Tswana (Motswana, plural Batswana) is the name of a Southern African people. The Tswana language, also called Setswana, belongs to the Bantu group of the Niger-Congo languages. Tswana ( Setswana) is a Bantu language written in the Latin Alphabet. Ethnic Batswana make up a majority of the population of Botswana. However, the term "Batswana" is sometimes used simply to mean citizens of Botswana, and can include Khoisan people, white people and others. Khoisan (increasingly commonly spelled Khoesan or Khoe-San) is the name for two major Ethnic groups of Southern Africa.

In the nineteenth century, a common spelling and pronunciation of Batswana was Bechuana. The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar Europeans therefore referred to the area inhabited by the Batswana as Bechuanaland. The Bechuanaland Protectorate (BP was a protectorate established on March 31, 1885, by the United Kingdom in Southern Africa. In Setswana, however, Botswana is the correct name for the place of Batswana.

Dynasties and tribes

Botswana

The modern republic of Botswana (formerly the British protectorate Bechuanaland) is thus named for the Tswana people. The Republic of Botswana (Lefatshe la Botswana is a Landlocked nation in Southern Africa. The Bechuanaland Protectorate (BP was a protectorate established on March 31, 1885, by the United Kingdom in Southern Africa. Seven of the country's eight 'major' clans speak Setswana, the exception being the baMalete or Balete, which speak a Nguni dialect. Bamalete, or baMalete, is the traditional name of a Southern African Bantu tribe that tends to prefer the modern name Balete In Botswana All have a traditional Paramount Chief, styled Kgôsikgolo, who is entitled to a seat in the House of chiefs. A House of chiefs is an assembly either legislative or advisory that is neither representative (by general elections nor simply appointed and/or filled ex-officio but consists of all The Tswana dynasties are all related, and some have known splits into two or three competing lines.

The principal Tswana clans are the:

• Barôlông
• Bakwêna
• Bangwaketse
• Bamangwato
• Batawana
• Batlôkwa
• Bakgatla
• Balete

South Africa

The largest number of ethnic Batswana people actually live in South Africa. The Bamangwato (more correctly BagammaNgwato people are one of the eight principal Tribes of Botswana. The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa They are one of the larger black minorities, and Setswana is one of the eleven official languages nationwide. Until 1994, South African Tswana people were notionally citizens of Bophuthatswana, one of the few bantustans that actually became reality as planned by the Apartheid regime. Bophuthatswana (meaning gathering of the Tswana people) was a Bantustan ("homeland" in the northwest of South Africa. A bantustan or more commonly black african homeland or simply homeland, was territory set aside for black inhabitants of South Africa and South-West

The Chiefs of the following Batswana polities are all styled Kgôsi (less lofty then Kgôsikgolo):

• Batlhaping (The fish people), split before 1800 into
  • Batlhaping Bagaphuduhudu
  • Batlhaping Bagaphuduhutswane (further split in four, later five, dynastic lines).
• Batlôkwa (the wild-cat people)
• Barôlông Barratlou, split into
  • Barôlông Barratlou Boomariba (further split in two dynastic lines)
  • Barôlông Barratlou Booseitshiro
• Barôlông Baseleka
• Barôlông Barrapulana
• Bahurutse (split before 1800 into two nameless ruling lines, the second of which split again into Bahurutse ba Boomokgatlha and Bahurutse Bagamoilwa, and later further split). The name may historically have been written Bahhurutshe.

Elsewhere

In Namibia and Zimbabwe the Batswana don’t constitute any significant polity. Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa on the Atlantic coast See also Great Zimbabwe National Monument. For information about the March and June 2008 presidential elections see Zimbabwean presidential election

Livestock

Tswana is also the name of some breeds of animal originating in Botswana.

Cattle 

Tswana (cattle)

Ass  

The Tswana donkey is used for draught power purposes. Tswana is an indigenous Beef cattle breed of Botswana. It is a Sanga type similar to Barotse and Tuli.

References

• WorldStatesmen website on political and administrative entities, per present state