page_title: Tswana people
section_title: Early history of Batswana
hierarchical_section_title: Tswana people / History / Early history of Batswana
caption_attribution_description: English: Identifier: africa00johnrich (find matches) Title: Africa Year: 1878 (1870s) Authors: Johnston, Alexander Keith, 1804-1871 Keane, A. H. (Augustus Henry), 1833-1912 Subjects: Africa -- Description and travel Africa -- Social life and customs Publisher: London&#160;: Edward Stanford Contributing Library: University of California Libraries Digitizing Sponsor: MSN View Book Page: Book Viewer About This Book: Catalog Entry View All Images: All Images From Book Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book. Text Appearing Before Image: ng the same relation to itthat the osteology of a wild beast does to that of a tamespecimen of the same species. Owing to his socialcondition the Kafir is distinguished rather by his physicalendurance and passive resistance to injurious influences,than by any positive outward display of bodily strength;and just as his muscular system presents nothing remark-able, so the acuteness of his senses surpasses but little thatof the ordinary European, the eyesight being the mosthighly developed. With regard to his mental faculties, it is characteristicof the Kafir that he immediately reduces the loftiestconceptions of religious thought to the flattest, grossest,materialism. His ideal, the object of his dreams and hissongs, is his most valuable possession, the lowly ox.Anxiety for the safety of his wearily acquired effects, orfor the preservation of a life surrounded by dangers of allsorts, in a word, for everything that, in the absence ofhigher aspirations, can have any value in his eyes, im- Text Appearing After Image: iiii^^p^ A BECIIUANA WARRIOR. To face page 44S. THE SOUTHERN BANTU TRIBES. 449 parts an element of timidity to his character. The Kafirhas been often, but unreasonably, painted as a hero. Heis doubtless apt to assume an unabashed swaggering air,so that we might at first suppose we had to do with somedauntless warrior, whereas he is all the time the sorriestknave, who quite understands how to take advantage ofhis foe. Selfishness is in fact his cardinal virtue, every-thing being subordinate to his material interests. Whereanything is to be pounced upon, he troubles himselflittle as to the ways and means. All his grand airs andoutward show of dignity vanish at once, and he becomesaccording to circumstances a romantic highwaymanor much more frequently a common thief. Cattle-steal-ing especially has grown so universal with him as to haveacquired a certain political significance. His disinclination for serious thought is a greatobstacle in the way of his mental culture. His mindlacks the e Note About Images Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original work.
context_page_description: The Tswana are a Bantu-speaking ethnic group who are native to Southern Africa. The Tswana language is a member of Sotho-Tswana language group which belongs to the Bantu language family group. Both Northern Sotho and Sesotho derive from the Setswana language and the people speaking these languages are an offshoot of the tswana people. Ethnic Tswana made up approximately 85% of the population of Botswana in 2011.
  The Tswana are the native people of south-western Botswana, Gauteng, North West and some parts of Northern Cape provinces of South Africa where the majority of the Tswana live.
context_section_description: The Batswana are descended mainly from Bantu-speaking tribes who migrated southward of Africa around 600 AD, living in tribal enclaves as farmers and herders. Several Iron Age cultures flourished from around 900 AD, including the Toutswemogala Hill Iron Age settlement. The Toutswe were based in the eastern region of what is now Botswana, relying on Tswana cattle breed held in kraals as their source of wealth. The arrival of the ancestors of the Tswana-speakers who came to control the region (from the Vaal River to Botswana) has yet to be dated precisely although AD 600 seems to be a consensus estimate. This massive cattle-raising complex prospered until 1300 AD or so. All these various peoples were connected to trade routes that ran via the Limpopo River to the Indian Ocean, and trade goods from Asia such as beads made their way to Botswana most likely in exchange for ivory, gold and rhinoceros horn. Members of the Bakwena, a chieftaincy under a legendary leader named Kgabo II, made their way into the southern Kalahari by AD 1500, at the latest, and his people drove the Bakgalagadi inhabitants west into the desert. Over the years, several offshoots of the Bakwena moved into adjoining territories. The Bangwaketse occupied areas to the west, while the Bangwato moved northeast into formerly Bakalanga areas. Not long afterwards, a Bangwato offshoot known as the Batawana migrated into the Okavango Delta, probably in the 1790s. The first written records relating to modern-day Botswana appear in 1824. What these records show is that the Bangwaketse had become the predominant power in the region. Under the rule of Makaba II, the Bangwaketse kept vast herds of cattle in well-protected desert areas, and used their military prowess to raid their neighbours. Other chiefdoms in the area, by this time, had capitals of 10,000 or so and were fairly prosperous. One of these famous capitals was Kaditshwene which was the cultural capital of the Bahurutshe people, one of the principal Tswana tribes and a centre of manufacturing and trading, it had been founded in the late 1400s on the site of iron and copper ore deposits. This equilibrium came to end during the Mfecane period, 1823-1843, when a succession of invading peoples from South Africa entered the country. Although the Bangwaketse were able to defeat the invading Bakololo (Sotho-Tswana speaking Clan) in 1826, over time all the major chiefdoms in Botswana were attacked, weakened, and impoverished. The Bakololo and amaNdebele raided repeatedly, and took large numbers of cattle from the Batswana—most of whom were driven into the desert or sanctuary areas such as hilltops and caves. Only after 1843, when the Amandebele moved into western Zimbabwe, did this threat subside.
  According to all historical narratives to date, Barotseland, or rather the Luyi state or nation, was invaded sometime between 1820 and 1840 by a branch of Sotho-Tswana peoples that the Luyi originally referred to as the Akubu,  later known as the Makololo led by their warrior charismatic leader, Sibituane a wise military strategist, occupying it and imposing their will for over thirty years, until they were overthrown in 1864. The Makololo were in fact the Bafokeng Basotho(Mixture of Sotho and Tswana) people that moved from the then Orange Free State area through modern day Botswana upnorth to the present day southern Zambia. From the 1820s to the 1860s, the name Makololo inspired a combination of fear, horror and reverence amongst peoples of the Kalahari between the Orange and Zambezi Rivers. The name Makololo only came about during the long migration north. One version has it that the name came about after Sibituane took a wife named Setlutlu of the Batlokoa (Tswana Clan), who he had previously awarded to Lechae, one of his young commanders but who he was particularly enamoured with himself. Sibituane was renowned for his military capabilities and his leadership qualities. The very fact of so many victories for Sibituane over peoples who would have strongly resisted the transit of strangers through their lands suggest
caption: 18th Century Tswana Warrior
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