Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Settlement
Following the fragmented trail of ancient pottery, archaeologists and anthropologists have
been able to piece together the complex, criss-crossing migration of different ethnic
groups into Southern Africa. From AD 200 to 500, Bantu-speaking farmers began to ap-
pear on the southern landscape from the north and east. To begin with, relations between
the San and Khoikhoi appear to have been cordial, and the groups mixed freely, traded
and intermarried. After all, there was much to learn from each other. The farmers brought
with them new political systems, and superior agricultural and metalworking skills. At the
Tswapong Hills, near Palapye, there's evidence of an early iron-smelting furnace that
dates back to AD 190. One of the earliest and most powerful Bantu groups to settle in the
region was the Sotho-Tswana, who consisted of three distinct entities: the Northern Baso-
tho (or Pedi), who settled in the Transvaal of South Africa; the Southern Basotho of Leso-
tho; and the Western Basotho (or Batswana), who migrated north into Botswana.
Cattle herders began arriving from Zimbabwe around AD 600, and in the 13th century
most of eastern Botswana came within the sphere of influence of Great Zimbabwe, one of
Africa's most legendary ancient kingdoms. Between the 13th and 15th centuries, Great
Zimbabwe incorporated many chiefdoms of northeastern Botswana, and the region was
still part of Zimbabwe-based dynasties several hundred years later.
The only other significant migrations into Botswana were those of the Herero in the late
19th century. Faced with German aggression in Namibia, they fled eastwards, settling in
the northwestern extremes of Botswana.
Rise of the Tswana
One of the most significant developments in Botswana's human history was the evolution
of the three main branches of the Tswana ethnic group during the 14th century. It's a typ-
ical tale of family discord, where three brothers - Kwena, Ngwaketse and Ngwato - broke
away from their father, Chief Malope, to establish their own followings in Molepolole,
Kanye and Serowe respectively. Realistically, these fractures probably occurred in re-
sponse to drought and expanding populations eager to strike out in search of new pastures
and arable land.
The Ngwato clan split further in the late 18th century, following a quarrel between
Chief Khama I and his brother Tawana, who subsequently left Serowe and established his
chiefdom in the area around Maun. The four major present-day Batswana groups - the
Batawana, Bakwena, Bangwaketse and Bangwato - trace their ancestry to these splits and
Botswana's demographic make-up owes much to the dispersal of the various groups.
