History of Botswana

Template:Short description Template:History of Botswana The history of Botswana encompasses the region's ancient and tribal history, its colonisation as the Bechuanaland Protectorate, and the present-day Republic of Botswana. The first modern humans to inhabit Botswana were the San people, and agriculture first developed approximately 2,300 years ago. The first Bantu peoples arrived Template:Circa, and the first Tswana people arrived about 200 years later. The Tswana people split into various tribes over the following thousand years as migrations within the region continued, culminating in the Difaqane in the late 18th century. European contact first occurred in 1816, which led to the Christianization of the region.

Facing threats from German South West Africa and the Afrikaners, the most influential Tswana chiefs negotiated the creation of a protectorate under the United Kingdom in 1885. The British divided the territory into tribal reserves for each of the major chiefs to rule, giving the chiefs more power than they had previously, but it otherwise exercised only limited direct control over the protectorate. The British government took a more active role beginning in the 1930s. Botswana supported British involvement in World War II and many fought as part of the African Auxiliary Pioneer Corps.

A power struggle took place in the 1950s between the Ngwato chief Seretse Khama and his regent Tshekedi Khama. Seretse's marriage to a white woman, Ruth Williams Khama, led the British to ban him from the protectorate. He returned in 1956 with popular support, and tribes moved toward elected government as an independence movement formed. A national legislature was created in 1961, and political parties were formed. Seretse became the leader of the Bechuanaland Democratic Party, which was endorsed by the British government to lead post-independence, and it saw overwhelming support in the first election in 1965. The Republic of Botswana was granted full independence in 1966.

With a strong mandate, Seretse and his party implemented liberal democracy and began developing infrastructure in what was one of the world's poorest nations. Extensive diamond deposits were discovered in 1969, causing a massive reorganisation of Botswana's economy. The Debswana mining company was created in 1978, and Botswana became the world's fastest growing economy. The HIV/AIDS pandemic became a crisis in Botswana in the 1980s, and the 1990s came with the introduction of political factionalism after the political scandal of the Kgabo Commission. The Botswana Democratic Party remained the dominant party from independence until the Umbrella for Democratic Change won the 2024 general election.

Pre-colonial history

Prehistory

File:Tsodilo Hills rock paintings4.jpg

Prehistoric cave paintings at Tsodilo

Present-day Botswana was primarily forest ten million years ago, and the rivers were much larger than they are in the present, flowing into a massive paleolake, Lake Makgadikgadi.Template:Sfn Homo erectus lived in the region during the Early Stone Age.Template:Sfn Stone tools in present-day Botswana, such as Acheulean axes, date back to two million years ago.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Hominin migration to the Kalahari Desert is estimated to have happened prior to Marine Isotope Stage 6, 186,000 years ago.Template:Sfn Lake Makgadikgadi began to shrink approximately 50,000 years ago.Template:Sfn

The ancestors of the Khoe and San peoples—unrelated peoples who are referred to collectively as the Khoisan or Sarwa peoples—lived in present-day Botswana by approximately 40,000 to 30,000 years ago. They may have been the first humans to enter the Late Stone Age.Template:Sfn They established themselves around rivers during drier periods of history but spread throughout the region during wetter periods.Template:Sfn They are known to have inhabited the areas around Lake Makgadikgadi, as well as Tsodilo and ≠Gi.Template:Sfn Other peoples such as the Nata, Shua, and Xani are believed to have arrived after the Khoe and San.Template:Sfn Rock art dates back to approximately 30,000 years ago,Template:Sfn Mining of specularite and hematite began around this type to create paints.Template:Sfn Virtually all permanent bodies of water were associated with early human populations by 20,000 years ago.Template:Sfn More detailed study of southern Africa in the Stone Age has been limited.Template:Sfn

The various peoples of the region were hunter-gatherers who remained in small groups and engaged in trade with one another.Template:Sfn It is believed that each group was a collection of related families holding a specific territory, led by the eldest man of the group's head family.Template:Sfn Men hunted large animals, while women gathered plants and caught small animals.Template:Sfn The groups intermarried and practiced a dowry system, xaro.Template:Sfn

Ancient history

Approximately 2,000 years ago, the peoples of the region brought cattle and sheep to present-day Botswana and began making pottery.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn Agriculture developed during this time and the peoples began settling in villages, which rose and fell as the climate and cattle raids caused livestock access to fluctuate.Template:Sfn Among the earliest crops were pearl millet, finger millet, sorghum, Bambara groundnuts, cowpeas, and cucurbits.Template:Sfn

The first Bantu people migrated to the region between 2,000 and 1,500 years ago, and it was once believed that they were the ones who had first introduced livestock to the area.Template:Sfn The Kalanga people were the first of the Bantu peoples to settle in present-day Botswana, arriving Template:Circa.Template:Sfn The first Tswana people (singular Motswana, plural Batswana) are estimated to have arrived c. 400 CE.Template:Sfn These Bantu peoples brought iron and copper tools to the region and settled along permanent waterways.Template:Sfn They built permanent settlements of about 10–15 pole-and-daga houses each, rather than the temporary structures of the more nomadic Khoisan.Template:Sfn The Khoisan and the Bantu likely traded and intermarried during this period.Template:Sfn

Post-classical period

A group of Zhizo people, the Taukome people, arrived in present-day Botswana by the 7th century and settled between the Shashe River and the Serorome River.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Their possession of glass beads indicates early connection to Indian Ocean trade.Template:Sfn The number of livestock kept in present-day Botswana increased significantly between the 8th century and the 10th century.Template:Sfn The Tswana people organised themselves into a type of tribal government, called a morafe (plural merafe), each led by a chief called a kgosi (plural dikgosi).Template:Sfn This system produced a more hierarchical government relative to others in the region.Template:Sfn Cattle became a central part of society in the region, and ownership of cattle denoted one's status.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The early history of the Tswana people remains largely unknown because little archaeological evidence has been left.Template:Sfn

Trade routes connected tribes throughout the Kalahari Desert by 900 CE,Template:Sfn and a series of routes were created across the entire region over the following century, culminating at the Indian Ocean.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The Toutswe people, another of the Zhizo people, migrated to present-day Botswana and became the strongest group in the region during the 11th century, deriving their wealth from ownership of cattle.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Three Toutswe villages were constructed at Bosutswe, Sung, and Toutswemogala, each ruling over smaller villages surrounding them.Template:Sfn By the 12th century, the Toutswe had spread to the Kalahari Desert.Template:Sfn

The value of products fluctuated as expanding trade with foreign nations and the discovery of gold occurred, reducing interest in specularite and animal products like ivory.Template:Sfn One tribe in Tsodilo was particularly influential in the trade of specularite until it fell at the end of the 12th century.Template:Sfn The tribes in southeastern Botswana were far removed from these developments and remained largely unaffected.Template:Sfn

Neighbouring present-day Botswana during the 11th and 12th centuries were the people of Leopard's Kopje to the east.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn First established in Bambandyanalo, they became major figures in regional trade and moved to Mapungubwe by the late-11th century.Template:Sfn They projected influence across the region through the 12th century.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Peoples of the Okavango Delta were forced to abandon their settlements during this time as they were cut off from major trade routes.Template:Sfn Mapungubwe fell by the 13th century,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn and some of the Mapungubwe people migrated to the area around the Shashe River. The Toutswe villages, cut off from trade, fell by the late-13th century.Template:Sfn

The Kingdom of Zimbabwe replaced Mapungubwe the regional power, and the gold trade became a driving factor in the region's economy.Template:Sfn Zimbabwe controlled many of the tribes that existed in what is now northeastern Botswana.Template:Sfn Several other states developed after its fall in the 15th century. The Kingdom of Butua, formed by the Kalanga peoples, was established on the present-day Botswana–Zimbabwe border.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Over the following centuries, Tswana peoples migrated internally through present-day Botswana as they were displaced by native and colonial populations from the south.Template:Sfn Large migrations of Kalanga and Sotho–Tswana peoples took place in the 15th and 16th centuries,Template:Sfn and the Kalanga peoples controlled the land between the Motloutse River and the Makgadikgadi Pan until the 18th century.Template:Sfn The Hurutshe, Kgatla, and Kwena peoples split from the Phofu dynasty in the Transvaal region amid drought and hereditary conflicts, eventually migrating north to present-day Botswana.Template:Sfn

