Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
GABORONE
POP 231,600 / ELEV 900M
Botswana's small capital may be the country's largest city, but it's a pretty low-key place.
There aren't that many reasons to come here - it's a world of government ministries, shop-
ping malls and a seemingly endless urban sprawl with outer neighbourhoods known as
'Phases' and 'Extensions' - which is why most travellers either fly to Maun, or cross over-
land elsewhere. It
can
be convenient if you're looking to make reservations for the small
handful of government-run campsites, although that's unlikely to be reason enough to come
here on its own. But if you do find yourself here, 'Gabs' has a handful of decent restaurants
and good hotels.
The city is largely a modern creation, with little sense of history to provide interest.
Indeed, ask a Motswana who was born and raised in Gaborone where they're from, and
they may well tell you the name of a family village or cattle post they've never seen. And
yet, while a local Motswana may not see Gaborone as a traditional family 'home', they do
see it as the place where their future, and that of their nation, is forged. As such, it can be
an interesting place to take the pulse of the nation.
History
Archaeological evidence suggests that the banks of the nearby Notwane River have been
continuously occupied since at least the middle Stone Age. However, the first modern set-
tlement, Moshaweng, was established in the late 1880s by Chief Gaborone of the Tlokwa
clan. Early European explorers and missionaries named the settlement Gaborone's Village,
which was then inevitably shortened to 'Gaborones' (the 's' was dropped in 1968).
In 1895 the South African diamond magnate Cecil Rhodes used Gaborone to launch
the Jameson Raid, an unsuccessful rebellion against the Boers who controlled the gold
mines near Johannesburg. Rhodes was forced to resign his post as prime minister of Cape
Colony, and the raid served as the catalyst for the second Boer War (1899-1902).
In 1897 the railway between South Africa and Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) passed 4km to
the west of the village, and a tiny settlement known as Gaborone's Station soon appeared
alongside the railway line. By 1966 the greater Gaborone area was home to fewer than
4000 inhabitants, but it was selected as the capital of independent Botswana due to its prox-
imity to the railway line and its large water supply.
Although urban migration from elsewhere in Botswana has characterised much of Gabs'
recent history, economic turmoil in Zimbabwe has sparked a wave of illegal immigration to
Botswana's capital, further increasing the city's growth.
