Mahikeng, formerly known as Mafikeng and alternatively known as Mafeking, is the capital city of the North West province of South Africa.
The Tswana are a bantu ethnic group native to Southern Africa. Ethnic Tswana made up approximately 85% of the population of Botswana in 2011.
Kimberley is the capital and largest city of the Northern Cape province of South Africa. It is located approximately 110 km east of the confluence of the Vaal and Orange Rivers. The city has considerable historical significance due to its diamond mining past and the siege during the Second Anglo-Boer war. British businessmen Cecil Rhodes and Barney Barnato made their fortunes in Kimberley, and Rhodes established the De Beers diamond company in the early days of the mining town.
The term Batlôkwa refers to several Kgatla communities that reside in Lesotho and South Africa.
Griqualand West is an area of central South Africa with an area of 40,000 km2 that now forms part of the Northern Cape Province. It was inhabited by the Griqua people – a semi-nomadic, Afrikaans-speaking nation of mixed-race origin, who established several states outside the expanding frontier of the Cape Colony. It was also inhabited by the pre-existing Tswana and Khoisan peoples.
Barolong is a tribe of Tswana people from Botswana and South Africa. Their King, Tau was the descendant of King Morolong who is the founder of Barolong tribe. He reigned around 1240 and adopted Tholo as the Barolong totem. King Tau was a warrior king who reigned around 1660. He fought many battles and consolidated the Barolong tribe to become a very strong kingdom. He had many wives and begot many sons and daughters. The prominent four sons are Ratlou, Tshidi, Seleka and Rapulana. The Barolong tribe later used the names of the warrior King Tau's sons as their clan names. The Barolong tribe spread across the regions covering Botswana, through to Transvaal, Northern Cape and Free State. Its important to note that King Tau’s heir to the throne was Ratlou. After the death of King Tau in Taung, to which Taung is named after, Barolong left Taung under Nthua, the younger brother of Tau. They settled in Dithakwaneng, and later, Dithakong, where Nthua died and was buried. Ratlou and the tribe left Dithakong for Mamusa, and later settled in their former capital I.e. Setlagole. This is the place where the kingship of Barolong disintegrated into a number of clans, after Tau's sons. This is after the death of Ratlou. He (Ratlou) had four sons i.e. Mariba, Seitshiro, Mokalake and Moirwagale. Two of these sons fought for the throne, with Mokalake supporting Mariba while Moirwagale supported Seitshiro. Moirwagale became the Regent for Seitshiro while Mokalake became one for Mariba. Finally Barolong disintegrated into four clans, and later five. Their final settlements are as follows; Ratlou; Mariba (Ganyesa); Seitshiro (Khunwana); Tshidi and Makgetla-Mahikeng; Seleka-Thaba nchu; Rapulana-Bodibe.
Galeshewe is a township in Kimberley, South Africa. Within the Sol Plaatje Local Municipality in the Northern Cape Province, it is named after Kgosi Galeshewe.
Kgosi (Chief) Galeshewe,, was a chief of the Batlhaping group in South Africa. He was an anti-colonial revolutionary and orchestrated rebellions against the Cape Colony government. The Galeshewe Township in the Sol Plaatje Municipality, Kimberley, has been named after him. A South African Navy fast attack craft has also been named after him. Galeshewe was born in 1835 near Taung, South Africa.
The Sotho-Tswana, also known as the Sotho or Basotho, although the term is now closely associated with the Southern Sotho peoples are a meta-ethnicity of Southern Africa. They are a large and diverse group of people who speak Sotho-Tswana languages. The group is predominantly found in Botswana, Lesotho, South Africa, and the western part of Zambia. Smaller groups can also be found in Namibia and Zimbabwe.
Kousop, birth date unknown, killed in a battle at Slypklip, Vaal River, near Kimberley, Northern Cape, South Africa, on 6 July 1858, was the leader of a group of San or Khoe-San who inhabited the area between the Modder, Riet and Vaal Rivers, western Orange Free State, in the mid nineteenth century.