Early modern period

File:Campbell - Thlapingkaptein en sy vrou.png

An illustration of a Tswana man and his wife in the early 1800s

The Tswana people had a presence throughout present-day Botswana by 1600.Template:Sfn Some peoples of the region remained in the Late Stone Age until about this time.Template:Sfn According to oral tradition, the pastoralist Herero and Mbanderu peoples split from the Mbunda people in the 17th century as Tswana cattle raids scattered the groups.Template:Sfn Oral tradition also holds that the Yeyi people migrated from the upper Chobe River into the Okavango Delta in the 18th century, though contact between the Yeyi and the Khoe may have existed much longer.Template:Sfn Different Tswana tribes were able to separate and form independently from one another as the region's primary asset, cattle, is easily transported.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The western tribes were especially prone to separation because of the large distances between towns and farmlands. They were often the targets of raids by the Griqua people.Template:Sfn

The first Tswana state was formed by the Ngwaketse people in the mid-18th century. Subsequent states were formed by the Kwena people, the Ngwato people, and the Tawana people over the following decades.Template:Sfn With these came the development of the mophato (plural mephato), a militia regiment organised by age group, among the eastern Tswana peoples in the 1750s.Template:Sfn Two Kgatla peoples, the Kgafela people and the Tlokwa people, joined at this time and seized control over the area surrounding Pilanesberg in present-day South Africa. They subjugated several peoples in the region and twice won conflicts against the Fokeng people.Template:Sfn The use of mephato spread to the western Tswana peoples by the end of the century.Template:Sfn It was never widely adopted in the south.Template:Sfn

The Difaqane

The Difaqane, a period of conflict and displacement in southern Africa, took place during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.Template:Sfn During this time, the Tswana people were subject to raids by many groups, including the Ndebele, the Kololo, the Ngoni,Template:Sfn the Pedi, and the Voortrekkers.Template:Sfn Most Tswana groups opted to retreat instead of fight.Template:Sfn This triggered extensive migration across the region, causing the Tswana tribes to more thoroughly spread and establish a stronger presence throughout the territory of present-day Botswana.Template:Sfn They settled primarily in the hardveld that makes up the eastern region of present-day Botswana.Template:Sfn The Kwena and Ngwaketse peoples migrated from Transvaal to the sandveld.Template:Sfn The first of the Kgatla peoples to settle in present-day Botswana, the Mmanaana people, migrated from South Africa in the early 19th century before settling in Moshupa and Thamaga.Template:Sfn Only some of the northwestern Tswana peoples were spared displacement or interruption.Template:Sfn

The Kololo people attacked the northwestern Tswana peoples in 1826, forcing the Kwena and Ngwaketse from their respective territories. Sebogo, the regent of the Ngwaketse tribe, raised 4,000 men in their mephato and surrounded Dithubaruba where the Kololo were residing. Killing the warriors and the civilians, they permanently expelled the Kololo from the region.Template:Sfn

The tribes reestablished their states in the 1840s, founding several towns and villages of varying sizes.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn Governance was based around the kgotla, a deliberative forum in which the chief or a regional leader heard the concerns of most male citizens before making decisions.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

European missionaries

European missionaries first arrived in present-day Botswana in 1816 through the London Missionary Society. This and other missionary groups worked to convert the chiefs to Christianity and to build missionary schools.Template:Sfn The missionary Robert Moffat set his mission station on the border of present-day Botswana as a barrier against the Boers so they could not move further inward.Template:Sfn Moffat published the first Setswana language text with a uniform orthography when he began translating Christian texts and wrote a Setswana dictionary. Both the Old and New Testaments could be read in Setswana by 1857.Template:Sfn

The 19th century Tswana people used several economic ideas that were rare in southern Africa, including credit, service contracts, and the mafisa system of the rich loaning cattle to the poor in exchange for labour.Template:Sfn They also had a conception of private property by the mid-19th century, and both married men and married women were entitled to land rights.Template:Sfn The men typically herded cattle while the women grew crops.Template:Sfn Sorghum was the region's most commonly grown crop in the 19th century. Land was widely available, but droughts meant that farming was inconsistent.Template:Sfn

British traders arrived in the 1830s and engaged in transactions with the chiefs.Template:Sfn The influx of European settlers nearby allowed the Tswana tribes to incorporate themselves into the global economy.Template:Sfn Chief Sechele I of the Kwena people took advantage of the new trading routes, securing control of British trade for his tribe.Template:Sfn The Scottish missionary David Livingstone arrived in Botswana in 1845, where he established the Kolobeng Mission. This was the beginning of heavier European involvement in the Tswana tribes as they established intercontinental trade routes.Template:Sfn Westernised fashion was adopted in urban areas through the rest of the century and combined with traditional clothing.Template:Sfn In another effort to thwart the Boers, Livingstone provided firearms to the Kwena people. Sechele was the first person who Livingstone converted to Christianity, and the chief subsequently offered to convert his head men using rhinoceros-hide whips.Template:Sfn

The Tswana peoples faced conflict from other groups in the region, peaking in the 1850s. Many Batswana, particularly the Kwena and Ngwato tribes, fought against Afrikaners and Zulu tribes in the eastern Kalahari Desert.Template:Sfn The Kwena and the Mmanaana fought against Boers from Transvaal in 1852, defending their territory and ending the nation's westward expansion.Template:Sfn The Batswana saw missionary groups as a means of refuge from invaders, incentivising conversion to Christianity.Template:Sfn Sechele requested a British protectorate in 1853 to end regional conflicts, but he was denied.Template:Sfn

European visitors became more common in the mid-19th century as hunters, explorers, and traders sought profit and adventure in the region.Template:Sfn Many wrote travel books about the area, which were some of the only non-academic publications about present-day Botswana at the time.Template:Sfn By the 1860s, migration out of the region increased as Batswana men travelled to work in South African mines.Template:Sfn The discovery of the Tati Goldfields triggered the first European gold rush of Southern Africa in 1868.Template:Sfn An early mining camp established in the 1870s expanded greatly as it became a major railway hub between Cape Province and Bulawayo, becoming Botswana's first major city, Francistown.Template:Sfn At this point in Botswana's history, the major chiefs were all Christian.Template:Sfn A war between the Kwena and the Kgafela in 1875.Template:Sfn By the end of the decade, chief Khama III of the Ngwato people seized control of British trade from the Kwena people.Template:Sfn

Bechuanaland Protectorate

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Formation of the protectorate

The United Kingdom feared increasing German influence in the region, and it agreed to form the Bechuanaland Protectorate.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The British wished to preserve its influence over the Tswana tribes, as they provided a connection between southern and central Africa.Template:Sfn Tswana chiefs feared encroachment by German South West Africa and the Afrikaners,Template:Sfn and they believed that the alternative to British control was settler colonialism by Germany.Template:Sfn They also wished to avoid falling under the control of South Africa or mining magnate Cecil Rhodes, though the protectorate still found itself dependent on South Africa economically.Template:Sfn

The region was divided into tribal land ruled by the chiefs and crown land controlled by the United Kingdom.Template:Sfn Eight tribes were recognised by the British upon the creation of the protectorate. The largest four were given tribal reserves: the Kwena, the Ngwaketse, the Ngwato, and the Tawana. Three smaller ones were also recognised: the Kgatla, the Tlokwa, and the Malete. The eighth, the Tshidi, were given a reserve crossing the border between the protectorate and South Africa.Template:Sfn While members of non-Tswana minorities were allowed to participate in Tswana society and governance, they were given no tribal reserves of their own.Template:Sfn The introduction of tribal reserves altered the nature of Tswana governance, as tribes had previously been less defined and subject to expansion or shifting. With territories divided into tribal jurisdictions, residents were no longer able to easily leave a tribe.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The protectorate initially extended to the Ngwato, reaching from 22 degrees south to the Molopo River, but it was extended to 18 degrees south to reach the Chobe River in 1890.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn This provided the British more labourers under its jurisdiction and created a larger barrier to limit German colonisation.Template:Sfn Other Tswana peoples lived to the south of the protectorate and were later absorbed into South Africa.Template:Sfn

