The Bamangwato (more correctly BagammaNgwato, and also referred to as the BaNgwato or Ngwato) is one of the eight "principal" Tswana chieftaincies of Botswana. The modern Bamangwato formed in the Central Serowe,Palapye & Mahalapye District, with its main town and capital (after 1902) at Serowe. The paramount chief, a hereditary position, occupies one of the fifteen places in Ntlo ya Dikgosi, the national House of Chiefs. [1]
The core population of the Bamangwato are an 18th-century offshoot of the Bakwena people, but members in the Bamangwato kingdom came from many sources, as was the case with all of the major 19th-century African kingdoms. Sir Seretse Khama's paternal forebears, the chiefs of the Bamangwato, had built several prior capitals including Shoshong and Phalatswe, also known as Old Palapye (Before the advent of colonial administration and fixed infrastructure, it was common for a town to move when the local environment degraded). [2] Khama and the Protectorate administration created the modern borders of the Central District in Botswana.
The Sengwato language caused excitement in linguistic circles in 1998 when it was realized that it contained a unique f-s sound. [3]
Seretse Khama, Botswana's first president, was the Kgosi (king/chief) of the Bamangwato, and his son, Botswana's fourth President Ian Khama, is the tribe's de facto paramount chief.
The history of Botswana encompasses the region's ancient and tribal history, its colonisation as the Bechuanaland Protectorate, and the present-day Republic of Botswana. The first modern humans to inhabit Botswana were the San people, and agriculture first developed approximately 2,300 years ago. The first Bantu peoples arrived c. 200 AD, and the first Tswana people arrived about 200 years later. The Tswana people split into various tribes over the following thousand years as migrations within the region continued, culminating in the Difaqane in the late 18th century. European contact first occurred in 1816, which led to the Christianization of the region.
Khama III, referred to by missionaries as Khama the Good also called Khama the Great, was the Kgosi of the Bangwato people.
The Tswana are a Bantu ethnic group native to Southern Africa. Ethnic Tswana made up approximately 85% of the population of Botswana in 2011.
Sir Seretse Goitsebeng Maphiri Khama, GCB, KBE was a Botswana politician who served as the first President of Botswana, a post he held from 1966 to his death in 1980.
The Bechuanaland Protectorate was a protectorate established on 31 March 1885 in Southern Africa by the United Kingdom. It became the Republic of Botswana on 30 September 1966.
Serowe is an urban village in Botswana's Central District. A trade and commercial centre, it is Botswana's third largest village. Serowe has played an important role in Botswana's history, as capital for the Bamangwato people in the early 20th century and as birthplace of several of Botswana's presidents. More recently it has undergone significant development as the town and as Botswana continues to grow.
Palapye is a growing town in Botswana, situated about halfway between Francistown and Gaborone. Over the years its position has made it a convenient stopover on one of Southern Africa's principal north–south rail and road routes.
Ruth Williams Khama, Lady Khama was the wife of Botswana's first president Sir Seretse Khama, the Paramount Chief of its Bamangwato tribe. She served as the inaugural First Lady of Botswana from 1966 to 1980.
Central is the largest of Botswana's districts in terms of area and population. It encompasses the traditional homeland of the Bamangwato people. Some of the most politically connected Batswana have come from the Central District, including former President Sir Seretse Khama, former President Festus Mogae, and former President Lt. General Seretse Ian Khama. The district borders the Botswanan districts of Chobe in the north, North-West in the northwest, Ghanzi in the west, Kweneng in southwest, Kgatleng in the south and North-East in the northeast, as well as Zimbabwe also in the northeast and South Africa in the southeast.
Shoshong is a town in Botswana, formerly the chief settlement of the eastern Bamangwato.
Khama is the name of the royal family of the Bamangwato people of Botswana. As such, it may refer to:
Tshekedi Khama was the regent-king of the Bamangwato tribe in 1926 after the death of Sekgoma II.
Seretse Khama Ian Khama is a Botswana politician and former military officer who was the fourth President of the Republic of Botswana from 1 April 2008 to 1 April 2018. After serving as Commander of the Botswana Defence Force, he entered politics and was Vice-President of Botswana from 1998 to 2008, then succeeded Festus Mogae as President on 1 April 2008. He won a full term in the 2009 election and was re-elected in October 2014.
The Three Dikgosi Monument is a bronze sculpture located in the Central Business District of Gaborone, Botswana. The statues depict three dikgosi, or tribal chiefs: Khama III, Sebele I, and Bathoen I. The three dikgosi played important roles in Botswana's independence. In 1895, the three men traveled to Great Britain to ask Joseph Chamberlain, Secretary of State for the Colonies, and Queen Victoria to separate the Bechuanaland Protectorate from Cecil Rhodes's British South Africa Company and Southern Rhodesia. Permission was then granted which made Botswana under direct British rule until its independence. There are six plinths giving information about Botswana's independence and struggles. A large coat of arms is featured in front of the three statues. A contract was given to North Korean company Mansudae Overseas Projects to build the monument, which resulted in disappointment from local sculptors. Some minority ethnic groups in Botswana see it as a decree of Tswana dominance.
The Independence Day of Botswana, commonly called Boipuso in Setswana, is a national holiday observed in Botswana on September 30 of every year. The date celebrates Botswana's Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom on September 30, 1966.
The history of the Cinema of Botswana comprises film-making in the Southern African country of Botswana, both before and after Botswana's independence.
Semane Setlhoko Khama (1881–1937) was a mohumagadi of the BaNgwato Kingdom in the Bechuanaland Protectorate. Educated in a missionary school, she became a teacher and upon her marriage to Khama III continued to press for education for the BaNgwato. A proponent of modern medicine, she was influential in bringing modern midwifery to the area. As a devout Christian, she encouraged women's involvement in the church and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union.
The History of Botswana includes its pre-state history, its colonial period as the Bechuanaland Protectorate, and its modern history as a sovereign state.
Serowe North is a constituency in the Central District represented by Baratiwa Mathoothe, a BPF MP in the National Assembly of Botswana since 2019.