HABITANTS

The Tswana are the majority ethnic group in Botswana, making up 79% of the population. The largest minority ethnic groups are the BaKalanga, San also known as Basarwa. Other tribes are Bayei, Bambukushu, Basubiya, Baherero and Bakgalagadi. In addition, there are small numbers of whites and Indians, both groups being roughly equally small in number. The white population speaks English and Afrikaans and makes up roughly 3% of the population. Since 2000, because of deteriorating economic conditions in Zimbabwe, the number of Zimbabweans in Botswana has risen into the tens of thousands. [1]

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Botswana

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Botswana

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Botswana

Tribes in Botswana

1. BAKWENA

The people who reside in Molepolole are the Bakwena, who are one of the eight major tribes in Botswana. The Bakwena chief was among the three chiefs who went to England to seek protection from the British in the colonial era. Molepolole serves as the capital of the Bakwena. It was named after the Molepolole river. It is one of the largest traditional villages in Africa with a population of over 74,719 people as of 2022 national census. It lies 50 kilometres west of the national capital Gaborone, and acts as gateway for exploring the Kalahari Desert. Bakwena as amongst the big tribe reserves a position in the house of chiefs.

Ntsweng was the capital of Bakwena before they moved to Molepolole. Ntsweng is a historic site located a few kilometers southeast of Molepolole. The area was first occupied by Bakwena, led by Sechele I (ruled 1829–92), in 1864. It was abandoned in 1937 when Bakwena were forced to move to Molepolole by Kgari II, assisted by the colonial administrators. Ntsweng today consists of a large area covered with traces of occupation. Most notable are the patterns of stones laid on their edges to form house foundations which are still visible on the surface. There are also the ruins of what used to be Sebele II's office which is at present referred to as Mmakgosi's house. The ruins of that building are situated next to an area which used to be the royal kraal at Ntsweng but is now the royal cemetery. Several clusters of ruins seem to represent different wards. Analyses of the settlement layout and soil samples suggest cattle were often kept in the center of each ward. This seems to follow the "central cattle pattern", a conceptual model for the organization of settlements among southern Bantu, where the central placement of the kraal reflects the central role of cattle in the culture and ideology of the people.

2. BANGWAKETSI

Bangwaketse are one of the eight principal tribes in Botswana, and are ethnic Tswana. 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. Bangwaketse live in the arid mountainous region of Southern Botswana mentioned in the book Cherub: Guardian Angel. It is bordered by Moshupa, Lobatse, Jwaneng and is a 45-minute drive from Gaborone, the capital city of Botswana.

3. BANGWATO

Bamangwato are one of the eight "principal" Tswana chieftaincies of Botswana, and just like any other Tswana chieftaincy in Botswana, constitutes a small percent in the central district even in their capital Serowe. They ruled over majority Bakalanga, and others such as the Basarwa, Babirwa and Batswapong. Modern Bamangwato formed in the Central District, with its main town and capital (after 1902) at Serowe. Its paramount chief, a hereditary position, occupies one of the fifteen places in Ntlo ya Dikgosi, the national House of Chiefs.

The core patrilineage of the Bamangwato are an 18th-century offshoot of the Bakwena people, but members in the Ngwato 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 Ngwato, had built several prior capitals including Shoshong and Phalatswe, also known as Old Palapye. (Before the advent of colonial administration and fixed infrastructure, it was common for a town to move when the local environment degraded.) Khama and the Protectorate administration created the modern borders of the Central District in Botswana. Seretse Khama, Botswana's first president, was of the Bamangwato, and his son, former President Ian Khama, is the tribe's de facto paramount chief.

4. BAKGATLA

Bakgatla who migrated from present day South Africa in 1871 to escape Boer encroachment of their lands, settled at the base of Phuthadikobo Hill and along the Ngotwane River.

