page_title: South African Wars (1879–1915)
section_title: Bechuanaland
hierarchical_section_title: South African Wars (1879–1915) / Territory / Bechuanaland
caption_attribution_description: English: Griqua Kaptein Adam Kok III.
context_page_description: Ethnic, political and social tensions among European colonial powers, indigenous Africans, and English and Dutch settlers led to open conflict in a series of wars and revolts between 1879 and 1915 that would have lasting repercussions on the entire region of southern Africa. Pursuit of commercial empire as well as individual aspirations, especially after the discovery of diamonds and gold, were key factors driving these developments.
  The various wars of this era are usually studied separately, as independent conflicts. They include the first and second Anglo-Boer War, the Anglo-Zulu War, the Sekhukhune Wars, the Basotho Gun War, the 9th Frontier War and others.
  However it is instructive also to see them as outbreaks in a far larger wave of change and conflict affecting the subcontinent – beginning with the "Confederation Wars" of the 1870s and 80s; escalating with the rise of Cecil Rhodes and the struggle for control of gold and diamond resources; and leading up to the Second Anglo-Boer War and the Union of South Africa in 1910.
context_section_description: Following the Bechuanaland Expedition of 1884–85, Bechuanaland was settled by Britain in 1885, the northern area becoming the Protectorate and the southern area, the Crown Colony of British Bechuanaland. This region was constructed between German Southwest Africa and the Transvaal as a strategic attempt to prevent the combining of those two colonies, thereby allowing them access to the Great North Road. Along with the annexation of the Crown Colony in 1895, Cecil Rhodes pushed hard for the northern Protectorate, but was resisted by indigenous Tswana chiefs who successfully convinced the British to halt the annexation attempt.
  At the end of the South African Wars, the Bechuanaland Protectorate was one of three states which were not incorporated into the 1910 Union of South Africa. It gained its independence in 1966 as the modern state of Botswana.
caption: The Griqua Kaptijn (leader) Adam Kok III
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