Ethnic Groups In Botswana
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Ethnic Groups In Botswana
The population of Botswana is divided into the main ethnic groups of Tswana people (79%), Kalanga people (11%), and Basarwa (or Bushmen) (3%). The remaining 7% consist of other peoples, including some speaking the Kgalagadi language, and 1% of non-African people. About 79% of the total population speak Setswana as second and first language. The ethnic Tswana is split up among eight tribes: Bamangwato, Bakwena, Bangwaketse, Bakgatla, Barolong, Bamalete, and Batlokwa, Batawana. See also * Languages of Botswana * List of African ethnic groups The ethnic groups of Africa number in the thousands, with each population generally having its own Languages of Africa, language (or dialect of a language) and culture. The ethnolinguistic groups include various Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiati ... References {{Botswana-stub ...
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Botswana
Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the south and southeast, Namibia to the west and north, and Zimbabwe to the northeast. It is connected to Zambia across the short Zambezi River border by the Kazungula Bridge. A country of slightly over 2.3 million people, Botswana is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world. About 11.6 percent of the population lives in the capital and largest city, Gaborone. Formerly one of the world's poorest countries—with a GDP per capita of about US$70 per year in the late 1960s—it has since transformed itself into an upper-middle-income country, with one of the world's fastest-growing economies. Modern-day humans first inhabited the country over 200,000 years ago. The Tswana ethn ...
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Tswana People
The Tswana ( tn, Batswana, singular ''Motswana'') are a Bantu-speaking ethnic group native to Southern Africa. The Tswana language is a principal member of the Sotho-Tswana language group. Ethnic Tswana made up approximately 85% of the population of Botswana in 2011. Batswana are the native people of south and eastern Botswana, and the Gauteng, North West, Northern Cape and Free State provinces of South Africa, where the majority of Batswana are located. History Early history of Batswana The Batswana are descended mainly from Bantu-speaking tribes along with the Khoi-San. Tswana tribe migrated southward to Africa around 600 CE, living in tribal enclaves as farmers and herders. Several Iron Age cultures flourished around the 900 CE, including the Toutswemogala Hill Iron Age settlement. The Toutswe were in the eastern region of what is now Botswana, relying on Tswana cattle breed held in kraals as their source of wealth. The arrival of the ancestors of the Tswana-spea ...
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Kalanga People
The Kalanga or Bakalanga are a southern Bantu ethnic group mainly inhabiting Matebeleland in Zimbabwe, northeastern Botswana and Limpopo Province in South Africa. They are historically related to the Nambya, Karanga, Bapedi and Venda. Current day BaKalanga people are descendants of the Leopard Kopje’s people who greatly influenced civilization in the Southern sphere of the African continent. BaKalanga history shows and tells us that they are the builders of the Mapungubwe Empire which was Southern Africa’s first uniform Kingdom. From Mapungubwe they were also part of the Karanga Kingdom of Great Zimbabwe (Nzimabwe,or Nzi we Mabwe-TjiKalanga language). Upon the fall of the Great Zimbabwe Kingdom they went on to build the Khami ruins found in today’s Matebeleland Province in Zimbabwe and lastly proceeded on to occupy the Domboshaba (Botswana) and Njelele (Zimbabwe) shrines. Kalanga people also believe in rainmaking rites like their BaLobedu and VhaVenda counterparts as wi ...
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Bushmen
The San peoples (also Saan), or Bushmen, are members of various Khoe languages, Khoe, Tuu languages, Tuu, or Kxʼa languages, Kxʼa-speaking indigenous hunter-gatherer cultures that are the Indigenous peoples of Africa, first cultures of Southern Africa, and whose territories span Botswana, Namibia, Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and South Africa. In 2017, Botswana was home to approximately 63,500 San people (roughly 2.8% of the population) making it the country with the highest number of San people. Definition The term "San" has a long vowel and is spelled Sān (in Khoekhoegowab orthography). It is a Khoekhoe exonym with the meaning of "foragers" and was often used in a derogatory manner to describe nomadic, foraging people. Based on observation of lifestyle, this term has been applied to speakers of three distinct language families living between the Okavango River in Botswana and Etosha National Park in northwestern Namibia, extending up into southern Angola; central ...
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Kgalagadi Language
Kgalagadi is a Bantu language spoken in Botswana, along the South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...n border. It is spoken by about people. In the language, it is known as ''Shekgalagari''. Classification Kgalagadi (also rendered ''Kgalagari, Kgalagarhi, Kgalagari, Khalagari, Khalakadi, Kxhalaxadi, Qhalaxarzi, Shekgalagadi, Shekgalagari, Kqalaqadi'') is most closely related to Tswana, and until recently was classified as a dialect of Tswana. Dialects include ''Shengologa, Sheshaga, Shebolaongwe, Shelala, Shekhena, Sheritjhauba'' and ''Shekgwatheng.'' Notes and references Languages of Botswana Sotho-Tswana languages {{Botswana-stub ...
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Setswana
Tswana, also known by its native name , and previously spelled Sechuana in English, is a Bantu language spoken in Southern Africa by about 8.2 million people. It belongs to the Bantu language family within the Sotho-Tswana branch of Zone S (S.30), and is closely related to the Northern Sotho and Southern Sotho languages, as well as the Kgalagadi language and the Lozi language. Setswana is an official language of Botswana and South Africa. It is a lingua franca in Botswana and parts of South Africa, particularly North West Province. Tswana tribes are found in more than two provinces of South Africa, primarily in the North West, where about four million people speak the language. An urbanised variety, which is part slang and not the formal Setswana, is known as Pretoria Sotho, and is the principal unique language of the city of Pretoria. The three South African provinces with the most speakers are Gauteng (circa 11%), Northern Cape, and North West (over 70%). Until 19 ...