5. BASARWA

The hunter-gatherers San are among the oldest cultures on Earth, and are thought to be descended from the first inhabitants of the now Botswana and South Africa. The historical presence of the San in Botswana is particularly evident in northern Botswana's Tsodilo Hills region. San were traditionally semi-nomadic, moving seasonally within certain defined areas based on the availability of resources such as water, game animals, and edible plants. As of 2010, the San populations in Botswana number about 50,000 to 60,000. From the 1950s through to the 1990s, San communities switched to farming because of government-mandated modernisation programs. Despite the lifestyle changes, they have provided a wealth of information in anthropology and genetics. One broad study of African genetic diversity completed in 2009 found that San people were among the five populations with the highest measured levels of genetic diversity among the 121 distinct African populations sampled. Certain San groups are one of 14 known extant "ancestral population clusters". That is, "groups of populations with common genetic ancestry, who share ethnicity and similarities in both their culture and the properties of their languages".

6. BAKGALAGADI

7. BAROLONG

Barolong are Tswana tribe living in the southern part of the southern district of Botswana, initially from South Africa. The paramount chief Tau who was the descendant of King Morolong who is the founder of Barolong tribe who reigned around 1240. He adopted Tholo, (kudu) as the Barolong totem. Barolong ba bina Tshipi ebile ba bina Tholo: Setswana language which translate to:Kudu being the group's Totem. King Tau, a warrior 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, through to Gauteng Province, Northwest Province, Northern Cape Province and Free State in the current dispensation.

8. BALETE

Balete 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 settled in Southern Botswana villages that includes Ramotswa, Gabane, Otse, Metsimotlhabe, Boatle and Mogobane.

9. BAKALANGA

The native language of the Kalanga people has two varieties: 1) TjiKalanga, or simply Kalanga, in western Zimbabwe, 2) Ikalanga in northeastern Botswana. Together with the Nambya language, these varieties form the western branch of the group that also includes Central Shona. Kalanga-speakers once numbered over 500,000, though they are now much reduced, often speaking Ndebele or Central Shona languages in Zimbabwe, Tswana in Botswana, and other local languages of the surrounding peoples of southern Africa. The BaKalanga are one of the largest ethnolinguistic groups in Botswana. The 1946 census indicated that there were 22,777 (40% of the numerically largest district) BaKalanga in the Bamangwato (Central) District.

According to Huffman (2008), the original Bakalanga people descended from Leopard's Kopje farmers. These people occupied areas covering parts of north eastern Botswana, western and southern Zimbabwe, adjacent parts of South Africa and Mozambique by around AD 100. They traded in ivory, furs and feathers with the Indian Ocean coast for goods such as glass beads and cotton clothes. The majority of these prehistoric Bakalanga villages have been discovered in Botswana and Zimbabwe in areas close to major rivers and were usually built on terraced hilltops with stone walls built around them.

10. BAYEI

The WaYeyi (also: Yeyi or Bayei) are Bantu-speaking people of north-western Botswana and north-eastern Namibia. The Yeyi immigrated to the area in the 18th century from the north, and lived in close cooperation with the San people, or Basarwa, who had lived in the area previously. They speak ShiYeyi, a language that was influenced by the San and exhibits the characteristic clicks.

According to oral tradition, the baYei emigrated from the kingdom of the Lozi people in the 18th century, and were led into Ngamiland by the skilled fisherman and hunter Hankuzi. When the baYei met the baKhakwe people, Hankuzi married one of their women, possibly as a guarantee of peace. A number of immigration waves followed. The baYei learned many of the baKhakwe's survival skills, including new fishing techniques, while the baYei are credited with bringing the canoe-building technology to Ngamiland. The baYei also had connections to the Lozi in the north, and traded tobacco for iron with them. Iron was important in the baYei economy for producing spearheads and tools. In the early 19th century the baTswana tribe known as baTawana arrived in the Ngamiland. After the arrival, many of the baYei became serfs, or batlhanka, of the baTawana. Initially the servitude was voluntary in many cases, as it offered protection to attach oneself to a powerful household.

BAHURUTSHI

BATAWANA

BASOBIYA

AFRIKANS