| Republic of Botswana Lefatshe la Botswana (Tswana) Timeline: Third Time's the Charm
OTL equivalent: Botswana | ||||||
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| Motto: Pula |
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| Capital | Gaborone | |||||
| Demonym(s) | Batswana (plural)
Motswana (singular) |
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| Government | Unitary dominant-party parliamentary republic with an executive presidency | |||||
| - | President | Mokgweetsi Masisi | ||||
| - | Vice President | Slumber Tsogwane | ||||
Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana (Setswana: Lefatshe la Botswana), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahari Desert.
A country of slightly over 2.3 million people, Botswana is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world. About 11.6 percent of the population lives in the capital and largest city, Gaborone. Formerly one of the world's poorest countries—with a GDP per capita of about US$70 per year in the late 1960s—it has since transformed itself into an upper-middle-income country, with one of the world's fastest-growing economies.
Modern-day humans first inhabited the country over 200,000 years ago. The Tswana ethnic group were descended mainly from Bantu-speaking tribes who migrated southward of Africa to modern Botswana around 600 AD, living in tribal enclaves as farmers and herders. In 1885, the British colonised the area and declared a protectorate under the name of Bechuanaland. As decolonisation occurred, Bechuanaland became an independent Commonwealth republic under its current name on 30 September 1966. Since then, it has been a representative republic, with a consistent record of uninterrupted democratic elections and the lowest perceived corruption ranking in Africa since at least 1998.
The economy is dominated by mining, cattle, and tourism. Botswana has a GDP (purchasing power parity) per capita of about $18,113 as of 2021, one of the highest in Africa. Botswana is the world's biggest diamond producing country. Its relatively high gross national income per capita (by some estimates the largest in Africa) gives the country a relatively high standard of living and the highest Human Development Index of continental Sub-Saharan Africa.
Etymology[]
The country's name means "Land of the Tswana", referring to the dominant ethnic group in Botswana. The term Batswana was originally applied to the Tswana, which is still the case. However, it has also come to be used generally as a demonym for all citizens of Botswana.
History[]
Independence[]
In June 1964, the United Kingdom accepted proposals for a democratic self-government in Botswana. An independence conference was held in London in February 1966. The seat of government was moved in 1965 from Mahikeng in South Africa, to the newly established Gaborone, which is located near Botswana's border with South Africa. Based on the 1965 constitution, the country held its first general elections under universal suffrage and gained independence on 30 September 1966. Seretse Khama, a leader in the independence movement and the legitimate claimant to the Ngwato chiefship, was elected as the first president, and subsequently re-elected twice.
Moscow-Washington Conflict[]
Main article: Moscow-Washington Conflict
At the start of the conflict, Botswana's envoy to the United Nations immediately proclaimed neutrality. Botswana stopped receiving imports from Europe and East Asia, resulting in a supply crisis. Additionally, South African power plants which provided energy to Gaborone were closed due to the country's wartime energy measures and subsequent destruction of the facility by nuclear attacks. Due to these economic setbacks, mining enterprises acting in Botswana halted activity and investments in the Rand Monetary Area were frozen.
First Crisis Averted & Establishment of Debswana[]
President Seretse Khama began to navigate Botswana out of this economic crisis in late 1968, when Gaborone assumed control of the Rand Monetary Area from South Africa. This gave Gaborone the ability to unfreeze investments and consolidate the money into economic stimulus for the population. Due to other states of the RMA being in a state of thermonuclear turmoil, and the inability of mining enterprises to act on decisions from their foreign HQs, this action went unprotested. In spring of 1969, Seretse Khama enacted emergency powers to seize industrial equipment from mining enterprises. He subsequently established Debswana, the national mining company of Botswana, as part of a deal with De Beers executives taking refuge in the country. European mining personnel still in the country were dubbed "expats" under the contract of Debswana, and given formal charters via the American and Soviet consulates in Gaborone.
Debswana formally began diamond mining operations in summer of 1969. The company was given a great start due to the operation by foreign technicians and business managers under the direct administration of Gaborone, as well as the availability of expat labor. There were concerns in Botswana's political circles that overreliance on expats could lead to racial inequality amassing. Conveniently, nuclear fallout from South Africa destroyed farmland in southern Botswana, creating a class of unemployed farmers. These farmers turned to the mining industry, and started to significantly outweigh foreign expats by 1970 in terms of Debswana's labor force.
Second Crisis & Political Violence[]
As a result of the previously mentioned transition from farming to mining, Botswana became subject to severe food insecurity and a ration system was implemented for civilians & expats. During this time, the Botswana People's Party significantly grew in popularity. The BPP easily radicalized the borderline-starving population of Botswana, and initiated militant attacks against the government in Gaborone and Ghanzi.
To avoid famine, President Seretse Khama initiated a plan where diamonds would be traded to India for grains & vegetables, with additional diamonds being bartered to the republics of southern Africa for port access. This plan left much less diamonds available for sale on the international market, and Botswana's development was slow over the coming decades.