The Kgafela people settled in Mochudi in 1887. This Kgatla group quickly became influential in the region and its name became synonymous with Kgatla.Template:Sfn British soldiers led by Charles Warren arrived in 1891 to formally establish the protectorate.Template:Sfn Its government was defined, and a commissioner was appointed as its head. The commissioner was given broad powers over the protectorate, so long as he respected previously established tribal law.Template:Sfn Its capital was the South African city of Vryburg, meaning that the colonial rulers did not reside in the protectorate and had little direct involvement in its affairs.Template:Sfn Instead, the high commissioner operated through two assistant commissioners, and a district commissioner facilitated contact with the various tribes.Template:Sfn The centralisation of British rule in South Africa meant that the Bechuanaland Protectorate was economically dependent on it.Template:Sfn

The British government believed the Bechuanaland Protectorate to be only a temporary entity and expected that it would soon be absorbed by a British colony.Template:Sfn In the meantime, it believed that a self-sufficient protectorate would cost less to maintain.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn For these reasons, the colonial administration imposed very little direct control of the Bechuanaland Protectorate.Template:Sfn The chiefs benefited from these affairs and were able to empower and enrich themselves; they retained broad autonomy, but colonial backing meant that they no longer needed the consent of the tribes to maintain rule.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Tribal rule became autocratic, which led to human rights abuses and discrimination against women and ethnic minorities.Template:Sfn

Early years of the protectorate

Template:Multiple image The British planned to eventually incorporate the Bechuanaland Protectorate into the Union of South Africa.Template:Sfn In the years after the protectorate's creation, the United Kingdom entered talks with Cecil Rhodes to absorb it into the British South Africa Company.Template:Sfn In response, three of the most influential chiefs—Khama III of the Ngwato, Sebele I of the Kwena, and Bathoen I of the Ngwaketse—made a diplomatic trip to the United Kingdom in 1895 and convinced the government not to complete the deal.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn This set a precedent of chiefs interacting with the British as a unified groupTemplate:Sfn and enshrined these three figures as early figures in Botswana's history as a single nation.Template:Sfn Rhodes's handling of the failed Jameson Raid discouraged the British and negotiations were postponed indefinitely.Template:Sfn The celebration of these chiefs resulted in the publication of Three Great African Chiefs: Khamé, Sebéle and Bathoeng by the London Missionary Society the same year. This text introduced a founding myth that their three respective tribes were created by three brothers.Template:Sfn

Also in 1895, the capital was moved from Vryburg to another South African city, Mafeking,Template:Sfn and the Ancient Ruins Company was registered to dig up prehistoric ruins in Bechuanaland and Rhodesia in search for gold.Template:Sfn The protectorate was heavily affected by the 1890s African rinderpest epizootic, losing large portions of its livestock and wild game.Template:Sfn The protectorate's railroad was built in 1897 as the main north–south transit line.Template:Sfn

When the United Kingdom raised the Pioneer Column to go to war with the Ndebele people, Khama III of the Ngwato assisted by sending soldiers.Template:Sfn Botswana became a staging ground for the Jameson Raid in 1896.Template:Sfn The Kgatla tribe was later part of the Boer War, fighting alongside the British Army.Template:Sfn

The early colonial economy of the Bechuanaland Protectorate remained much the same as the pre-colonial economy.Template:Sfn The United Kingdom primarily used the protectorate as a supply of labour, offering high wages to Batswana who migrated south to work in mines.Template:Sfn Taxes were also imposed, beginning with a hut tax in 1899, which was then replaced by a poll tax in 1909.Template:Sfn A native tax was later imposed in 1919.Template:Sfn Colonial taxes in the Bechuanaland Protectorate were higher than those in neighbouring colonies, causing mass exodus to the south, and the chiefs allowed more generous power sharing with citizens to incentivise them to stay.Template:Sfn The United Kingdom considered integrating the protectorate into South Africa as it unified its southern African colonies, but it ultimately grouped them economically by creating the South African Customs Union,Template:Sfn joining in 1910.Template:Sfn Membership entitled the protectorate to only 2% of the union's revenue.Template:Sfn

By 1910, all Tswana tribes had adopted Christianity.Template:Sfn Bechuanaland sent several hundred soldiers to assist the British Army during World War I.Template:Sfn The London Missionary Society found itself in decline at this time, and it gradually lost influence over the protectorate.Template:Sfn

Sebele II became chief of the Kwena in 1918, succeeding his father, Sechele II. Sechele II had conflicted with the dominant London Missionary Society, permitting an Anglican presence and reinstating many traditional practices such as polygyny, rainmaking, and bogwera. Sebele II continued his father's challenge to the London Missionary Society, to the grievance of the British government.Template:Sfn

The dual government of the chiefs and the colonial administration made administration difficult, so the administration created two advisory councils to standardise these authorities.Template:Sfn The Native Advisory Council (later the African Advisory Council) was established in 1919.Template:Sfn This annual meeting of the chiefs and other influential people in the protectorate allowed the British government to hear from and manage the tribes collectively instead of individually.Template:Sfn Khama III of the Ngwato refused to participate, citing weak enforcement of alcohol prohibition in southern tribe. Khama III died in 1923Template:Sfn and was succeeded by Sekgoma II, who served until his own death in 1926.Template:Sfn Sekgoma's son Seretse Khama was still an infant, so Tshekedi Khama became regent.Template:Sfn Tshekedi came to be recognised as a representative for all of the Tswana tribes.Template:Sfn As Seretse grew, Tshekedi insisted that he be given a liberal education rather than be sent to a Rhodesian industrial school.Template:Sfn

Development and increased British influence

In the 1920s, chief Isang Pilane of the Kgatla people oversaw the Bechuanaland Protectorate's first major water development scheme, having sixteen boreholes drilled, seven of which became successful water supplies. These became more common over the following decades as the British government took interest in expanding the protectorate's economy.Template:Sfn By the 1930s, Isang Pilane and the Native Advisory Council privatised the boreholes, as they were not maintained under collective ownership.Template:Sfn A severe drought occurred in the early 1930s, killing over 60% of the protectorate's cattle.Template:Sfn

The British government took a more active role in the protectorate's governance beginning in 1930.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn That year, it began providing direct funding to the protectorate.Template:Sfn Charles Rey was appointed Resident Commissioner of the Bechuanaland Protectorate, and he was responsible for reorganising the economy around cattle exports.Template:Sfn An initiative to reform the protectorate toward mining and commercial agricultural development was attempted but saw push back from the chiefs.Template:Sfn

Resident Commissioner Rey came into conflict with chief Sebele II, having him exiled in 1931. Sebele II was replaced by his younger brother, Kgari.Template:Sfn Further initiatives were attempted by the British government in 1934 to constrain the unchecked power of the chiefs following the overthrow of Sebele II. These initiatives mandated advisory councils that chiefs had to consult and required that the British government be given access to court records.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Chief Bathoen II of Ngwaketse and regent Tshekedi Khama of Ngwato issued a legal challenge to these initiatives. Although the British court ruled against the challenge, the new policies were never fully implemented.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Other restrictions were adopted through colonial proclamation to limit the ability of the chiefs to levy taxes and seize stray cattle.Template:Sfn A new resident commissioner, Charles Arden-Clarke, was appointed in 1936 and worked more closely with the chiefs.Template:Sfn

Early years of World War II

Fears of German attack in Bechuanaland grew in the lead up to World War II due to its strategic position between Britain's central and southern colonies in Africa. 11 days before war was declared, the British government warned the protectorate to be on standby, and military forces were organised. Four days after Britain declared war on Germany, Resident Commissioner Arden-Clarke held a meeting with the chiefs where they pledged full support for the war effort.Template:Sfn The next day, the high commission issued a proclamation of emergency powers that gave it total control over public activity in the protectorate, but the chiefs were informed that they would be responsible for most enforcement and peacekeeping.Template:Sfn

The earliest years of World War II had almost no effect on the people of Bechuanaland, and many only had a vague idea that the war existed.Template:Sfn The colonial administration shrank as large numbers of white residents enlisted in the British Army. Those who remained were focused on security planning in case southern Africa became another front in the war.Template:Sfn Against the wishes of the chiefs, the colonial administration encouraged Batswana who wished to serve with the British Army to enlist with the South African Native Military Corps.Template:Sfn About 700 Batswana men enlisted with the group.Template:Sfn

