According to estatelearning, Botswana is a country located in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. It has a total area of 581,730 sq km and a population of around 2.3 million people. The capital city of Botswana is Gaborone which is situated in the south-eastern part of the country. The terrain of Botswana consists mainly of flat to gently rolling tableland with some hills and salt pans. The highest peak in Botswana is Otse Hill at 1,489 meters (4,879 feet). There are also several rivers including Limpopo River, Chobe River and Okavango River that flow through Botswana.
Prehistory
Artifacts from the Paleolithic have been found in different places in Botswana, in areas not covered by the Kalahari Desert. From the Middle Stone Age, finds have been made south and southeast of Gaborone but especially in Ghanzi. The finds from the Neolithic, characterized by microliths, are widely scattered but best known from the Tsodillo Mountains. Rock paintings of both naturalistic and more stylized form exist, but also engraved animal tracks. The early agrarian bamboo culture with richly decorated ceramics is well known from Toteng and along the Botletle River; finds of bones from cattle and metallurgical remains from the Tsodilos have been dated to the first centuries AD. The first signs of trade contacts with the Mozambican coast come from the Palapye area with significant and large-scale development of ironmaking, probably for export, and date to the 7th century AD. Agricultural communities from about 800–900 have been studied in Tautswe and show an increase in livestock management and a continued dependence on sorghum cultivation. Settlements surrounded by stone walls in a tradition from Zimbabwe have been found in eastern Botswana, eg. Majojo in the Malapye area and Domboshawa northwest of Francistown, both dated to about 1300. The younger Khamibo sites, probably associated with the historically known Butu state, are exemplified by Vumba near Francistown and other places in the Tula Block area.
- Countryaah: Check to see the location of Botswana on the world map. Also covers major mountains, rivers and lakes in Botswana.
History
Botswana’s earliest history is shrouded in obscurity. To see more information other than history, please visit Abbreviationfinder to learn more about climate, population, government, and economy for the country of Botswana. There are historians who believe that tswana belongs to Bantu people who moved south from Central Africa at the beginning of our era. Documentation is available only from later centuries. During the 1500s and 1600s defeated Tswana -folket indigenous people, hunter-gatherer people san, and pushed it away from the areas that were suitable for livestock. Tswana settled mainly in the areas east of Kalahari in present-day Botswana and northeastern South Africa. Around 1800, tswana had established the kingdom in the southeastern part of Botswana.
European influence in Botswana was evident from the beginning of the 19th century. Both missionaries and traders invaded Botswana from the south, and white farmers settled in the southeastern part of the tswana area. To resist the pressure of immigrant farmers, Tswana chiefs sought support from Britain. Without consulting them, in 1885 Britain declared the area of the Tswana people a British protectorate, except for a southern part which was incorporated with the Cape Colony. The protectorate was called Bechuanaland, a distortion of BaTswanaland(‘country of tswana’) until 1966, when it changed its name to Botswana. British tax policy in the protectorate, in particular the so-called hydropower, forced a large part of the men to work in South Africa to raise money. For the same reason, many have to sell cattle. Botswana became strongly linked to the neighbor in the south. Botswana’s capital until 1965, Mafeking (now Mafikeng), was even in South Africa.
Britain contemplated incorporating Botswana into South Africa, but the people of Botswana resisted, especially after the victory of apartheid politics in 1948. The British government’s lack of interest in Botswana’s development meant that the Tswana chiefs could rule largely as before. Only in the early 1960s did political parties emerge, and the first general election was held in March 1965.
On September 30, 1966, Botswana became independent, with Seretse Khama, leader of the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), as the country’s first president. After his death, Ketumile Masire became president in 1980. He resigned in 1998 and was succeeded by Vice President Festus Mogae, who was elected by Parliament in October 1999. Mogae also chose to resign during the current term. He left his post in 2008 in favor of Vice President Ian Khama, son of Seretse Khama. This was elected by Parliament after the 2009 election, in which the BDP again won. In the 2014 elections, the BDP received less than half of the votes for the first time, but nevertheless retained its majority in parliament, and Ian Khama could remain as president. Four years later, he followed his predecessor’s example and resigned prematurely, handing over the presidential post to Vice President Mokgweetsi Masisi.
The New Republic was one of Africa’s poorest countries with non-existent infrastructure. After 1971, mining began with large deposits of diamonds. Botswana has experienced significant economic growth, but dependence on South Africa has continued. Botswana is considered one of Africa’s most politically stable countries. However, the BDP’s power monopoly and the electoral system favoring the ruling party are criticized. Ian Khama was also criticized for his authoritarian leadership style.
Botswana’s otherwise good international reputation was speckled in the 00s by the treatment of the indigenous population of Basarwa (Botswana term of the folk group san). In 2006, a court unlawfully declared the forced relocation of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve conducted in 2002. The most serious problem facing the country is the HIV/AIDS epidemic, which has hit Botswana harder than most other countries; just over a fifth of Botswani’s aged 15-49 are estimated to be infected.