Geography[]
At 581,730 km2 (224,607 sq mi) Botswana is the world's 48th-largest country. It is similar in size to Madagascar or France. It lies between latitudes 17° and 27° south, and longitudes 20° and 30° east.
Botswana is predominantly flat, tending towards gently rolling tableland. Botswana is dominated by the Kalahari Desert, which covers up to 70% of its land surface. The Okavango Delta, one of the world's largest inland river deltas, is in the north-west. The Makgadikgadi Pan, a large salt pan, lies in the north.
The Limpopo River Basin, the major landform of all of southern Africa, lies partly in Botswana, with the basins of its tributaries, the Notwane, Bonwapitse, Mahalapye, Lotsane, Motloutse and the Shashe, located in the eastern part of the country. The Notwane provides water to the capital through the Gaborone Dam. The Chobe River lies to the north, providing a boundary between Botswana and Namibia's Zambezi Region. The Chobe River meets with the Zambezi River at a place called Kazungula (meaning a small sausage tree, a point where Sebitwane and his Makololo tribe crossed the Zambezi into Zambia).
Zebras roaming the Okavango Basin
Biodiversity and conservation[]
Botswana has diverse areas of wildlife habitat. In addition to the delta and desert areas, there are grasslands and savannas, where blue wildebeest, antelopes, and other mammals and birds are found. Northern Botswana has one of the few remaining large populations of the endangered African wild dog. Chobe National Park, found in the Chobe District, has the world's largest concentration of African elephants. The park covers about 11,000 km2 (4,247 sq mi) and supports about 350 species of birds. Due to a lack of nuclear side effects, Botswana is also world-renowned for having one of the best uncontaminated wildlife habitats in the world.
The Chobe National Park and Moremi Game Reserve (in the Okavango Delta) are major tourist destinations. Other reserves include the Central Kalahari Game Reserve located in the Kalahari Desert in Ghanzi District; Makgadikgadi Pans National Park and Nxai Pan National Park are in Central District in the Makgadikgadi Pan. Mashatu Game Reserve is privately owned, located at the confluence of the Shashe and Limpopo Rivers in eastern Botswana. The other privately owned reserve is Mokolodi Nature Reserve near Gaborone. There are also specialised sanctuaries like Khama Rhino Sanctuary (for rhinoceros) and Makgadikgadi Sanctuary (for flamingos). They are both located in Central District.
Botswana faces two major environmental problems, drought and desertification, which are heavily linked. Three-quarters of the country's human and animal populations depend on groundwater due to drought. Groundwater use through deep borehole drilling has somewhat eased the effects of drought. Surface water is scarce in Botswana and less than 5% of the agriculture in the country is sustainable by rainfall. In the remaining 95% of the country, raising livestock is the primary source of rural income. Approximately 71% of the country's land is used for communal grazing, which has been a major cause of the desertification and the accelerating soil erosion of the country.
Since raising livestock has been profitable for the people of Botswana, they continue to exploit the land with dramatically increasing numbers of animals. From 1966 to 1991, the livestock population grew from 1.7 million to 5.5 million. Similarly, the human population has increased from 574,000 in 1971 to 1.5 million in 1995, a 161% increase in 24 years. "Over 50% of all households in Botswana own cattle, which is currently the largest single source of rural income." "Rangeland degradation or desertification is regarded as the reduction in land productivity as a result of overstocking and overgrazing, or as a result of veld product gathering for commercial use. Degradation is exacerbated by the effects of drought and climate change."
Environmentalists report that the Okavango Delta is drying up due to the increased grazing of livestock. The Okavango Delta is one of the major semi-forested wetlands in Botswana and one of the largest inland deltas in the world; it is a crucial ecosystem to the survival of many animals.
The Department of Forestry and Range Resources has already begun to implement a project to reintroduce indigenous vegetation into communities in Kgalagadi South, Kweneng North and Boteti. Reintroduction of indigenous vegetation will help reduce the degradation of the land. The United States Government has also entered into an agreement with Botswana, giving them US$7 million to reduce Botswana's debt by US$8.3 million. The stipulation of the US reducing Botswana's debt is that Botswana will focus on more extensive conservation of the land. The country had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 9.13/10, ranking it 8th globally out of 172 countries.
Government and politics[]
Mokgweetsi Masisi
Botswana is its continent's oldest democracy. The Constitution of Botswana is the rule of law, which protects the citizens of Botswana and represents their rights. The politics of Botswana take place in a framework of a multi-party representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Botswana is both head of state and head of government, and is elected by and accountable to the Parliament of Botswana. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Parliament of Botswana. The most recent election, its eleventh, was held on 23 October 2019. Since independence was declared, the party system has been dominated by the Botswana Democratic Party.
Botswana was ranked as a "flawed democracy" and 3rd out of 167 states in the 2021 Democracy Index, just below Mauritius. This was the highest ranking in continental Africa. According to Transparency International, Botswana is the least corrupt country in Africa and fourth least corrupt in the world.
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