Botswana

Botswana is a flat, landlocked country in southern Africa, much of it covered by the Kalahari Desert, between South Africa, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Gaborone is the capital and largest city. English is the official language, and Setswana, the language of the Batswana majority, is spoken across the country, whose name means land of the Tswana.

Stone tools in the region date back 2 million years, and Bantu-speaking peoples arrived in several waves before AD 600, followed by Tswana and Kalanga states from the 15th century. In 1852 Tswana chiefdoms under Sechele I held their land at the Battle of Dimawe. Britain set up the Bechuanaland Protectorate in 1885 to block German and Boer expansion, and in 1895 the chiefs Khama III, Sebele I and Bathoen I traveled to London and kept the territory out of the hands of Cecil Rhodes's company. In 1950 Britain banished the heir Seretse Khama for marrying Ruth Williams, an Englishwoman, and allowed him back in 1956.

On 30 September 1966 Bechuanaland became the Republic of Botswana, with Seretse Khama as first president. Diamonds were found in 1967, and a partnership with De Beers in Debswana gave the state a large share of the revenue, and the economy grew fast for decades. Quett Masire succeeded Khama in 1980, and Festus Mogae made HIV treatment a priority from 1998. The Botswana Democratic Party ruled for 58 years until the Umbrella for Democratic Change won the 2024 election. A parliamentary republic, it has held elections without interruption since independence.

With 581,730 km² (224,610 sq mi), the country is large but thinly peopled. Diamonds supply about 40% of government revenue, and Debswana is half owned by the state. Cattle herds have grown sharply since independence. In 2014 the Okavango Delta, an inland delta rich in wildlife, became the 1,000th site on the UNESCO World Heritage list, and the Chobe River marks part of the border with Namibia.