Editing Bechuanaland Protectorate (section)

==History==
Scottish missionary [[John Mackenzie (missionary)|John Mackenzie]] (1835–1899), sponsored by the [[London Missionary Society]] (LMS), lived at [[Shoshong]] from 1862 to 1876. He warned that African peoples were threatened by [[Boer|Boers]] encroaching on their territory from the south. He campaigned for the establishment of what became the Bechuanaland Protectorate, to be ruled directly from Britain.<ref>"John Mackenzie" in ''Dictionary of African Christian Biography'' (2014) [https://web.archive.org/web/20170620025704/http://dacb.org/stories/southafrica/mackenzie_john2.html online]</ref> ''Austral Africa: Losing It or Ruling It'' (1887) is Mackenzie's account of events leading to the establishment of the protectorate. Influenced by Mackenzie, in January 1885 the British government decided to send a [[Bechuanaland Expedition|military expedition to South Africa]] to assert British sovereignty over the contested territory. [[Lieutenant Colonel (United Kingdom)|Lieutenant Colonel]] [[Charles Warren|Sir Charles Warren]] (1840–1927) led a force of 4,000 Imperial troops north from [[Cape Town]]. After making treaties with several African chiefs, Colonel Warren announced the establishment of the protectorate in March 1885.<ref>Former deputy attorney-general Tendekani Malebeswa paints a different picture: "The imposition of a protectorate in 1885 by the British was a purely unilateral act to secure their own interests, and it was not in direct response to any request made by any person in what later became Bechuanaland Protectorate. On the contrary, evidence shows that Chiefs Bathoen I of Bangwaketse and Sechele I of Bakwena were sceptical about the protection, whilst Chief Khama III of Bangwato was most receptive to the idea (Morton and Ramsay). ... Warren informed Chiefs Bathoen of Bangwaketse, Khama of Bangwato and Sebele of Bakwena about the protection in May 1885 (Mogalakwe, 2006)." (from T. E. Malebeswa (2020): ''Tribal Territories Act, indirect rule, chiefs and subjects'')</ref> In September that year the Tswana country south of the Molopo River was proclaimed the Crown colony of [[British Bechuanaland]]. Mackenzie accompanied Warren, and ''Austral Africa'' contains a detailed account of the expedition. 
<ref>{{Cite book
| publisher = Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington
| via = World Digital Library
| last = Mackenzie
| first = John
| title = Austral Africa: Losing It or Ruling It; Being Incidents and Experiences in Bechuanaland, Cape Colony, and England
| location = London
| access-date = 19 June 2014
| date = 1887
| url = http://www.wdl.org/en/item/2525
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180412145903/https://www.wdl.org/en/item/2525/
| archive-date = 12 April 2018
| url-status = dead
}}</ref>

Bechuanaland meant the "country of the [[Tswana people|Tswana]]" (from an archaic form of ''[[Tswana people|Batswana]]'' plus ''-land'') and for administrative purposes was divided into two political entities. The northern part was administered as the Bechuanaland Protectorate and the southern part was administered as the [[crown colony]] of [[British Bechuanaland]]. British Bechuanaland was incorporated into the [[Cape Colony]] in 1895 and now forms part of South Africa.<ref name="Morton">{{Cite book|editor1-last=Morton |editor1-first=Fred |editor2-last=Ramsay |editor2-first=Jeff |year=1987 |title=The Birth of Botswana: A history of the Bechuanaland Protectorate from 1910 to 1966 |location=Gaborone, Botswana |publisher=Longman Botswana  |isbn=978-0-582-00584-6}}</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2021}}

The northern part, the Bechuanaland Protectorate, had an area of {{convert|225000|sqmi|km2}}, and a population of 120,776. It comprised an area occupied by the three main Tswana peoples: the [[Bamangwato]], the [[Bakwena]] and the [[Bangwaketse]], together with a number of minor tribes like the [[Bamalete]] and the Bakhatla. Also living in the Protectorate were the descendants of the original inhabitants of the area, such as [[Bushmen]] and [[Makalaka]], who had been dispossessed by the Tswana peoples in the course of their migration south.<ref>Peters (1947), p. 1</ref>

The British government originally expected to turn over the administration of the protectorate to [[Company rule in Rhodesia|Rhodesia]] or South Africa, but Tswana opposition left the protectorate under British rule until its independence in 1966.

