Tswana

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This article is about the ethnic group. For the language, see Tswana language.

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. 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.

In the nineteenth century, a common spelling and pronunciation of Batswana was Bechuana. Europeans therefore referred to the area inhabited by the Batswana as Bechuanaland. In Setswana, however, Botswana is the correct name for the place of Batswana.

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[edit] Dynasties and tribes

[edit] Botswana

The modern republic of Botswana (formerly the British protectorate Bechuanaland) is thus named for the Tswana people. Seven of the country's eight 'major' clans speak Setswana, the exception being the baMalete or Balete, which speak a Nguni dialect. All have a traditional Paramount Chief, styled Kgôsikgolo, who is entitled to a seat in the House of chiefs. The Tswana dynasties are all related, and some have known splits into two or three competing lines.

The principal Tswana clans are the:

[edit] South Africa

The largest number of ethnic Batswana people actually live in South 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.

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.

[edit] Elsewhere

In Namibia and Zimbabwe the Batswana don’t constitute any significant polity.

[edit] 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.

[edit] References