Sub Saharan Africa

Botswana
Last updated: 31 December 2008

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HISTORY

In common with many of their neighbours, the Tswana suffered greatly from Nguni and Afrikaner incursions in the mid 19th century, leading to the establishment of a British Protectorate in 1885. Coveted in turn by the early Boer republics, by Cecil Rhodes' British South Africa Company and then by South Africa, Bechuanaland ('Bechuana' is synologous with 'Batswana') has often trod a narrow path between its neighbours' political, military and economic ambitions. Lack of infrastructure within the Protectorate led to it being governed from nearby Mafeking (now Mafikeng) in the adjacent Bechuanaland Crown Colony, which was incorporated into South Africa in 1910. The adoption of apartheid in South Africa in 1948 effectively ended its prospects of incorporating the Protectorate, which instead achieved independence as Botswana in 1966.

The BDP won the first elections, held in 1965 in advance of independence, and its leader, Seretse Khama, was appointed president. The BDP has won all 8 elections (each one free and fair) since independence. In spite of the country's vulnerability to economic coercion (albeit somewhat alleviated by the discovery and exploitation of diamonds from the late 1960s), and occasional military attack by Rhodesia and apartheid South Africa, Khama was a staunch critic of his white minority-ruled neighbours. Botswana's stance and 'front-line' status meant that, notwithstanding the BDP's political and economic conservatism, the country developed friendly (if perhaps slightly formal) relations with its more radical neighbours.

BBC News Country Profile: Botswana