Maintaining the Bechuanaland Protectorate became a low priority for the United Kingdom during the Great Depression and World War II,Template:Sfn and the protectorate received no funding from the United Kingdom during the war.Template:Sfn The British Empire had relatively little control over Bechuanaland compared to its other territories, and British efforts to control wartime production in the protectorate were unsuccessful.Template:Sfn The war drastically altered the protectorate's economy as it went on, introducing shortages, rationing, and higher prices.Template:Sfn Profiteering and price gouging were common, and the colonial administration, unable to enforce price controls, resorted to gentlemen's agreements with traders.Template:Sfn Taxes were raised and Colonial Development Fund projects were curtailed at the onset of World War II to establish financial independence from the empire.Template:Sfn The Control of Livestock Industry Proclamation No. 1 of 1940 was passed to tax cattle, the protectorate's main industry, but it met overwhelming resistance from Batswana and the European Advisory Council.Template:Sfn A war fund operated in Bechuanaland, and although the United Kingdom expected that donations be voluntary, chiefs invoked their authority over their tribes to enforce donations. It was replaced by a levy in 1941, but this was less popular and proved difficult to enforce.Template:Sfn

Batswana participation in World War II

File:Bechuanaland Boys cleaning Aa Guns in the Twilight after Action, Syracuse, Sicily Art.IWMARTLD4576.jpg

Bechuanaland Boys cleaning Aa Guns in the Twilight after Action, Syracuse, Sicily, 1944 art piece by Leslie Cole

Military recruitment began in Bechuanaland in 1941.Template:Sfn About 5,500 men were trained and sent to war within the first six months.Template:Sfn Another 5,000 Batswana men joined the war in 1942.Template:Sfn In total, approximately 11,000 soldiers from Bechuanaland fought alongside the British Army during the war.Template:Sfn Over 10,000 of these served in the British Army's African Auxiliary Pioneer Corps.Template:Sfn The chiefs traditionally had the right to conscript soldiers, and they ignored the colonial government's wishes that military service should be entirely voluntary.Template:Sfn Regent Tshekedi Khama of Ngwato made himself unpopular by using military conscription as a tool for control, weaponising it to silence critics and political opponents.Template:Sfn Men who wished to avoid conscription sometimes fled to South Africa or to remote areas like the Okavango Delta swamps and the Kgalagadi bush.Template:Sfn Others used more immediate precautions, such as digging holes when recruiters visited.Template:Sfn

The chiefs wished to leverage their participation in the war for additional rights within the British Empire, and they feared that British defeat would make them subjects of Germany or South Africa, a fate they wished to avoid.Template:Sfn The war effort was also an opportunity to reclaim Tswana men who had migrated to South Africa for mining jobs; the chiefs wished to end this practice and felt they could do so by offering military jobs.Template:Sfn Some military pay was deferred to the families of soldiers, and limitations on exports were lifted during the war, causing an influx of money into Bechuanaland.Template:Sfn

Relative to other nations in the British Empire, the people of Beschuanaland approved of the war. Many Batswana held a sense of loyalty to the empire or felt that their interests were aligned.Template:Sfn Some chiefs, such as Kgari Sechele II of the Kwena and Molefi Pilane of the Kgatla, personally enlisted. They served as regimental sergeant majors, the highest rank available to Batswana.Template:Sfn

Toward the end of World War II, the colonial government allowed Batswana to have business licenses and operate within the protectorate. This had previously been restricted to whites and Indians.Template:Sfn

The High Commissions Territories Corps was stationed in the Middle East from 1946 to 1949.Template:Sfn

Independence movement

File:1960 6d Bechuanaland Protectorate stamp.jpg

A 1960 stamp of the Bechuanaland Protectorate featuring images of Queen Victoria and Elizabeth II, the first and last British monarchs of the protectorate

The end of World War II came with drastic social change. The chiefs came to be seen as less essential to social structure, and many gave up their universal claims over tribal cattle.Template:Sfn Other public resources, such as land and labour, were privatised and commodified.Template:Sfn Access to education created a class of liberal intellectuals who opposed the rule of the chiefs and began forming their own centres of power in workers' associations and civic groups.Template:Sfn By 1946, only 2% of the population had employment outside of agriculture and services.Template:Sfn The protectorate saw a major increase in birth rates as part of the mid-20th century baby boom in the years after World War II, accompanied by an increase in life expectancy.Template:Sfn The colonial administration began its first development project in the protectorate, a slaughterhouse, in the 1950s.Template:Sfn The British, still expecting to merge the protectorate into South Africa, finally scrapped this plan after the beginning of Apartheid.Template:Sfn As efforts began to develop a new path for the protectorate's future, the protectorate was placed in a state of limbo, and no path forward was clear.Template:Sfn One proposal was to incorporate it into the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, which the United Kingdom formed under a policy of "multi-racial partnership".Template:Sfn

When the Ngwato heir Seretse Khama came of age, regent Tshekedi Khama attempted to hold on to power.Template:Sfn Seretse married a white woman, Ruth Williams, while studying in the United Kingdom, causing scandal in the Ngwato royal family.Template:Sfn Though the public initially opposed the marriage, Tshekedi's unpopularity shifted opinion in Seretse's favour.Template:Sfn The issue was raised in the kgotla in 1949, and Tshekedi's rule was overwhelmingly rejected by thousands in attendance.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Tshekedi and his supporters fled to the Kwena in exile.Template:Sfn

The British government was less tolerant of Seretse's marriage to a white woman. In an attempt to appease the Apartheid government of South Africa, it banished the couple from the protectorate in 1950. This provoked a burgeoning nationalist movement among Seretse's supporters in the protectorate, which fully emerged in 1952.Template:Sfn During Seretse's absence, the United Kingdom placed the district commissioner in charge for four years before appointing Rasebolai Kgamane, a supporter of Tshekedi, as regent.Template:Sfn

The Ngwato tribe rebelled against Seretse's banishment.Template:Sfn His supporters petitioned for his return, and riots broke out when they were denied. Seretse was eventually allowed to return in 1956.Template:Sfn By this time, the stricter racial segregation in Apartheid South Africa dissuaded the United Kingdom from appeasing it.Template:Sfn Throughout the ordeal of Seretse's banishment, power shifted away from the chiefdomship and toward electoral bodies.Template:Sfn Tshekedi and Seretse made peace upon Seretse's return, and Seretse became the de facto leader of the Ngwato, though the United Kingdom forbade him from being the official chief.Template:Sfn With British support, the Ngwato tribe developed a tribal council, of which both Seretse and Tshekedi were members.Template:Sfn Other tribes then established similar tribal councils, which served as checks on the power of the chiefs.Template:Sfn Some animosity remained between the two men: Tshekedi wished to retain the tribal government and the power of the chiefs, while Seretse envisioned a representative democracy and weaker chiefs.Template:Sfn The amount of power invested in the chiefs became the most contentious issue in the burgeoning independence movement, especially among the Ngwato people and the Khama family.Template:Sfn

The Bechuanaland Protectorate Federal Party was the first political party formed in the protectorate when it was created by the Ngwato union leader Leetile Disang Raditladi in 1959. Composed primarily of elites and intellectuals, it advocated a unification of the Tswana tribes. The party failed to gain support and was short-lived.Template:Sfn The following year, the Bechuanaland People's Party (BPP, later the Botswana People's Party) was created as a more radical party, objecting to traditional tribal government and gaining appeal among migrant workers.Template:Sfn It was led by Motsamai Mpho, Philip Matante, and Kgalemang Morsete.Template:Sfn The BPP, created as a Tswana counterpart to the African National Congress party of South Africa,Template:Sfn supported immediate independence and the total abolition of chiefdom.Template:Sfn Fearing that the BPP would undermine the existing government and ignite tensions with the Apartheid government of South Africa, the chiefs and the British government restricted its ability to meet.Template:Sfn

The protectorate's tribes collectively formed a legislative council in 1961.Template:Sfn The Kwena people found themselves under a regent, Neale Sechele, in 1963, meaning that they had little political influence as the independence movement developed.Template:Sfn The Bechuanaland Protectorate Development Plan 1963/1968 was drafted through a deliberative process in 1963, creating an outline for the nation's independence.Template:Sfn

