How Botswana’s Nationhood was Conceived and How we Got Here

Abstract

The term Botswana means ‘Land of the Tswana-speaking peoples’. At the risk of going against the grain
and stepping on sensitive toes, I submit that the name is a misnomer. Not every indigenous Motswana is
an ethnic Motswana. There are 10 perceived principal ethnic groups in Botswana and nine of these are not
Tswana at all. But since the Tswana-speaking group predominate population-wise, our colonial overlords,
the British, decided to call the country ‘Bechuanaland’ in order to isolate the area from other parts which
they occupied or intended to conquer. For instance, they had taken over southern part of the territory of
Tswana states (called it British Bechuanaland) and annexed it to the Cape Colony which they already
controlled. The Boers had taken over what later became Transvaal and Orange Free State from African
groups.