The Bechuanaland Protectorate was technically a [[protectorate]] rather than a colony. Originally the local Tswana rulers were left in power, and British administration was limited to the police force to protect Bechuanaland's borders against other European colonial ventures. But on 9 May 1891 the British Government gave the administration of the protectorate to the [[High Commissioner for Southern Africa]], who started to appoint officials in Bechuanaland, and the ''de facto'' independence of Bechuanaland ended.<ref>{{harvnb|Morton|Ramsay|1987|page=needed}}</ref>

The protectorate was administered from [[Mahikeng|Mafeking]], creating an unusual situation, the capital of the territory being located outside of the territory. The area of Mafeking (from 1980 with the incorporation into [[Bophuthatswana]] Mafikeng, since 2010 [[Mahikeng]]), was called 'The Imperial Reserve'. In 1885, when the protectorate was declared, Bechuanaland was bounded to the north by the latitude of [[22nd parallel south|22° south]].<ref>"This northern limit of the Bechuanaland Protectorate was an arbitrary one, fixed without survey on the spot, and the northernmost Bechuana chief, Khama, claimed actual and potential jurisdiction far beyond it. A disputed northern boundary is one of the features of early Protectorate history. Also excluded from the Protectorate by definition in 1885 was the branch of the Tswana people living round Lake Ngami." (Peters (1947), p. 1)</ref> The northern boundary of the protectorate was formally extended northward by the British to include [[Ngamiland]], which was then dominated by the [[Rulers of baTawana|Tawana]] state, on 30 June 1890.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Builders of Botswana: The Northern Border |date=8 March 2002 |newspaper=Daily News |location=Botswana |url=http://www.gov.bw/cgi-bin/news.cgi?d=20020308 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020419180253/http://www.gov.bw/cgi-bin/news.cgi?d=20020308 |archive-date=19 April 2002 |url-status=dead}}</ref> This claim was formally recognised by Germany the following day by Article III of the [[Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty]], which confirmed the western boundary of the British protectorate of Bechuanaland and the German protectorate of [[German South-West Africa|South-West Africa]] and also created the [[Caprivi strip]] inherited by modern [[Namibia]]:<ref>{{Cite web|title=Anglo-German Treaty [Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty] (July 1, 1890) |work=German History in Documents and Images, Volume 5. Wilhelmine Germany and the First World War, 1890-1918 |publisher=German Historical Institute |location=Washington, D.C. |url=http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/pdf/eng/606_Anglo-German%20Treaty_110.pdf }}</ref>

<blockquote> 
In Southwest Africa, Germany's sphere of influence is demarcated thus:

# To the south by the line that commences at the mouth of the [[Orange River]] and continues up its northern bank to its intersection point with the [[20th meridian east|20° east]] [[longitude]].
# To the east by the line that commences at the aforementioned point and follows the 20th degree of east longitude to its intersection point with the [[22nd parallel south|22° south]] [[latitude]]. The line then traces this degree of latitude eastward to its intersection with the [[21st meridian east|21° east]] longitude, follows this degree of longitude northward to its intersection with the [[18th parallel south|18° south]] latitude, runs along this degree of latitude eastward to its intersection with the [[Chobe River]]. Here it descends the [[thalweg]] of the main channel until it meets the [[Zambezi]], where it ends. It is understood that under this arrangement Germany shall be granted free access from its protectorate to the Zambezi by means of a strip of land not less than twenty English miles wide at any point. Great Britain's sphere of influence is bounded to the west and northwest by the previously described line and includes [[Lake Ngami]].
</blockquote>

British officials did not arrive in the Ngamiland region until 1894.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Builders of Botswana |date=7 September 2001 |newspaper=Daily News |location=Botswana |url=http://www.gov.bw/cgi-bin/news.cgi?d=20010907 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020224094916/http://www.gov.bw/cgi-bin/news.cgi?d=20010907 |archive-date=24 February 2002 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The [[Tati Concessions Land|Tati Concessions Land Act]] of 21 January 1911 transferred the new eastern territory to the protectorate:
<blockquote>From the place where the [[Shashe River]] rises to its junction with the [[Tati River|Tati]] and [[Ramokgwebana River]]s, thence along the [[Ramokgwebana River]] to where it rises and thence along the watershed of those rivers,
</blockquote>
This territory was originally claimed by [[Matabeleland]]. In 1887 Samuel Edwards, working for [[Cecil Rhodes]], obtained a mining concession, and in 1895 the [[British South Africa Company]] attempted to acquire the area, but the Tswana chiefs [[Bathoen I]], [[Khama III]] and [[Sebele I]] visited London to protest and were successful in fending off the BSAC. This territory forms the modern [[North-East District (Botswana)|North-East District]] of Botswana.

Furthermore, Southern Bechuanaland was heavily affected by the [[1890s African rinderpest epizootic]] which temporarily damaged the economy.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Marquardt |first=Gary |date=2017-03-04 |title=Building a Perfect Pest: Environment, People, Conflict and the Creation of a Rinderpest Epizootic in Southern Africa |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03057070.2017.1291162 |journal=Journal of Southern African Studies|volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=349–363 |doi=10.1080/03057070.2017.1291162 |issn=0305-7070|url-access=subscription }}</ref>