As the population was politically inactive overall, the United Kingdom came to be one of the leading forces toward independence. Worrying that the BPP was too radical, the United Kingdom encouraged its preferred leader, Seretse Khama, to form a political party.Template:Sfn Though Khama agreed with the BPP's antiracist and republican values, he opposed its dogmatic approach to politics and its acceptance of socialism.Template:Sfn He agreed to give up his claim over the Ngwato people to serve as a politician, forming the Bechuanaland Democratic Party (BDP, later the Botswana Democratic Party) in 1962.Template:Sfn The BDP established itself as the "party of chiefs", and it adopted ideas associated with pre-colonial tribal rule.Template:Sfn The United Kingdom supported the BDP, understanding that it would maintain the colonial era livestock trade.Template:Sfn By 1963, the Kgatla chief Linchwe was the only chief who opposed the BDP and had political influence, but the Kgatla people were in favour of the BDP, so he remained apolitical.Template:Sfn A transition process began with BDP expected to rule an independent Botswana, and the colonial government worked with BDP leadership to prepare them for running a nation.Template:Sfn

A conference was held in 1963 to oversee the creation of a new constitution. Internal strife within the BPP meant that the BDP had the most influence over the process. Tshekedi Khama had died by this time, so Bathoen II became the leader of the pro-federalisation faction, believing it would keep power in the hands of the chiefs. The United Kingdom and the Batswana politicians endorsed a unitary national government because Botswana was too poor to divide its resources and because a lack of centralisation would make it vulnerable to attacks from other nations.Template:Sfn Federalisation proved politically unviable, so a compromise was made that the chiefs would form the House of Chiefs, an advisory body within the Parliament of Botswana.Template:Sfn The chiefs still opposed this arrangement, and in a movement led by Bathoen, the House of Chiefs passed a vote of no confidence in the new government, but its lack of political power prevented it from leveraging meaningful reform.Template:Sfn The District Council's Act was passed as another means of limiting chiefs power by creating councils to preside over each district and town,Template:Sfn making these elected bodies the primary local authorities.Template:Sfn

Gaborone was built in 1965 and declared the new capital.Template:Sfn It was built on British crown land, which provided a neutral location not controlled by any one tribe.Template:Sfn The constitution was implemented the same year.Template:Sfn With this in effect, the United Kingdom granted the protectorate self-governance.Template:Sfn 1965 also saw the passing of the District Councils Act that adapted the colonial role of district commissioner by tying it to newly created district councils,Template:Sfn and it saw the establishment of the state-owned National Development Bank.Template:Sfn

Mpho split from the BPP to create the Bechuanaland Independence Party (BIP) in 1965.Template:Sfn Led by Seretse Khama and Quett Masire, the BDP campaigned in almost every village in the protectorate leading up to the first general election. Unlike other political figures in Bechuanaland, Seretse Khama had appeal across the different tribes.Template:Sfn The BDP was subsequently elected to lead the first government.Template:Sfn The BPP won only three seats in the legislature, and the BIP failed to win any.Template:Sfn After the election, the Botswana National Front (BNF) was created as a unified opposition to the BDP.Template:Sfn Founded by Kenneth Koma, the BNF became the BDP's largest rival.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

The BDP chose Khama as the nation's prime minister.Template:Sfn Unlike most inaugural political parties in Africa, the BDP was a moderate conservative party instead of a radical anti-colonial party.Template:Sfn After its formation, the House of Chiefs delivered a vote of no confidence in the constitution in 1966, leading to a national campaign in support of the constitution that garnered enough support for the chiefs to end their efforts to challenge it.Template:Sfn The protectorate was granted independence as the Republic of Botswana in 1966.Template:Sfn

Republic of Botswana

Botswana in 1966

File:Botswana Independence, 1966.png

Seretse Khama signing the oath of office to become Botswana's first President in 1966

Independence for Botswana meant the implementation of liberal democracy, bringing about elections, human rights protections, and civil service.Template:Sfn This allowed for a merit-based system of promotion and the creation of a technocratic bureaucracy.Template:Sfn The nation formed a government adapted from the Westminster system,Template:Sfn and Prime Minister Seretse Khama became President Seretse Khama.Template:Sfn A national identity was crafted, bringing together disparate ethnic groups in a single Tswana label, with a culture based on that of the Tswana tribes.Template:Sfn

Botswana retained much of its pre-colonial tribal institutions after independence.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn This was an effect of both the strong centralised government associated with the Tswana tribes and the relatively limited intervention of the British government in colonial times.Template:Sfn The deliberative nature of the nation's politics before and after independence was an exception to many other African nations that became authoritarian after independence.Template:Sfn Instead of abolishing the chiefdom, the new government incorporated it into the legal system, giving the chiefs judicial powers through the kgotla, subject to appellate courts.Template:Sfn A tradition of subservience to leadership, once given to the chiefs, shifted to the presidency.Template:Sfn The government reinforced its stability by staffing its civil service with foreign experts, as opposed to other new African countries that often expelled foreign experts.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn This preserved a Western-style bureaucratic government with an emphasis on development.Template:Sfn

The United Kingdom continued funding Botswana for the first five years of its existence.Template:Sfn Its peaceful, democratic status relative to other African nations meant that it received more aid from Western organisations.Template:Sfn At the time of independence, Botswana was an extremely poor nation, more so than most others in Africa.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn It did not have an educated workforce, with only 40 citizens having university degrees, and there were no known natural resource supplies to support the nation.Template:Sfn Botswana was dependent on the Apartheid regime in South Africa for access to the global community, and the majority of Botswana's labourers were migrant workers in South Africa.Template:Sfn Botswana came into more direct conflict with Rhodesia, which caused military skirmishes until 1978.Template:Sfn

Limited British involvement meant that little development had taken place since colonisation.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Literacy was at 25%, and only 10 kilometres of paved road existed.Template:Sfn Approximately 90% of the population was in abject poverty,Template:Sfn and most of the population were cattle farmers or subsistence farmers.Template:Sfn As the nation achieved independence, a severe drought eliminated 30–50% of the cattle population.Template:Sfn Approximately half of Batswana were dependent on the World Food Programme to avoid starvation.Template:Sfn Other nations had low expectations for Botswana, and throughout Africa it was seen as an Apartheid Bantustan.Template:Sfn This relationship with Apartheid was also a factor in Botswana's success as an independent nation: the Batswana leadership wished to avoid the same fate as South Africa should the nation fail, and the diplomatic connections formed with the West to prevent subsumption by South Africa meant that Botswana was more trusting of Western powers and willing to accept their assistance.Template:Sfn

The early leadership of Botswana was dominated by the ruling tribal families as well as a small number of highly educated public servants.Template:Sfn Their economic and ideological similarities meant that the government remained stable without political infighting.Template:Sfn Though Bathoen left his position as chief to pursue politics, most other chiefs accepted their reduced political power in the new government.Template:Sfn Further activity of the chiefs was regulated by the Chieftainship Act of 1966.Template:Sfn

A lack of corruption gave the state more legitimacy and won the favour of Western allies.Template:Sfn Unlike most newly formed African nations, much of the leadership came from the agricultural community, meaning that their interests aligned with the majority.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn This encouraged the new government to retain colonial-era policies that benefited cattle farmers.Template:Sfn The Botswana Meat Commission was created to regulate the beef industry.Template:Sfn The BDP's pan-tribal appeal and the mutual interest in establishing independence further incentivised the new government to act in the interest of the majority.Template:Sfn Small groups of white settlers remained in the country and objected to its independence.Template:Sfn Though they would later be crucial in Botswana's development, mineral rights were given low priority upon independence, and the tribes transferred them to the central government in 1967.Template:Sfn

Presidency of Seretse Khama

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The Sir Seretse Khama International Airport, named after the first president of Botswana

Khama was widely popular and seen as the natural leader of all the Tswana peoples.Template:Sfn His administration implemented policies geared toward the creation of infrastructure and public goods, particularly the paving of roads.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn He began the construction of schools, slaughterhouses, and boreholes that continued over the following decades. Inhabited land of both the Tswana and the San was used to construct the boreholes.Template:Sfn Development came at the expense of commerce and production, which was limited to the funding of livestock.Template:Sfn Considerable focus was placed on nourishing cattle and constructing slaughterhouses to stimulate the beef industry amid a draught.Template:Sfn Public welfare programs were also established.Template:Sfn The discovery of diamonds ensured that these programs received sufficient funding.Template:Sfn These investments and a conservative approach to government spending prevented the Dutch disease scenario that crippled other resource-laden African countries.Template:Sfn Education was expanded throughout the nation, and the Tswana language was standardised alongside English at the expense of other languages.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Khama justified this as a means to achieve unity.Template:Sfn

