Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with up to 70 percent of its territory being 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. Its border with Zambia to the north near Kazungula is poorly defined but is, at most, a few hundred metres long.
The Batswana, a term also used to denote all citizens of Botswana, refers to the country's major ethnic group. Prior to European contact, the Batswana lived as herders and farmers under tribal rule.
Northern Sotho or Sesotho sa Leboa and more commonly referred to as Pedi or Sepedi - is a Sotho-Tswana language spoken in the northeastern provinces of South Africa. According to the South African National Census of 2011, it is the first language of over 4,6 million (9,1%) people, making it the 5th most spoken language in South Africa.
Shona is a Bantu language of the Shona people of Zimbabwe. It is one of the most widely spoken Bantu languages.
Kalanga, or TjiKalanga, is a Bantu language spoken by the Kalanga people in Botswana and Zimbabwe. It has an extensive phoneme inventory, which includes palatalised, velarised, aspirated and breathy-voiced consonants, as well as whistled sibilants.
Francistown is the second largest city in Botswana, with a population of about 100,079 and 150,800 inhabitants for its agglomeration at the 2011 census. and often described as the "Capital of the North". It is located in eastern Botswana, about 400 kilometres (250 mi) north-northeast from the capital, Gaborone. Francistown is located at the confluence of the Tati and Inchwe rivers, and near the Shashe River and 90 kilometres from the international border with Zimbabwe. Francistown was the centre of southern Africa's first gold rush and is still surrounded by old and abandoned mines. The City of Francistown is an administrative district, separated from North-East District. It is administered by Francistown City Council.
The Lobedu or Balobedu (also known as the BaLodzwi or Bathobolo) are a southern African ethnic group within the Sotho-Tswana people group. They were initially known as Bakwebo. The name "bolobedu" means place of tribute, go loba/lobela. Hence Balobedu are people who receive tribute from others. They have their own kingdom, the Balobedu Kingdom, within the Limpopo Province of South Africa with a female ruler, the Rain Queen Modjadji.
The Shona people are an ethnic group native to Southern Africa, primarily Zimbabwe. They have five major clans, and are adjacent to other groups with similar cultures and languages.
The Kingdom of Mapungubwe (c.1075–1220) was a medieval state in South Africa located at the confluence of the Shashe and Limpopo rivers, south of Great Zimbabwe. The name is derived from either TjiKalanga and Tshivenda. The name might mean "Hill of Jackals". The kingdom was the first stage in a development that would culminate in the creation of the Kingdom of Zimbabwe in the 13th century, and with gold trading links to Rhapta and Kilwa Kisiwani on the African east coast. The Kingdom of Mapungubwe lasted about 80 years, and at its height the capital's population was about 5000 people.
The cuisine of Botswana is unique but also shares some characteristics with other cuisines of Southern Africa. Examples of Setswana food include pap, samp, vetkoek, bogobe and mopane worms. A food unique to Botswana is seswaa, salted mashed-up meat. Watermelons are believed to have originated in Botswana. The other foods include morogo wa dinawa, madila and dikgobe. It makes Batswana proud to have their own meal. Most of the relish they get locally. Batswana also make home made refreshing drinks using water melon, marula and ginger powder. At weddings, sorghum meal is usually cooked mixed with dmelon and this mixture is called Bogobe jwa lerotse. Usually the melon is pre prepared with sour milk and stored to be used whenever needed. Batswana are also good in food preservation. Among others they preserve meat by cutting it into small lengths like strings then dry it. They also fetch bean leaves, cook and dry them. It is also common among Batswana to make Mageu from leftover porridge or pap. Some tribes also preserve not very bad or rotten meat by drying it to be used as relish for a long time. Batswana value their food from time immemorial. They consider it as part of their culture.
Masunga /ˈmɑːsunɡʌ/ is a Bakalanga settlements in the North-East District of Botswana. The village is the Headquarters of the North East District. The nearest city is Francistown which is about 120 km (75 mi) away. The Chief of the region is Kgosi Thabo Maruje Masunga III, who took over from his uncle Christopher Masunga.
Tonota is a village located in the Central District of Botswana.
Tutume is a large Bakalanga village located in the Central District of Botswana, about 50 km from the Zimbabwe border gate at Maitengwe. The nearest city is Francistown, about 100 km away. The village is a sub district headquarters and has a population of 13,000.It is made up of wards: Madikwe, Selolwane, Thini and Magapatona. In each ward there is a headman and his advisers in the kgotla. The main kgotla is located in Madikwe ward near Tutume Central Primary School. The village was named after the river "TUTUME", in Kalanga they will say "gwizi go Tutuma", meaning that the river was overflowing.
The pre-colonial history of Zimbabwe lasted until the British government granted colonial status to Southern Rhodesia in 1923.
Many languages are spoken, or historically have been spoken, in Zimbabwe. Since the adoption of its 2013 Constitution, Zimbabwe has 16 official languages, namely Chewa, Chibarwe, English, Kalanga, Koisan, Nambya, Ndau, Ndebele, Shangani, Shona, sign language, Sotho, Tonga, Tswana, Venda, and Xhosa. The country's main languages are Shona, spoken by roughly 70% of the population, and Ndebele, spoken by roughly 20%. English is the country's lingua franca, used in government and business and as the main medium of instruction in schools. English is the first language of most white Zimbabweans, and is the second language of a majority of black Zimbabweans. Historically, a minority of white Zimbabweans spoke Afrikaans, Greek, Italian, Polish, and Portuguese, among other languages, while Gujarati and Hindi could be found amongst the country's Indian population. Deaf Zimbabweans commonly use one of several varieties of Zimbabwean Sign Language, with some using American Sign Language. Zimbabwean language data is based on estimates, as Zimbabwe has never conducted a census that enumerated people by language.
The Ba-ka-Nswazwi people are originally Bapedi of Mujaji .The Bapedi of Mujaji are Kalangas originally from Munomutapa and were ruled by Mugudo. They are found in Tutume, Nswazwi, Marapong, Masunga and Nkange in Botswana.
The Kalanga or Bakalanga are a southern Bantu ethnic group mainly inhabiting Matebeleland in Zimbabwe, northeastern Botswana and Limpopo Province in South Africa. They are historically related to the Nambya, Lozi, Karanga and Venda.
BaTalaote are an ethnic group found in the central district of Botswana and south-western parts of Zimbabwe. They are part of a large group of ethnic groups called Bakalanga. Over the years Batalaote lost their language and adopted Kalanga for those in Zimbabwe and Sengwato, which is spoken by the Bangwato, for those in Botswana. The Talaunda and the Wadoma could share a common ancestor. Both tribes have significantly high cases of ectrodactyly.
Bobirwa Subdistrict is a jurisdiction in Botswana. It is populated by the Babirwa (Ba-Birwa) people who came from Transvaal in present-day South Africa.
