees settled among the Batawana and were initially subjugated, but eventually regained their herds and independence. These days the Herero are among the wealthiest herders in Botswana. Basabia The Basabia, Wayei and Makushu are all riverine people scattered around the Cobe and Linyadi rivers and across the Okavango Panhandle. Their histories and migrations are a textbook example of the ebb and flow of power and influence. For a long time, the Basabia were the dominant force, pushing the Wayei from the Cobe River and into the Okavango after a little spat over a lion's skin, so tradition says. The Basabia were agriculturists and as such proved easy prey for the growing Lozi Empire, which in turn collapsed in 1865. They still live in the Cobe district. Wayei Originally from the same areas in Namibia and Angola as the Makushu, the Wayei moved south from the Cobe River into the Okavango Delta in the mid-18th century to avoid the growing conflict with the Basabia.