Quett Masire served as Vice-President under Seretse Khama as well as Minister of Finance.Template:Sfn He exercised control over the nation's budgeting and spending by creating a series of National Development Plans, subject to the approval of the National Assembly and the Economic Committee of the Cabinet.Template:Sfn Iterations of these plans remained a central facet of government policy well after Khama and Masire's successors took office.Template:Sfn

In 1967, diamonds were discovered in Botswana by the South African diamond company De Beers, and operations began shortly after.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Copper deposits were found in Selebi-Phikwe that year, further revealing the nation's mineral wealth.Template:Sfn The government partnered with De Beers in 1969 to carry out larger diamond mining operations,Template:Sfn and it was involved with a renegotiation of the Southern African Customs Union the same year to greatly improve its economic leverage in the region.Template:Sfn A mine in Morupule began producing coal in 1973, providing the nation with a large share of its power supply.Template:Sfn The Orapa diamond mine was opened in Orapa in 1971, and a revenue sharing agreement was finalised between the government and De Beers in 1974.Template:Sfn Masire later confirmed that De Beers had funded his private ventures, causing speculation that the company may have received an advantageous deal in the matter.Template:Sfn

The Water Act and the Tribal Land Act were enacted in 1968, creating the Water Apportionment Board and twelve land boards, respectively. These oversaw the apportionment of water and land rights by the state rather than through the ownership of each tribe.Template:Sfn Through this, they effectively subsumed the traditional powers of the chiefs.Template:Sfn The Tribal Grazing Lands Policy was implemented in 1975 to prevent overgrazing, but it proved unsuccessful.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In effect, it allowed wealthy citizens to claim large plots of land for cattle at the expense of less wealthy citizens.Template:Sfn

The first election after independence took place in 1969.Template:Sfn The BDP did slightly worse relative to its 1965 performance, and Vice-President Masire lost his seat to Bathoen, requiring him to take a specially elected seat.Template:Sfn The BPP faded in relevance as the politics of Botswana developed.Template:Sfn

The state-owned Botswana Development Corporation was founded in 1970,Template:Sfn and the Orapa diamond mine opened in 1971.Template:Sfn By 1973, diamonds made up 10% of Botswana's GDP,Template:Sfn and by the end of the 1970s, mining was the largest industry in the country.Template:Sfn The government of Botswana renegotiated its mining agreement with De Beers between 1971 and 1975, shifting the majority of earnings to the nation.Template:Sfn As the diamond economy developed and investments were made back into the country, Botswana escaped poverty and came to be seen as a success among the other nations in post-colonial sub-Saharan Africa.Template:Sfn These developments made Botswana the fastest growing economy in the world.Template:Sfn The upper and middle classes saw the most benefit, increasing wealth inequality, but it also meant taxes could be lowered, which earned the support of peasants.Template:Sfn

Botswana's development and its use of foreign civil service was successful enough that the government convinced the United States to send the Peace Corps without traditional limitations on what roles the organisation can perform.Template:Sfn With the 1970s came an increase in young locally educated Batswana, who became more influential in government.Template:Sfn As these newcomers received similar education and began working in the same administrative culture, there was no major operational difference between the foreigner-led civil service and that run by the Batswana.Template:Sfn

The Ministry of Development Planning had briefly existed following a schism in the Ministry of Finance between traditional caretakers who had been associated with the protectorate against Masire's supporters who wished to see more aggressive development. The latter took control, and the ministries were reunified as the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning in 1970. Because of the limited number of qualified people to manage the economy, this ministry took almost full control of the government's spending and initiated the Shashe Project that called for extensive development exceeding the country's GDP. This included the establishment of a copper and nickel mining complex, which became the government's highest priority.Template:Sfn

In 1973, Seepapitso IV became the first chief to be suspended from his position in the post-colonial era.Template:Sfn The BDP was again highly successful in the 1974 election.Template:Sfn Minimum wages were introduced the same year.Template:Sfn

Botswana began issuing its own currency, the Botswana pula, in 1976. Bank of Botswana governor Quill Hermans pushed for financial disentanglement from South Africa and its South African rand. Despite international concerns that Botswana might not be able to maintain its own currency, Khama felt that his economic advisors were capable and trusted their decision.Template:Sfn Within a decade of independence, Botswana was one of the wealthiest nations in the Third World.Template:Sfn The economic transformation is referred to as Botswana's "miracle".Template:Sfn

Linchwe II, chief of the Kgatla people, reinstated the bogwera initiation rite for his tribe in 1975, aggravating the national government.Template:Sfn Khama took a universalist approach in his administration, avoiding ethnic politics and rejecting the influence of tribal leaders in favour of civil servants.Template:Sfn He at times asked individuals to resign if one ethnic group became too influential in the civil service.Template:Sfn The Tswana peoples feared that dissent from the Kalanga minority could be destabilising. To addresses this, Khama incorporated educated members of the Kalanga tribe into the government, appointing many to high-ranking positions. The decision was controversial, and it spawned conspiracy theories about malevolent influence of the Kalanga.Template:Sfn These sometimes centred on the Bakalanga Students Association, which became the Society for the Promotion of Ikalanga Language in 1980.Template:Sfn

Fear of neighbouring white-led governments in Namibia, Rhodesia, and South Africa, as well as the danger of the Angolan Civil War, led Botswana to create a national military in 1977.Template:Sfn Prior to this, the Botswana Police Service was responsible for national security. The lack of military meant that Botswana was not susceptible to leading causes of instability in other African nations: military coups and corruption through military spending.Template:Sfn The military saw combat the following year when Rhodesian militants attacked Leshoma, killing fifteen soldiers.Template:Sfn

In its partnership with De Beers, the government of Botswana formed the Debswana mining company in 1978, acquiring significant income for the state.Template:Sfn Mining became the predominant industry of the nation's economy over the following decades,Template:Sfn and Botswana became the world's fastest growing economy.Template:Sfn Foreign involvement in the economy became a political issue at this time as outsiders collected on the nation's growth while domestic jobs developed slowly.Template:Sfn Cattle farming, which had already been affected by a major outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in 1977,Template:Sfn lost the significance that it had previously held.Template:Sfn

Presidency of Quett Masire

File:Quett Masire DF-SC-85-12044.JPEG

Quett Masire visiting the United States in 1984

After Seretse Khama's death in 1980, Vice-President Quett Masire became the president of Botswana.Template:Sfn Despite concerns about Khama's succession, Masire maintained the government infrastructure he helped build and preserved faith in the government.Template:Sfn To appease Khama's Ngwato tribe and the other northern tribes, Masire appointed Khama's cousin, Lenyeletse Seretse, as vice-president.Template:Sfn Popular opinion among the Ngwato was that Khama's son, Ian Khama, was entitled to the presidency. Upon Lenyeletse's death in 1983, Masire selected Peter Mmusi to replace him. This time he selected someone from a southern tribe, so as not to set a precedent that the president and vice-president must always be from opposite regions.Template:Sfn

Botswana was part of the Southern African Development Coordination Conference established in 1980 to create a southern African market.Template:Sfn The nation was affected by the early 1980s recession.Template:Sfn The Jwaneng diamond mine began operation 1982, becoming the most lucrative diamond mine in the world. The University of Botswana was created the same year when it split from the University of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland.Template:Sfn Legal developments in 1982, the Financial Assistance Policy and the legalisation of commercial activity by civil servants, spurred the nation's economy but also loosened regulations that would prevent corruption.Template:Sfn As democracy and economic growth proved to be long-term trends, Botswana garnered a reputation as an "African miracle".Template:Sfn

Strong opposition to the BDP-controlled government first arose in the 1980s. Opposition parties began winning local elections, interest groups began forming, and five major anti-BDP newspapers began publication.Template:Sfn Previously dependent on support by specific ethnic groups, the BNF gained support among the working class.Template:Sfn By the 1984 general election, it was a competitive opposition party.Template:Sfn

