Botswana
Fast facts
- Capital
- Gaborone
- Official language
- English
- Currency
- Botswana pula
- Time zone
- Central Africa Time (GMT+2)
- Drives on
- left
- Calling code
- +267
Facts from Wikipedia’s “Botswana” page (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Botswana (officially called the Republic of Botswana) is a country in southern Africa. The capital of Botswana is Gaborone.
History
The first people in Botswana’s territory were the Khoe and San people. Botswana was first formed as the Bechuanaland Protectorate by the British Empire in 1885.
Geography
The countries that border Botswana are Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Namibia. It is also possible to travel from Botswana directly into Zambia by crossing the Zambezi River by ferry.
Botswana is landlocked. All of Botswana’s trade must be brought in over land or by airplane.
The two most important geographical features in Botswana are the Okavango Delta and the Kalahari Desert.
Divisions
Botswana is divided into 10 districts:
- Southern District
- South-East District
- Kweneng District
- Kgatleng District
- Central District
- North-East District
- Ngamiland District
- Kgalagadi District
- Chobe District
- Ghanzi District
Culture
People from Botswana are called Batswana. The population of Botswana is about 2.2 million. This is only 2.7 persons per km², a small number for a country of this size. This is because most of the country is desert and very dry.
Botswana has two official languages: Setswana and English. Setswana is the national language (also called Tswana).
Governance
Botswana is a democracy. The people vote for their political leaders. Those leaders vote for the president. In 2008 Ian Khama became the fourth president of Botswana.
President Khama won elections in 2009 and 2014. The current President of Botswana is Dr. Eric K. Mokgweetsi who took over from Dr. Ian Khama Seretse Khama in 2018.
Economy
The economy of Botswana has been growing very fast since it became an independent country in 1966. The people of Botswana have had the world’s fastest growth in standard of living since that time.
Botswana’s economy comes mostly from mining. This includes diamonds, metals (including copper) and minerals (including salt). Botswana is the highest producer of diamonds by value in the world. In 1999, Botswana produced over 30 million carats (6,000 kg) of diamonds from the three Debswana mines. That is about 25% of worldwide production. There has been an agreement with De Beers since 1969. In 2023 a new agreement was made giving the country more of the diamonds - 30% in 2023, 40% from 2028 and 50% from 2033.
Tourism is also important to the country. Many people come to Botswana each year to see its wildlife.
The currency of Botswana is called the pula (which means rain). It is made up of 100 thebe (which means shield). In 2017, one US dollar was about 10.32 pulas.
In popular culture
The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency books by Alexander McCall Smith are set in Botswana. The HBO television series based on the books was filmed in Botswana.
Written for younger readers
Botswana, in simpler words
This version comes from Wikijunior, a set of books written for children aged 8 to 11. It is shorter and uses plainer language than the article above.
From Wikijunior: Africa
Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana (Tswana: Lefatshe la Botswana), is a country located in Southern Africa. People from Botswana are referred to as Batswana (singular: Motswana). Formerly, the British protectorate of Bechuanaland, Botswana adopted its new name after gaining independence within the Commonwealth on 30 September 1966. It has held free and fair democratic elections since independence.
Geographically, the country is flat. Up to 70% of Botswana is covered by the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the south and southeast, Namibia to the west and north, and Zimbabwe to the northeast. It meets Zambia at a single point.
At the end of the 19th century, conflicts occurred between Boer settlers and the native Tswana people. The region was administered by Britain and parts of Botswana. Botswana has been an independent country since 1966.
A small, landlocked country of just over two million people, Botswana was one of the poorest countries in Africa at the time it gained independence from Britain in 1966, with a GDP per capita of about US$70. Botswana has transformed itself: Moving into the ranks of middle-income status to becoming one of the fastest growing economies in the world, with its average annual growth rate of about 9%, with income per capita of about $14,800.
Botswana’s impressive track record of good governance and economic growth supported by prudent macroeconomic and fiscal management, stands in contrast to the country’s high levels of poverty and inequality and generally low human development indicators. While education expenditure is high at 10 percent of GDP and significant educational achievements have been attained, including the provision of nearly universal and free education, overall outcomes have not created the skills and workforce Botswana needs.
The country is trying to diversify its economy, which is heavily dependent on diamonds and the beef market. Other minerals are soda ash, copper and nickel matte, gold, and coal.
The most famous sport in Botswana is football (soccer), some other known sports in Botswana are cricket, tennis, rugby union, softball, volleyball, golf, and track. One of Botswana’s biggest achievements in sports is for qualifying for the 2012 Africa Cup Of Nations. Botswana is a member of the International Cricket Council.
Not technically a sport, but a popular card game: Bridge. Bridge, introduced 30 years ago, has rapidly become a popular game in Botswana. The Botswana Bridge Foundation, or BFF (founded in 1988), continues to organize tournaments for Bridge. The BFF has over 800 members currently.
There are two official languages in Botswana: English and Setswana. English is widely known to be the country’s national language, which is used in urban areas and for tourism. Setswana is a fairly popular language there too, since 90% of the population speaks Setswana (Setswana is also the mother tongue of most Botswanans). Botswana has over 20 smaller languages, in which the most spoken language out of the smaller languages is Kalanga. Some other languages are Sarwa, Taa, and Afrikaans.
Wikijunior:Countries A-Z/Botswana
Where this page comes from
The article above is adapted from “Botswana” on Simple English Wikipedia, by its contributors. We removed reference markers, navigation boxes and tables, expanded measurement templates into readable numbers, and kept the prose otherwise intact. The simpler version is adapted from Wikijunior on Wikibooks.
Both sources are published under CC BY-SA 4.0, so this page is published under the same licence. You may share and adapt it, including commercially, as long as you credit the original and keep the same licence.
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