Botswana - Botswana and Namibia - page 258

BOOKS ABOUT BOTSWANA HISTORY
History of Botswana (Thomas Tlou and Alec Campbell) Published in 1984 and essentially a school textbook,
this is still one of the best resources on Botswana's past from the Stone Age to independence.
Missionary Travels (David Livingstone) Enjoy the drama of discovery in this evocative classic of travel literat-
ure. Janet Wagner Parsons' biography The Livingstones at Kolobeng is another good read.
Seretse Khama: 1921-1980 (N Parsons, W Henderson and T Tlou) The definitive biography of the country's first
president.
Seretse and Ruth: Botswana's Love Story (Wilf and Trish Mbanga) An insider's account of one of the most
dramatic love stories and political scandals of its time.
Building of a Nation: A History of Botswana from 1800 to 1910 (J Ramsay, B Morton and T Mgadla) Argu-
ably the best account of Botswana's colonial history.
Botswana: The Road to Independence (P Fawcus and A Tilbury) An erudite history by two of Britain's most
senior administrators during the protectorate period.
Diamonds, Dispossession and Democracy in Botswana (Kenneth Good) A searing critique of modern Bot-
swana's rulers and its treatment of the San.
The Difaqane
As people fanned out across Southern Africa, marking out their territories of trade and
commerce, the peaceful fragmentation of the past became increasingly difficult. By the
1700s villages were no longer small, open affairs but fortified settlements situated on stra-
tegic, defensive hilltops. This antagonistic mood was exacerbated by the increasing trade
in ivory, cattle and slaves, which prompted raids and counter-raids between powerful
tribes eager to gain control over these lucrative resources.
The most prominent aggressor was the Zulu warlord Shaka, the new chief of the Zulu
confederation. From his base in Natal he launched a series of ruthless campaigns aimed at
forcibly amalgamating or destroying all tribes and settlements in his way. By 1830 the
Bakwena and Bangwato areas had been overrun, and survivors had started the difaqane
(literally 'the scattering' or exodus). In Shaka's wake came his equally ruthless Ndebele
general, Mzilikazi, who continued to send raiding parties into the villages of Botswana
and forced villagers to flee as far as Ghanzi and Tshane in the heart of the Kalahari. His
troops also defeated the Bangwaketse, who fled into the desert, finally settling near Letl-
hakeng.
The Tswana states of Ngwaketse, Kwena and Ngwato were only reconstituted in the
1840s after the ravages of the difaqane had passed. Realising from their experience that