People of Botswana

Identification. 

Formerly Bechuanaland Protectorate under the British, Botswana became independent in 1966. Bot swana means "place of Tswana" in the dominant national language, and the citizenry are called Bat swana, or Tswana people. The term Batswana, however, bears a double meaning. In government rhetoric, it refers to all citizens of Botswana. But the word also refers to ethnically "Tswana" people, as distinct from the other ethnic groups present in the country. This double meaning allows for both the expression of strong civic national sentiments and debate about the dominance of Tswana people and ideology over the broader population.

 

Location and Geography.

Botswana is a landlocked and arid country. Bordering on South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, and Zambia, it is 224,607 square miles (581,730 square kilometers) in area, about the same size as France. Two-thirds of the country is comprised of the Kalahari Desert, which is covered with grasses and scrub but has scarce surface water. Mean annual rainfall ranges from under 10 inches (250 millimeters) per annum in the southwest to over 25 inches (635 millimeters) in the northeast. The entire country is prone to extended droughts, causing significant hardship to agriculturalists, pastoralists, and hunter-gatherers. The Okavango Delta, in the north, is a large inland delta, and people there fish and farm on its flooded banks; tourists are drawn to the large numbers of wildlife that congregate in the area. The eastern third of the country, with more rainfall and fertile soils, is home to most of the population. Prior to independence, the British administered the Protectorate from Mafiking in South Africa. The capital city today, Gaborone, was built on a village site in the southeastern corner of the country at independence, near the borders of several of the Tswana polities that dominated the country.

Linguistic Affiliation. Bantu, Khoisan, and Indo-European languages are spoken in Botswana. English is the official language and Setswana the national language. This means that the language of government and higher education is primarily English, but that Setswana is the dominant language spoken in the country. Ninety percent of the population is said to speak Setswana. The term Setswana refers both to Tswana language, and to Tswana practices/culture, and there has been increasing resistance.

Symbolism. "Pula," the Setswana word for rain, is featured on the coat of arms, and is called out frequently at public gatherings as a salute and cry of approbation. It is also the term for the national currency. The national anthem is "Lefatshe la Rona," ("Our Country"), and its title captures the strong attachment most Batswana feel to the land and its resources, as well as some antiforeign sentiments. Cattle were tremendously important not just to a material economy but also to the symbolic economy of status, family, and social relations in the past, and cattle remain powerfully evocative to most Batswana today.