Moteane John Melamu is a writer and academic from Botswana. He is a professor at the University of Botswana.
Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 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. It is connected by the Kazungula Bridge to Zambia, across the world’s shortest border between two countries.
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.
Tswana, also known by its native name Setswana, and previously spelled Sechuana in English, is a Bantu language spoken in Southern Africa by about 8.2 million people. It belongs to the Bantu language family within the Sotho-Tswana branch of Zone S (S.30), and is closely related to the Northern Sotho and Southern Sotho languages, as well as the Kgalagadi language and the Lozi language.
Gaborone is the capital and largest city of Botswana with a population of 246,325 based on the 2022 census, about 10% of the total population of Botswana. Its agglomeration is home to 421,907 inhabitants at the 2011 census.
The San peoples, or Bushmen, are members of various Khoe, Tuu, or Kxʼa-speaking indigenous hunter-gatherer cultures; that are the oldest surviving cultures of Southern Africa, and whose territories span Botswana, Namibia, Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and South Africa.
The Bechuanaland Protectorate was a protectorate established on 31 March 1885, by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in Southern Africa. It became the Republic of Botswana on 30 September 1966.
The Botswana Defence Force Air Arm is the air force of the Botswana Defence Force of Botswana in southern Africa.
The Orapa diamond mine is the world's largest diamond mine by area. The mine is located in Orapa, a town in the Central District of Botswana about 240 km (150 mi) west of the city of Francistown. Orapa is owned by Debswana, a partnership between the De Beers company and the government of Botswana. The mine was discovered on 1 March 1967, a year after Botswana's independence, by a team of De Beers geologists, including Manfred Marx, Jim Gibson and led by Dr. Gavin Lamont. It is the oldest of four mines operated by the company, and began operations in July 1971 and its first production was 1,438,168 carats. The revenue the mine generated is credited for transforming the Botswana economy, as it allowed the government to invest in critical social services and national infrastructure.
Bessie Amelia Emery Head was a South African writer who, though born in South Africa, is usually considered Botswana's most influential writer. She wrote novels, short fiction and autobiographical works that are infused with spiritual questioning and reflection.
Norman Rush is an American writer most of whose introspective novels and short stories are set in Botswana in the 1980s. He won the U.S. National Book Award and the 1992 Irish Times/Aer Lingus International Fiction Prize for his novel Mating.
Unity Dow is a Motswana lawyer, human rights activist, specially elected member of parliament, and a writer. She formerly served as a judge on the High Court of Botswana and in various government ministries. Born in the Bechuanaland Protectorate to a seamstress and a farmer, who insisted on their children obtaining an education, Dow grew up in a traditional rural village before modernisation. She earned a law degree in 1983 from the University of Botswana and Swaziland, though her studies were completed in Swaziland and University of Edinburgh, Scotland, as Botswana had no law school at the time. After her graduation, Dow opened the first all-woman law firm in Botswana and in 1997 became the first woman to be appointed as a judge to the country's High Court.
Caitlin Davies is an English author, journalist and teacher. Her parents are Hunter Davies and Margaret Forster, both well-known writers. Hunter Davies wrote regularly about Caitlin and her brother Jake and sister Flora in a weekly Punch magazine column which ran in the 1970s, giving a broad insight into their upbringing. In her youth she was also frequently referred to by Auberon Waugh in his Private Eye diary.
Besides referring to the language of the dominant people groups in Botswana, Setswana is the adjective used to describe the rich cultural traditions of the Batswana - whether construed as members of the Setswana ethnic groups or of all citizens of Botswana. the Batswana believe in the rich culture of Botho-Ubuntu, ‘‘People are not individuals, living in a state of independence, but part of a community, living in relationships and interdependence.’ Batswana believe in working together and in being united.
Jonas Mosa Gwangwa was a South African jazz musician, songwriter and producer. He was an important figure in South African jazz for over 40 years.
Otse is a village in the South-East District of Botswana. It is located 60 km south of Gaborone, along the Gaborone–Lobatse road and close to the border with South Africa. This village is home to the Balete people who are related to those in Ramotswa, Gabane and Mogobane. The population was 7,636 in 2011 census.
The Voice is a print and online newspaper based in Botswana founded by Beata Kasale and Don Laurence Moore. The Voice was founded in Francistown in 1993 as The Francistowner Extra; in 1999 it opened offices in the national capital, Gaborone. It has adopted a tabloid format which means shorter stories, bigger pictures and bolder headlines. The overall newspaper style encouraged journalist to develop a creative writing identity. Readership is at 30,000 copies per edition containing mostly human interest stories.
The African bush elephant is one of two extant African elephant species and one of three extant elephant species. It is the largest living terrestrial animal, with bulls reaching a shoulder height of up to 3.96 m and a body mass of up to 10.4 t.
Botswana–North Korea relations refers to the current and historical relationship between Botswana and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), commonly known as North Korea. The two countries never maintained an embassy in their respective capitals since the suspension of diplomatic relations in February 2014.
Edwin Keith Townsend-Coles was a specialist in adult literacy. Townsend-Coles was educated at Durham University, where he read Geography. While at Durham he was Editor-in-Chief of Palatinate and President of the Durham Union Society during Easter term of 1951. Townsend-Coles pursued a career in the field of adult education, and was Director of the Institute of Adult Education, University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland from 1958-1965. After moving back to England, he took up a position as an adult education adviser at Rewley House in Oxford. He became a prominent figure in the Delegacy for Extra Mural Studies at the University of Oxford. Townsend-Coles spent the latter part of his career working for UNESCO, visiting developing parts of the world. While living in Oxford he held the position of chairman of the Oxford Civic Society between 1983 until 2000.
The history of the Cinema of Botswana comprises film-making in the Southern African country of Botswana, both before and after Botswana's independence. The cinema of Botswana is one of a number of African national cinemas that also includes the national cinemas of Benin, Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa, among others.