Dithakong is the name of a place east of Kuruman in the Northern Cape, South Africa, which had been a major destination for several of the earliest nineteenth century expeditions from the Cape to the interior of the subcontinent. In colonial literature the name is often rendered in such ways as Litakun, also Litakoo or Lattakoo.
Richard Miles was a Motswana (Tswana) catechist and preacher "to the native tribes beyond the border" in South Africa.
Lejwana, Botswana is a small village in the Republic of Botswana in Africa. It is situated in the Southern District of Botswana. It lies between the coordinates 25°24'23S and 25°32'27E. It is situated between the villages of Gathwane, Pitsane, Kgoro, and Digawana. Lejwana is about 30 km from Lobatse and about 100 km by road from the capital Gaborone.
Schmidtsdrift is a town in Pixley ka Seme District Municipality in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. Situated 80 km west of Kimberley, it was originally a ford across the Vaal River which is now bridged on the N8 National Route from Kimberley to Campbell and Griquatown.
Toto Makgolokwe was the paramount chief (kgosi) of the Batlharo tribe of South Africa, dubbed the Freedom Warrior and an icon of the land whose resistance to colonization galvanized the freedom struggle. In 1897, he became the hero of The Langeberg Rebellion (1896–97) after defeating the British military. The British subsequently brought in reinforcements which defeated the Batlharo and captured both Makgolokwe and Kgosi Galeshewe. Kgosi Toto's eldest son Robanyane Toto was also arrested with him at Robben Island.
Batlhaping is one of the Tswana tribes which resides mostly in the Northern Cape and North West of South Africa. The name of the Batlhaping loosely translates to; " those with an affinity for fish". After Barolong settled on the banks of the Vaal River known as Kolong, fish became a staple of their diet. During their migration, the Batlhaping encounted the Korana, a nomadic Khoisan tribe in 1750. The two tribes settled together. There were several harassing raids by the Ndebele which led to most Barolong to move Northwards to modern day Ganyesa. Those who were left behind stayed and fought back against the raids of the Ndebele and they were referred to from that point as "those who remained behind to eat fish", thus this became their name. This however did not mean that they were independent from Barolong. "Tlhapi" means "Fish", and this is not the tribe's totem. The tribe does have the symbol of the fish in usage under some circumstances to differentiate themselves from other Barolong, however since they are Barolong their totem or equivalent is a Kudu, which in Setswana is called Tholo. This is why Barolong affectionately refer to each other as "Tholo".
The Cape Mounted Police was the principal law enforcement agency of the Cape Colony during its last three decades. In addition to its ordinary policing duties, it was a para-military organisation, which saw active service in several campaigns and operations, including the Anglo-Boer War (1899–1902). The force was fully militarised in 1913 and transferred to the new South African Army as a mounted rifle regiment.
The Vaalharts Valley is located in the north-east corner of the Northern Cape province of South Africa, bordering the North West province. It gets its name because it is located between two rivers, the Vaal and the Harts. Because of its advantageous position between the two rivers, an irrigation scheme was built in the Vaalharts Valley in the 1930s.
The Langeberg Rebellion of 1896–97, also known as Ntwa ya Bana ba Mokgothu in SeTswana, was a war of resistance waged by two Tswana groups: the Batlhaping and the Batlharo, against British settlers in the Griqualand West area of the Northern Cape. The Rebellion was triggered when the Tswana began became suspicious about the intentions of the Cape Colonial government as they feared, justifiably, that they stood to lose land and were being marginalised in the growing market economy of the Cape. The Langeberg Rebellion consisted of a series of revolts between December 1896 and August 1897 against British land annexations in the Griqualand West area. The Rebellion was led by chiefs Kgosi Luka Jantjie and Kgosi Galeshewe of the Batlhaping and chief Toto Makgolokwe of the Batlharo.
The History of Botswana includes its pre-state history, its colonial period as the Bechuanaland Protectorate, and its modern history as a sovereign state.
