The border between Botswana and South Africa is long. More than 90% of the border follows rivers, including the Nossob, Molopo, Marico and Limpopo.

Geography

The western terminus of the border is at the tripoint with Namibia, located where the Nossob River crosses the

20th meridian east The meridian 20° east of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, Europe, Africa, the Atlantic and Indian oceans, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole. The 20th meridian east f ...

. From this terminus the border runs south-east along the Nossob River to its confluence with the Molopo River; in this area the border passes through the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. From the confluence the border runs generally eastwards along the Molopo River as far as the Ramatlabama Spruit, and then up the Spruit as far as the pool at

Ramatlabama Ramatlabama (or Ramatlhabama) is a village and railway station north of Mafikeng, in the North West province of South Africa. It is located on the border with Botswana, and serves as a border post for road and rail traffic. At the time of the 2 ...

. From Ramatlabama the border turns northwards, and is made up of a series of straight lines through beacons at Matlhase, Sebataole, Schaapkuil and Pytlanganyane to Sengoma on the

Ngotwane River The Notwane River (or Ngotwane River) is a river in southeastern Botswana. Certain sections of its course form the international boundary with South Africa. Its mouth is at the head of the Limpopo River. It has a catchment area of 18,053 square k ...

. It then follows the Ngotwane past

Ramotswa Ramotswa is a village in South-East District of Botswana, southwest of the capital of Gaborone. The population was 27,760 in 2011 census. It is the tribal capital of the BaLete, an ethnic majority springing from the Nguni tribe. Ramotswa's m ...

to its confluence with the Metsemaswaane Stream. The border turns eastwards along a series of straight lines joining beacons on the Moshweu Hills, Wildebeeskop and the Sikwane Hills to Derdepoort on the Marico River. It then follows the Marico River to its confluence with the Crocodile River. The Marico and the Crocodile join to form the Limpopo River, and the border runs along the Limpopo to its confluence with the Shashe River, which is the tripoint with Zimbabwe.

History

The western portion of the border from the Namibian tripoint to

was the border between

British Bechuanaland British Bechuanaland was a short-lived Crown colony of the United Kingdom that existed in southern Africa from its formation on 30 September 1885 until its annexation to the neighbouring Cape Colony on 16 November 1895. British Bechuanaland h ...

to the south and the Bechuanaland Protectorate to the north. British Bechuanaland was constituted as a

Crown Colony A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony administered by The Crown within the British Empire. There was usually a Governor, appointed by the British monarch on the advice of the UK Government, with or without the assistance of a local Counci ...

by proclamation in 1885, and incorporated the lands of the Tswana people situated to the south of the Molopo River, west of the South African Republic (the Transvaal) and not already part of the Cape Colony. The Tswana lands north of the Molopo were at the same time brought under British protection as the Bechuanaland Protectorate. British Bechuanaland was annexed to the Cape Colony in 1895. The Order in Council authorising the annexation also extended the border northwards to include the land between the Molopo and the Nossob River, which is now the Mier area and the South African section of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. The Order in Council of 3 October 1895 defined the northern border of British Bechuanaland as The eastern portion of the border from Ramatlabama to the Zimbabwean tripoint was the border between the South African Republic (ZAR) and the Bechuanaland Protectorate, and was defined by the Pretoria Convention of 1881 and the London Convention of 1884 which superseded it. These conventions settled the bounds of the ZAR, which subsisted until it was annexed to the British Empire during the

Second Anglo-Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...

, becoming the Transvaal Colony. The London Convention defined the western border of the ZAR as

Crossings

Skilpadshek Pioneer Gate Border Checkpoint

The border has a large number of official crossings, the most important of which are

Skilpadshek Skilpadshek (Afrikaans for ''tortoise gate'') is a border checkpoint on the South African border with Botswana, located north-west of Zeerust in North West province. The corresponding checkpoint on the Botswana side of the border is called Pionee ...

/Pioneer Gate on the Trans-Kalahari Corridor and

on the road and railway from Mahikeng to Gaborone. The crossings are listed from west to east in the table below.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Botswana-South Africa border Borders of South Africa South Africa International borders