Motse yo o simologile e le wa morafe wa baphaleng (Tlou and Campbell 1997; A.M. Chebanne and K.C. Monaka 2008), ba e rileng morago ba fithlelwa ke Bangwato ba bane ba le ka fa tlase ga taolo ya ga kgosi Sekgoma wa ntlha (Sekgoma I) ka dingwaga tsa bo 1850. Go ya ka beng ba motse kgosi ya baphaleng e tsere bangwato gotswa ko Mosu ko baneng ba tshwengwa le go tlhaselwa kgapetsa bogolo jang ke Morafe wa Batebele. motse yo fa o leng teng gone go tlhophilwe ka gone go le motlhofo go itshireletsa kgatlhanong le morafe wa Matebele Being the meeting place of trade routes from south and north it was of considerable importance to early explorers (including David Livingstone) and traders in South-Central Africa. A mission station of the London Missionary Society (preceded for many years by a station of the Hermannsburg Lutheran Missionary Society) was founded here in 1862. In 1875, King Sekgoma was overthrown here by his Christian son Khama (later Khama III/the Great). In 1885 (at the time of the declaration of the British protectorate of Bechuanaland) Shoshong had 20,000 to 30,000 inhabitants, including about twenty Europeans.