A severe drought affected Botswana from 1982 to 1987, necessitating government food assistance for about 65% of rural Batswana.Template:Sfn Masire's critics associated him with this drought as it coincided with the beginning of his presidency, suggesting that Khama had a divine mandate that Masire did not.Template:Sfn Mid-way through the 1980s, the diamond industry reached its peak at 53% of the national GDP.Template:Sfn By this time, the nation's economy became strong enough that citizens were no longer incentivised to opt for subsistence agriculture or migration for work in South Africa.Template:Sfn Entrepreneurship became more widespread, particularly among former government workers who moved from the public sector to the private sector.Template:Sfn Free secondary education was established in 1989.Template:Sfn Trade unions and other special interest groups developed in the 1980s to influence public policy, although the government was often unwilling to acknowledge them.Template:Sfn It responded to the burgeoning labour movement by passing heavy restrictions on unions in 1983.Template:Sfn The decade also introduced movements for the recognition of minority ethnicities, rejecting the national Tswana identity.Template:Sfn

During the 1980s, South Africa began military incursions into Botswana to seek out South African rebels. In response to the civilian casualties, the government of Botswana increased military spending.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn It also tasked the military with wildlife protection and anti-poaching enforcement in response to the danger posed by armed poachers.Template:Sfn

The first case of HIV/AIDS in Botswana was diagnosed in 1985, and over the following decade the country became the most severely affected in the world.Template:Sfn Life expectancy in Botswana would drop from 67 to 50 by 1997.Template:Sfn A dramatic shift in Botswana's health system followed through the 1980s and 1990s; Western medicine grew more widely respected alongside traditional healing, and private hospitals were established to coexist with the government-run facilities.Template:Sfn

The early 1990s recession affected Botswana.Template:Sfn A landmark constitutional court case brought by Unity Dow ended with a ruling in 1991 that children could inherit citizenship from their mothers as well as their fathers, which was adopted into law with the Citizenship Act of 1995.Template:Sfn

The Kgabo Commission was held in 1991 to investigate governmental land boards, and it found that ethical violations had been committed by Vice-President Peter Mmusi and BDP Secretary General Daniel Kwelagobe, both of whom were also members of the Cabinet of Botswana.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Facing outrage within the government and among the public, both resigned.Template:Sfn The fallout created two polarised factions within the party, one led by the two former cabinet members (the Big Two),Template:Sfn and one led by their opponents (the Big Five): Festus Mogae, Bihiti Temane, Chapson Butale, Gaositwe Chiepe, and their leader Mompati Merafhe.Template:Sfn This built on tensions that had grown between the southern leadership of the BLP and the new generation of politicians from the north.Template:Sfn Masire chose Mogae as the new vice-president.Template:Sfn

Worried about the possibility of normalising corruption, Masire hired the deputy head of the Hong Kong Independent Commission Against Corruption (Hong Kong) to create a similar organisation in Botswana.Template:Sfn The Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime was created in 1994, and a land board tribunal was created to hear appeals of land board decisions in 1995.Template:Sfn

The BDP's position as the dominant party received its first serious challenge in light of the Kgabo Commission.Template:Sfn The scandal and the resulting schism in the BDP allowed the BNF to become a more competitive opposition party after the 1994 general election.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn With the added complication of urbanisation reducing the BDP's rural base, opposition parties held a significant minority in the National Assembly.Template:Sfn Following Mmusi's death, Kwelagobe aligned with Ponatshego Kedikilwe, and they formed the Barata-Phathi faction of the BDP. The Big Five developed into the A-Team faction.Template:Sfn

Botswana benefited from the end of the South African Apartheid government in 1994, as the new African-led government did not restrict Botswana's growth or engage in military operations across the border.Template:Sfn As the region stabilised, economic developments like shopping malls, property speculation, and citizen-owned tourism expanded.Template:Sfn

The Ngwaketse tribe came into conflict with the government in April 1994, when minister of local government and lands Patrick Balope accused chief Seepapitso IV of failure to fulfil his duties and ordered the chief's suspension—the second suspension of Seepapitso's rule.Template:Sfn Seepapitso's son Leema accepted an appointment to the role, against Seepapitso's wishes.Template:Sfn The tribe wrestled with the issue of Leema's ambiguous legitimacy and the fear that tribal culture would not longer be recognised, and the removal became a national issue.Template:Sfn Seepapitso filed a legal challenge, and the court ruled on 22 February 1995 that while Seepapitso's removal was legal, Leema's appointment was not.Template:Sfn With the power of appointment returned to the tribe, they refused to choose a new leader as a form of protest. The government then relented and allowed Seepapitso to be reinstated.Template:Sfn

The ritual murder of Segametsi Mogomotsi, a 14-year-old girl from Mochudi, took place in November 1994. Social unrest broke out when the suspects, who were wealthy businessmen and politicians, were released for lack of evidence. Over the following months, student-led protests and riots against the use of occult practices like ritual murder to gain wealth took place.Template:Sfn

An outbreak of contagious bovine pleuropneumonia in 1995 caused the deaths of 320,000 cattle.Template:Sfn The Agriculture Act of 1995 expanded the process of privatising communal land.Template:Sfn

Minority tribes increasingly pushed for recognition beginning in the 1990s.Template:Sfn The government began the removal of San people from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in 1995.Template:Sfn While it argued that the intention was to help integrate communities that were too remote, and it offered livestock to incentivise cooperation, international organisations accused the government of coercion and forced displacement to make room for mining.Template:Sfn The first major legal effort to protect the rights of ethnic minorities came from a 1995 motion in parliament to define the constitution as tribally neutral, but it was tabled. The Kamanakao Association was formed the same year by the academic Lydia Nyati-Ramahobo to protect the rights of the Yeyi people.Template:Sfn

A series of governmental and electoral reforms were implemented in the final years of Masire's presidency. Election supervision was transferred to an independent body, the voting age was lowered from 21 to 18, postal voting was implemented, and policies were enacted to protect labour rights and gender equality.Template:Sfn Masire wished to create a stable order of succession and to ensure that his chosen successor Vice-President Mogae became president, so he worked with the lawyer Parks Tafa to draft a constitutional amendment. This implemented automatic succession and term limits for the presidency.Template:Sfn He then forced the amendment through on his own initiative.Template:Sfn Reforming the nation's economy, a tentative system of tripartism was implemented to bring together government, the private sector, and labour representatives.Template:Sfn When the party was selecting its central committee membership in 1997, the risk of factionalism grew severe enough that Masire cancelled its internal election and had the factions give him lists of names.Template:Sfn

Presidency of Festus Mogae

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Festus Mogae alongside foreign presidents Joaquim Chissano, George W. Bush, and José Eduardo dos Santos in 2002

Masire stepped down as president on 1 April 1998, and he was succeeded by Vice-President Festus Mogae.Template:Sfn Mogae made the controversial decision to appoint Ian Khama, commander of the army and the son of Seretse Khama, as the next vice-president,Template:Sfn passing his choice through by threatening to dissolve parliament.Template:Sfn Although they were officially neutral between the factions of the BDP, Mogae and Khama were both understood to be major figures among the A-Team.Template:Sfn

1998 saw one of many splits within the BNF opposition party. It had divided into two factions: the conservatives who held socialist beliefs and the progressives who held social democratic beliefs. Violence at the party's congress saw progressives split off into their own party, the Botswana Congress Party (BCP), which became the main opposition party until they lost most of their seats in the 1999 election.Template:Sfn This division of the opposition, as well as the civil reforms of the previous years, allowed the BDP to regain some of the seats that it lost in 1994.Template:Sfn Several southern members of the BCP's leadership returned to the BNF after all of the top positions were taken by northerners.Template:Sfn

To raise themselves to the level of the Tswana tribes, the Yeyi people named a paramount chief in 1999, but this went unrecognised by the Chieftainship Act. They brought the issue to the Supreme Court, which struck the relevant provision of the law as discriminatory.Template:Sfn Mogae established a commission in 2000 to review minority tribes' representation in the House of Chiefs, which in turn caused protest from those who felt Mogae sought to undermine the power of the chiefs.Template:Sfn The commission determined that the House of Chiefs should be retained, and it was renamed to the Setswana Ntlo ya Dikgosi.Template:Sfn Other proposed changes were not accepted following pushback from the major Tswana tribes, particularly the Ngwato.Template:Sfn The following year, the Kgatla-baga-Mmanaana people saw their chief Gobuamang Gobuamang II formally recognised as a minor kgosi within the Kwena territory where they reside.Template:Sfn

