A Brief History of Botswana

It is commonly believed that the oldest inhabitants of Botswana were the San people or Bushmen, who have lived there for at least 30,000 years. The pastoral KhoiKhoi (Hottentots) and Bantu groups settled there later, many of them concentrated along the Chobe River. The various Bantu groups, including the Tswana, co-existed peacefully in different parts of the Kalahari until the 18th century. In this vast land, arguments were solved with reasonable ease. If someone didn’t agree with the predominant group, they simply gathered their people and tramped off to build a settlement elsewhere. However, this idyllic situation could hardly last forever.

By 1800, the grazing lands had been claimed and fragmentation was no longer a viable way of resolving conflicts. To make matters worse. Europeans had arrived in the Cape and were expanding northward. Realizing their vulnerability, the scattered Tswana villages regrouped and formed a highly structured society. Each Tswana nation was ruled by a hereditary monarch and subjects lived in centralized towns and satellite villages. The Christian missionaries who arrived around this time were impressed by the Tswana way of life and did not manage to convert great numbers.

During the same time, the Boers crossed into Batswana and Zulu territory and tried to impose their rule over them. Many Batswana started working on Boer farms but it was an uneasy association often plagued by revolt and violence. By 1877, animosity had escalated and the British decided to annex the Transvaal. Continuing attacks by the Boers drove the Batswana to ask again for British protection again in 1882. Thus, lands south of the Molopo River became the British Crown Colony of Bechuanaland, while the northern area became the British Protectorate of Bechuanaland (which is now Botswana). Britain governed Botswana until 1966 when they finally released their grip, giving in to the nationalist movement that had started in the 50s. On 30 September 1966, the Republic of Botswana gained independence.

Post independence, Botswana’s most fortunate discovery was that of diamonds near Orapa in 1967. This mineral wealth led to enormous foreign currency reserves and made the Botswanian pula Africa's strongest currency.