The Bechuanaland Protectorate () was a protectorate established on 31 March 1885, by the

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was a sovereign state in the British Isles that existed between 1801 and 1922, when it included all of Ireland. It was established by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the Kingdom of Gre ...

(later the

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

) in Southern Africa. It became the Republic of Botswana on 30 September 1966.

History

Scottish missionary John Mackenzie (1835–1899), a Congregationalist of the London Missionary Society (LMS), who lived at Shoshong from 1862–1876, "believed that the BamaNgwato and other African peoples with whom he worked were threatened by Boer freebooters encroaching on their territory from the south". He campaigned for the establishment of what became the Bechuanaland Protectorate, to be ruled directly from Britain. ''Austral Africa: Losing It or Ruling It'' is Mackenzie's account of events leading to the establishment of the protectorate. Influenced by Mackenzie, in January 1885 the British cabinet decided to send a military expedition to South Africa to assert British sovereignty over the contested territory. Sir Charles Warren (1840–1927) led a force of 4,000 imperial troops north from

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest ci