The Botswana–Namibia border came under dispute in 1999 when both countries claimed a territory in the Caprivi Strip.Template:Sfn In the 2000s, Botswana invested heavily in the development of an air force.Template:Sfn Botswana Television was established in 2000. The Tsodilo Hills became a World Heritage Site in 2001. The San people issued a legal challenge in 2002 to contest their expulsion from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, but the case was dismissed. Mosadi Seboko of the Lete people became the first female leader of a tribe in 2003.Template:Sfn Mogae had one of the government's most prominent critics, Kenneth Good, deported in February 2005.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The Three Dikgosi Monument was unveiled in 2005.Template:Sfn

Mogae considered the nation's HIV/AIDS pandemic to be the most important issue during his presidency.Template:Sfn To combat it, he made antiretroviral treatments for HIV/AIDS freely available.Template:Sfn

Presidency of Ian Khama

File:London Conference on The Illegal Wildlife Trade (12499797834).jpg

Ian Khama meeting with William Hague in London

Ian Khama succeeded to the presidency at the end of Mogae's term on 1 April 2008.Template:Sfn His style of leadership was advertised as following the "four Ds": democracy, development, dignity, and discipline.Template:Sfn After taking office, he restructured the nation's executive in a more hierarchical manner, centralising power around the presidency.Template:Sfn

Khama placed emphasis on national security in his administration. During his tenure, the Directorate of Intelligence and Security came to be known for politically motivated espionage and arrests against his political opponents. He also appointed several former military figures in his governmentTemplate:Sfn Botswana was less involved in the African Union during Khama's presidency, instead presenting a more Western-orientated foreign policy.Template:Sfn

The 2008 financial crisis pressured Botswana's economy, which remained dependent on diamond mines despite the government's efforts.Template:Sfn The diamond industry ended a steady decline when it stabilised at about 39% of the nation's GDP in 2009.Template:Sfn

Regulation of chiefs was reformed in 2008 with the Bogosi Act.Template:Sfn Khama supported devolving power to the chiefs in the name of restoring discipline and traditional morality.Template:Sfn He issued a directive that increased the legal drinking age to 21, empowered minor tribal leaders to order floggings, created mephato groups to be vigilantes, and reintroduced corporal punishment in schools.Template:Sfn Several newly installed chiefs endorsed this policy and implemented stricter punishments for wrongdoers.Template:Sfn Among these was Kgafela II, chief of the Kgatla people. To enforce traditional morality among his people, he significantly increased the use of flogging for those who violated the law. Kgafela and others involved were criminally charged for misusing the punishment in 2010, and the court dismissed his claim of immunity, determining that chiefs lack sovereignty and are subject to the constitution.Template:Sfn

As the BDP chose its party leadership in 2009, Khama appointed numerous A-Team figures to party sub-committees despite the victory of the Barata-Phathi during the party's congress.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn When the party's secretary general Gomolemo Motswaledi consulted with lawyers to question the legality of Khama's actions, Khama had him suspended from the committee. After taking the issue to court, it was found that the incumbent president is immune from legal prosecution, and Khama suspended Motswaledi from the BDP entirely.Template:Sfn In early 2010, Khama suspended and then expelled several other members of the Barata-Phathi faction from the BDP.Template:Sfn This led to the BDP's first major split in March when the Barata-Phathi faction left the party to form the Botswana Movement of Democracy.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

The Public Service Act took effect in 2010, legalising strikes for civil servants under some circumstances.Template:Sfn The following year, the Botswana Federation of Public Sector Unions (BOFEPUSU) led a two-month strike among the nation's civil service to demand a 16% pay, and the government responded by removing thousands of employees from their positions.Template:Sfn The removals were overseen by Mokgweetsi Masisi, the Minister for Presidential Affairs.Template:Sfn To oppose the government's position, BOFEPUSU facilitated a merger of major opposition parties into the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC).Template:Sfn This new group was led by Duma Boko, who had taken charge of the BNF in 2010 and moderated its rhetoric.Template:Sfn

Khama implemented strong conservation reforms during his presidency, especially regarding hunting. While applauded internationally and forming the reputation of Botswana as a "green miracle", they were met with frustration domestically because of the unilateral top-down means they were implemented, especially from those living in the designated conservation areas.Template:Sfn These policies included an escalation of military anti-poaching practices; anti-poaching units were equipped with automatic firearms to complement a shoot-to-kill policy against suspected poachers.Template:Sfn

The BDP retained its majority in the legislature after the following election, but for the first time it did so with only a plurality of the popular vote.Template:Sfn Ian Khama then appointed Masisi as his vice-president.Template:Sfn The decision was controversial because of Masisi's inexperience relative to other possible choices.Template:Sfn According to Mogae, Masisi was chosen with the understanding that he would appoint Tshekedi Khama II as vice-president after taking the presidency himself.Template:Sfn Botsalo Ntuane was elected Secretary General of the BDP in 2015 on a platform of anti-corruption and electoral reform. This threatened the entrenched nature of the BDP, and Ntuane found a political rival in Masisi.Template:Sfn Khama was hostile to the press, especially toward outlets that disagreed with his administration's actions. He had two journalists charged with sedition in 2017, but the chargers were later dropped.Template:Sfn

Presidency of Mokgweetsi Masisi

File:Illegal Wildlife Trade Conference London 2018 (45245990491).jpg

Mokgweetsi Masisi speaking at a conference on the illegal wildlife trade in London in 2018

Masisi became president at the end of Khama's term on 1 April 2018. As the 2019 general election approached, Masisi developed an image to contrast himself from Khama, presenting himself as an anti-corruption figure while supporting the media and BOFEPUSU.Template:Sfn His anti-corruption drive resulted in the arrest of Isaac Kgosi, who had led the Directorate of Intelligence and Security in Khama's administration.Template:Sfn

Masisi proceeded to reverse many of Khama's policies.Template:Sfn Among these were the repeal of conservation policies, including a controversial hunting ban that targeted the ivory trade.Template:Sfn He also oversaw the decriminalisation of homosexuality.Template:Sfn As this developed, Masisi and Khama became rivals instead of allies. Khama attempted to recruit Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi as an alternative BDP candidate against Masisi, and when that failed, he founded his own party, the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF).Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

The BDP reclaimed a majority of the popular vote in 2019,Template:Sfn but the election was marred by government pressure and occasional raids against opposition figures. The UDC challenged the results, but they were unsuccessful.Template:Sfn Regional trends shifted in 2019 as the BDP lost some of its support in the north while increasing its influence in the south.Template:Sfn The election also saw the primary opposition party, the BNF, lose ground to the BCP.Template:Sfn

Like most nations, Botswana saw major economic decline during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the country stayed in lockdown for much of 2020 and 2021.Template:Sfn The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant was discovered in Botswana later in 2021.Template:Sfn Anti-Indian sentiment became widespread as the Indian community in Botswana was relatively wealthy.Template:Sfn

Khama fled to South Africa in exile in November 2021, and the government of Botswana charged him with illegal ownership of weapons soon after.Template:Sfn

Presidency of Duma Boko

File:Secretary Rubio Meets with Botswana President Boko (54371806715).jpg

Duma Boko signing an agreement with the United States in 2025

The UDC became the first opposition party in Botswana to take power following its victory in the 2024 general election, ending 58 years of rule by the BDP.Template:Sfn In his first State of the Nation Address in November 2024, Duma Boko said that his government would push for increased investment into solar energy, medicinal cannabis and industrial hemp. He also announced engagements with Elon Musk to extend affordable internet access nationwide through Starlink.Template:Sfn In March 2025, Botswana launched its first satellite, the BOTSAT-1, into space.Template:Sfn Boko attended the satellite's launch, which took place at SpaceX facilities in the United States.Template:Sfn

See also

• Bibliography of Botswana
• Culture of Botswana
• Demographics of Botswana
• Economy of Botswana
• Geography of Botswana
• History of Africa
• History of Southern Africa
• History of Gaborone
• List of Botswana-related topics
• List of years in Botswana
• Outline of Botswana
• Timeline of Botswana
• Timeline of Gaborone
• Politics of Botswana

References

Books

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Oxford Research Encyclopedia

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Web

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Further reading

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