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Tswana (Motswana, plural Batswana) is the name of a Southern African people. The Tswana language
Tswana language

Tswana , is a Bantu languages language written in the Latin Alphabet. Tswana is the national and majority language of Botswana, whose people are the Batswana ....
, 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.






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Tswana (Motswana, plural Batswana) is the name of a Southern African people. The Tswana language
Tswana language

Tswana , is a Bantu languages language written in the Latin Alphabet. Tswana is the national and majority language of Botswana, whose people are the Batswana ....
, 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.

Dynasties and tribes


Botswana

The modern republic of Botswana
Botswana

The Republic of Botswana , is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Citizens of Botswana are called "Batswana" , regardless of ethnicity. Formerly a British protectorate of Bechuanaland Protectorate, Botswana adopted its new name after becoming independent within the Commonwealth of Nations on 30 September 1966....
 (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
Bamalete

Bamalete, or baMalete, is the traditional name of a Southern African Bantu peoples tribe of Nguni decent, that tends to prefer the modern name Balete...
 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
House of chiefs

A House of chiefs is an assembly, either legislative or advisory, that is neither representative nor simply appointed and/or filled ex-officio, but consists of all or part of the traditional leaders, known as Tribal chiefs, of a country or polity....
. 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
    Bamangwato

    The Bamangwato people are one of the eight principal tribes of Botswana. Modern Bangwato formed in the Central District , with its main town and capital at Serowe....
  • Batawana
  • Batlôkwa
  • Bakgatla
  • Balete
    Balete

    Balete can refer to:*The modern name for the baMalete, a Southern African Bantu tribe.*The Banyan Tree, locally known as 'Balite' or 'Balete' in the Philippines and closely associated with the spirit world according to a number of Philippine Myths, or any species of Ficus in general...


South Africa

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

The Republic of South Africa, also known by Official names of South Africa, 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
Bophuthatswana

Bophuthatswana was a bantustan in the northwest of South Africa. It had a surface area of approximately 40 000 km? and consisted of seven enclaves dispersed over the former South African provinces of Cape Province, Transvaal and Orange Free State....
, one of the few bantustan
Bantustan

A bantustan or euphemistically black african homeland or simply homeland, was territory set aside for black inhabitants of South Africa and South-West Africa , as part of the policy of South Africa under apartheid....
s 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.
  • Bakgatla , spilt into
    • Bagatla ba Kgafela
    • Bakgatla ba Mosetlha
    • Bakgatla ba Mmakau
    • Bakgatla ba Motsha


Elsewhere

In Namibia
Namibia

Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in southern Africa on the Atlantic Ocean coast. It shares borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east, and South Africa to the south....
 and Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe , is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the continent of Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo River rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east....
 the Batswana don’t constitute any significant polity.

Livestock

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

Cattle : Tswana (cattle)
Tswana (cattle)

Tswana is an indigenous beef cattle breed of Botswana. It is a Sanga cattle type, similar to Barotse and Tuli . Its colour is plain black or multi coloured: usually red pied, and rarely black pied....
 Ass : The Tswana donkey is used for draught power purposes.