Shoshong is a town in
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 Kalaha ...
, formerly the chief settlement of the eastern
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 Dis ...
.
Physical location
Shoshong is located just north of the
Tropic of Capricorn
The Tropic of Capricorn (or the Southern Tropic) is the circle of latitude that contains the subsolar point at the December (or southern) solstice. It is thus the southernmost latitude where the Sun can be seen directly overhead. It also reac ...
at , in the
Central District of Botswana, about west of
Mahalapye
Mahalapye is a town located in the Central District of Botswana.
The town has about 41,000 inhabitants and is situated along the main road between the capital Gaborone and the second largest city Francistown.
Mahalapye has a bus station, a rail ...
. The town is situated above sea level in the valley of the Shoshong, an intermittent tributary of the
Limpopo
Limpopo is the northernmost province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The capital and largest city in the province is Polokwane, while the provincial legislature is ...
.
[ Nearby villages are Tobela, Ikongwe, Kalamare, Mmutlane, and Mosolotshane.
Shoshong is encircled by hills used for grazing cattle, and is a windy place. The central ]kgotla
A ''kgotla'' (English pronunciation or ) is a public meeting, community council, or traditional law court of a Botswana village. It is usually headed by the village chief or headman, and community decisions are always arrived at by consensus. H ...
is located by the mouth of the steep valley (kloof) which used to be the source of water for the village.
History
Shoshong was initially inhabited by BaPhaleng, who were later joined by Bakaa, and later BaNgwato under King Sekgoma I. Oral traditions from the village points that the Baphaleng chief invited Bangwato from Mosu where they were continuously harassed and vulnerable to Matebele attacks. The site of Shoshong was chosen as being easily defensible against the Matabele.[
Being the meeting place of trade routes from south and north it was of considerable importance to early explorers (including ]David Livingstone
David Livingstone (; 19 March 1813 – 1 May 1873) was a Scottish physician, Congregationalist, and pioneer Christian missionary with the London Missionary Society, an explorer in Africa, and one of the most popular British heroes of t ...
) and traders in South-Central Africa.[
A mission station of the ]London Missionary Society
The London Missionary Society was an interdenominational evangelical missionary society formed in England in 1795 at the instigation of Welsh Congregationalist minister Edward Williams. It was largely Reformed in outlook, with Congregational m ...
(preceded for many years by a station of the Hermannsburg Lutheran Missionary Society) was founded here in 1862.[ Scottish missionary John Mackenzie (1835–99), who lived at Shoshong from 1862 to 1876, "believed that the Ngwato and other African peoples with whom he worked were threatened by ]Boer
Boers ( ; af, Boere ()) are the descendants of the Dutch-speaking Free Burghers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. From 1652 to 1795, the Dutch East India Company controlled this are ...
freebooters encroaching on their territory from the south", and campaigned "for the establishment of what became the Bechuanaland Protectorate
The Bechuanaland Protectorate () was a protectorate established on 31 March 1885, by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (later the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) in Southern Africa. It became the Republi ...
, to be ruled directly from Britain."
In 1875, King Sekgoma was overthrown here by his Christian son Khama (later Khama III
Khama III (1837?–1923), referred to by missionaries as Khama the Good also called Khama the Great, was the ''Kgosi'' (meaning king) of the Bangwato people.
Ancestry and Youth
Malope a chief of the Bakwena, led his people from the Transvaal r ...
or Khama the Great). In 1885 (at the time of the declaration of the British protectorate of Bechuanaland) Shoshong had 20,000 to 30,000 inhabitants, including about twenty Europeans.[
]
The move to Palapye
By the 1880s, Shoshong had existed in the same location for forty years, possibly a record for a Tswana town. But it became a 'Desert City', almost waterless with 'one trickling well' and with 'indescribable filth'. Due to the water shortage in 1888/1889, Khama and most of his followers moved to Phalatswe/Old Palapye
Palapye is a growing town in Botswana, situated about halfway between Francistown and Gaborone ( from Francistown and from Gaborone). Over the years its position has made it a convenient stopover on one of Southern Africa's principal north–sout ...
, 95km (60 miles) N.E. of Shoshong, and later to Serowe
Serowe (population approximately 60,000) is an urban village in Botswana's Central District. A trade and commercial centre, it is Botswana's third largest village. Serowe has played an important role in Botswana's history, as capital for the Bama ...
to the north-west of Palapye.[ Like Shoshong, these places were built in valleys of tributaries of the Limpopo.][ To make up for the loss of the defensible location, Khama had made an alliance with the British who were preparing a forward movement to take over Mashonaland and ]Matabeleland
Matabeleland is a region located in southwestern Zimbabwe that is divided into three provinces: Matabeleland North, Bulawayo, and Matabeleland South. These provinces are in the west and south-west of Zimbabwe, between the Limpopo and Zambezi ...
.
However, by 1898, Phalatswe was also running short of water, and Khama ordered some of his people back to Shoshong. The BaPhaleng returned in 1900 and the Bakaa in 1902, while the capital relocated to Serowe
Serowe (population approximately 60,000) is an urban village in Botswana's Central District. A trade and commercial centre, it is Botswana's third largest village. Serowe has played an important role in Botswana's history, as capital for the Bama ...
. At the publication of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, Shoshong had a population of about 800.[
]
Modern Shoshong
In the 2001 census, the population of "Shoshong and Associated Localities" was listed as 11,176 people, including 7,490 in "Village Shoshong". According to Botswana 2022 Population and Housing Census, Preliminary results volume 2, Shoshong has registered a population growth decline of 0.9%. The village has a boarding school, therefore the decline could be attributed to the fact that students were enumerated at their usual place of residence even when they were not present during enumeration. Currently, Shoshong has 8,827 population compared to 9,678 of 2011.
In 2012, Kgosi Sediegeng Kgamane decision to install his son as chief created controversy. Kgamane is described as "a prominent Mongwato royal and uncle to president Ian Khama
Seretse Khama Ian Khama (born 27 February 1953) is a Botswana politician and former military officer who was the fourth President of the Republic of Botswana from 1 April 2008 to 1 April 2018. After serving as Commander of the Botswana Defence ...
."
Historically Shoshong’s chieftainship had been held by three tribes from three different wards of the Bakaa, BaPhaleng and Bagwato simultaneously sitting at the Kgotla
A ''kgotla'' (English pronunciation or ) is a public meeting, community council, or traditional law court of a Botswana village. It is usually headed by the village chief or headman, and community decisions are always arrived at by consensus. H ...
to deliberate the issues of the people.
References
The Abandonment of Phalatswe
1998 Paper by Neil Parsons, University of Botswana History Department
{{Botswana largest cities
Populated places in Botswana