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 103,417 and 147,122 inhabitants for its agglomeration at the 2022 census. 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 Ntshe rivers, and near the Shashe River and 90 kilometres (56 mi) from the international border with Zimbabwe.
The Kingdom of Butua or Butwa was a pre-colonial African state located in what is now southwestern Zimbabwe. Butua was renowned as the source of gold for Arab and Portuguese traders. The region was first mentioned in Portuguese records in 1512.
The Lobedu or Balobedu(also known as the BaLozwi or Bathobolo) are a southern African ethnic group that speak a Northern Sotho dialect. Their area is called Bolobedu. The name "balobedu" means "the mineral miners," lobela or go loba, - to mine. Their ancestors were part of the great Mapungubwe early civilization. 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, formerly known as the Karanga are a Bantu ethnic group native to Southern Africa, primarily living in Zimbabwe where they form the majority of the population, as well as Mozambique, South Africa, and a worldwide diaspora. There are five major Shona language/dialect clusters: Manyika, Karanga, Zezuru, Korekore, Kalanga, and Ndau.
The Kingdom of Mapungubwe was an ancient state located at the confluence of the Shashe and Limpopo rivers in South Africa, south of Great Zimbabwe. The capital's population was 5,000 by 1250, and the state likely covered 30,000 km².
Masunga /ˈmɑːsuŋɡʌ/ is a Bakalanga settlement 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 Tutume 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 district headquarters and has a population of 23,000 .It is made up of wards: Sitabule(Madikwe),Tjilagwani(Selolwane), Thini and Madandume (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.
Plumtree is a town in Zimbabwe. Marula trees, wild plum trees grow abundantly in the area. The town was once called Getjenge by baKalanga. It is also often called Titji, meaning station, and referring to the railway station which was operating in the area around 1897.
The pre-colonial history of Zimbabwe lasted until the British government granted colonial status to Southern Rhodesia in 1923.
The Shashe River is a major left-bank tributary of the Limpopo River in Zimbabwe. It rises northwest of Francistown, Botswana and flows into the Limpopo River where Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa meet. The confluence is at the site of the Greater Mapungubwe Transfrontier Conservation Area.
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 the Batalaote lost their language and those in Zimbabwe adopted Kalanga while the those in Botswana adopted Sengwato. The Talaunda and the Wadoma could share a common ancestor. Both tribes have significantly high cases of ectrodactyly.
The Nambya people are an ethnic group of about 100,000 people, based in the north-western parts of Zimbabwe and in the north-eastern parts of Botswana. They are found around the coal mining town of Hwange, surrounding areas of the Victoria Falls as well as in the north-eastern parts of Botswana namely, Pandamatenga, Chobe, Maremaoto, Gweta, Shorobe, Tsienyane, Zoroga, Chumo, Makalamabedi, Sankoyo, Lesoma, Xhumo, Mopipi, Broadhurst, Rakops, Shoshong, Palapye and Maun. Hwange Town and the Hwange National Park were named after the BaNambya King Sawanga, who was later called Hwange by the Nambya people. The Kalanga tribes who were captured by the Nambya warriors from the former Rozvi Empire of the Great Zimbabwe influenced the Nambya language which resulted in the changed pronunciation of words and tone.
The people of the country called Botswana are all referred to as Batswana(pl)/ Motswana(s) in reference to the country name or the land they all hail from, that is regardless of ethnicity, language, skin colour or heritage.
Batalaote are an ethnic group found in Botswana and south-western parts of Zimbabwe, commonly mistaken to be part of a larger group called Bakalanga-Banyai. They speak dialects such as:
Nambya, or Nanzwa/Nanzva, is a Bantu language spoken by the Nambya people. It is spoken in northwestern Zimbabwe, particularly in the town of Hwange, with a few speakers in northeastern Botswana. It is either classified as a dialect of Kalanga or as a closely related language. The Zimbabwean constitution, in particular the Education Act, as amended in 1990, recognises Nambya and Kalanga as separate indigenous languages.
The 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.
Domboshaba ruins is a cultural and heritage site in Botswana originally occupied towards the end of the Great Zimbabwe period. The site is a respected place for the people living in the region and it is believed that the chief lived on the top of the hill together with his helpers or assistants.
The Njelele Shrine is a cave which is of significant spiritual importance in Zimbabwe; pilgrims visit it annually for ritual purposes prior to the beginning of the rain season. The shrine is inside a cave that is located in the Matobo Hills in the Khomola communal area approximately 100 kilometres south of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second largest city. Vendas used to take the black cow once a year to Matopo(Matovha) in appropriations of the rain. The process was stopped by the White's administration when movements of animals across the Limpopo (Vhembe) river was banned. The shrine is found in a solid granite kopje which is not different from a plethora of others that are in the vicinity. The outthrust of this shrine is situated on a mountain range that runs westwards. The shrine has "three naturally hidden entrances that wind up and down among overhang granite boulders." The cave is not the main feature of Njelele but the gallery in the rocks. It is also endowed with a number of small tunnels, which lead to the shrine's various chambers from the narrow entrance which is between two tall rocks. Njelele is mainly known as the rain-making shrine however, it is visited for other purposes such as asking for forgiveness after society's wrongdoings, asking for cures for human and domesticated animals diseases. An assortment of skulls and horns of big game, iron hoes, clay pots containing water, cloth and beads, piles of tobacco, hatchets, and spears are kept in one of the caves at Njelele. Some scholars believe that these were objects offered to the presiding deity. In the 1960s and 70s, this shrine was consulted by politicians and liberation fighters. One notable member who visited the Shrine was Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo the then leader of ZIPRA and former Zimbabwean Vice President. It is believed that some time ago, a voice came from the Njelele rocks instructing those who would have visited it on what to do; even Nkomo acknowledged this in his autobiography TheStory of My Life. The voice was last heard in 1974; it disappeared due to the desecration of the shrine.
Zimbabwe 
Botswana 