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Bamangwato
The Bamangwato (more correctly BagammaNgwato, and also referred to as the BaNgwato or Ngwato) is one of the eight "principal" Tswana chieftaincies of Botswana. They ruled over a majority Bakalanga population (the largest ethnic group in Central District), with minorities including the Basarwa, Birwa and Tswapong. The modern Bamangwato formed in the Central District, with its main town and capital (after 1902) at Serowe. The paramount chief, a hereditary position, occupies one of the fifteen places in Ntlo ya Dikgosi, the national House of Chiefs. The core population of the Bamangwato are an 18th-century offshoot of the Bakwena people, but members in the Bamangwato kingdom came from many sources, as was the case with all of the major 19th-century African kingdoms. Sir Seretse Khama's paternal forebears, the chiefs of the Bamangwato, had built several prior capitals including Shoshong and Phalatswe, also known as Old Palapye (Before the advent of colonial administration and fi ...
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Bakwena
The Bakoena or Bakwena ("those who venerate the crocodile") are a large clan in Southern Africa. They form part of the Sotho-Tswana Bantu people and can be found in different countries such as Lesotho, Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Eswatini. Their main languages are Sesotho and Setswana."Koena" ("Kwena") is a Sotho/Tswana word meaning "crocodile", the crocodile is also their totem (seboko). Genealogy and history Earliest ancestor o the Koena tribe,koena, was a grandson of Masilo I, the king of Bahurutse branch of the koena around AD 1360. Koena and his followers settled at Tebang, now called Heidelberg. Around AD 1500, Bakoena started spreading in the region, from the Lekwa or Vaal The Vaal River ( ; Khoemana: ) is the largest tributary of the Orange River in South Africa. The river has its source near Breyten in Mpumalanga province, east of Johannesburg and about north of Ermelo and only about from the Indian Ocean. I ... river to Kalahari (Botswana). Sotho line ...
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Bangwaketse
The Bangwaketse (also known as the BaNgwaketse, or Ngwaketse) are one of the eight principal tribes in Botswana, and are ethnic Tswana. (The "Ba" or "Bo" prefix in African tribal names in southern Africa means "people of" or "people who speak". "Ma" means "person of".) Kanye is the original Bangwaketse village located in the Southern District settled in 1853, originally called Ntsweng Hill. The king of the tribe is King Malope II, son of Seepapitso IV. The Bangwaketse people live in the arid mountainous region of Southern Botswana mentioned in the book ''Cherub: Guardian Angel''. It is bordered by Moshupa, Lobatse, and Jwaneng, and it is a 45-minute drive from Gaborone, the capital city of Botswana. The village is served by Kanye Airport. A documentary on the Bangwaketse royal family was filmed in 2003–2005: "The Queen's Courtyard". Ngwaketse Areas Notable Bangwaketse *Quett Masire 'Ketumile Quett Joni Masire'', GCMG (24 July 1926 – 22 June 2017) was the s ...
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Barolong
Barolong is a tribe of Tswana people from Botswana and South Africa. Their King, Tau was the descendant of King Morolong who is the founder of Barolong tribe. He reigned around 1240 and adopted ''Tholo'' (the Kudu) as the Barolong totem. King Tau was a warrior king who reigned around 1660. He fought many battles and consolidated the Barolong tribe to become a very strong kingdom. He had many wives and begot many sons and daughters. The prominent four sons are Ratlou, Tshidi, Seleka and Rapulana. The Barolong tribe later used the names of the warrior King Tau's sons as their clan names. The Barolong tribe spread across the regions covering Botswana (erstwhile Bechuanaland), through to Transvaal, Northern Cape and Free State. Its important to note that King Tau’s heir to the throne was Ratlou. After the death of King Tau in Taung, to which Taung is named after, Barolong left Taung under Nthua, the younger brother of Tau. They settled in Dithakwaneng, and later, Dithakong, where Nthua ...
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Bamalete
The Balete people are a Southern African ethnic group. In Botswana they have occupied a permanent territory since around 1780, officially recognized as a tribal reserve in 1909. They are the only one of eight major tribes that do not belong to the related Tswana people. They still have a traditional Paramount Chief, or ''Kgôsikgolo''. Balete are settled in Southern Botswana villages that include Ramotswa, Gabane Gabane is a village in Kweneng District of Botswana. It is located 15 km (10 mi) west of Gaborone, the capital of Botswana. The population was 10,399 in 2001 census, making it the fourth largest settlement in Kweneng. Its population wa ..., Otse, Metsimotlhabe and Mogobane. List of chiefs/Kings Phatlê (Wa ko Tlhôgô ya Tlou)Ditirafalo tsa merafe ya Batswana Malete Maphalaolê Mongatane Maio Kgomo Mokgwê Marumô Pôwê I a Marumo 1805 Mokgôjwe a Pôwê (acting) 1805–1830 Pôwê II a Mokgôjwe (died c. 1830) 1830–1886 Mokgôsi I a Pôw ...
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