BOTSWANA

n.

officially Republic of Botswana formerly Bechuanaland

Country, southern Africa, bounded by Namibia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa.

Area: 219,916 sq mi (569,582 sq km). Population (2002 est.): 1,679,000. Capital: Gaborone . Less than half the population are ethnic Tswana ; other main groups include the Khalagari, Ngwato, Tswapong, Birwa, and Kalanga. Small groups of Khoekhoe and San (Bushmen) follow a nomadic way of life and move seasonally across the Namibian border. Languages: English (official), Tswana. Religion: Christianity, with a large admixture of traditional African beliefs. Currency: pula. Botswana is essentially a tableland, with a mean elevation of about 3,300 ft (1,000 m). Part of the Kalahari Desert is in the southwest and west, while the Okavango Swamp is in the north. The only sources of permanent surface water are the Chobe River, which marks the Namibian boundary; the Okavango River , in the far northwest; and the Limpopo River , which marks the South African boundary in the southeast. The economy is traditionally dependent on livestock raising; the development of diamond mining in the 1980s has increased the country's wealth. Botswana is a republic with one legislative body; its head of state and government is the president. The region's earliest inhabitants were the Khoekhoe and San. Sites were settled as early as AD 190 during the southerly migration of Bantu-speaking farmers. Tswana dynasties, which developed in the western Transvaal in the 13th–14th centuries, moved into Botswana in the 18th century and established several powerful states. European missionaries arrived in the early 19th century, but it was the discovery of gold in 1867 that excited European interest. In 1885 the area became the British Bechuanaland Protectorate. The next year, the region south of the Molopo River became a crown colony, and it was annexed by the Cape Colony 10 years later. Bechuanaland itself continued as a British protectorate until the 1960s. In 1966 the Republic of Bechuanaland was proclaimed an independent member of the British Commonwealth . Its name was changed to Botswana in 1966. Independent Botswana tried to maintain a delicate balance between its economic dependence on South Africa and its relations with the surrounding black countries; the independence of Namibia in 1990 and South Africa's rejection of apartheid eased tensions.