Tswana
Tswana
Types of religious predestination
Category="Ethnic groups of Botswana"Category="Ethnic groups of Namibia"Category="Ethnic groups of South Africa"Category="Ethnic groups of Zimbabwe"Tswana (singular moTswana or Motswana, plural baTswana or Batswana) is the name of a Southern African people, and of its Bantu language.In the 19th century, a common spelling and pronunciation was Bechuana, and the area where they lived was known as Bechuanaland.
For their Niger-Congo language, which is also known as Setswana, see Tswana language
In Botswana
The modern republic of Botswana, formerly known as the colony of (British) Bechuanaland, is named after this people (Bantu languages often use prefixes, in this case bo-, for grammatical flexions and for word derivations, rather then endings and suffixes as is more usual in Indo-European languages).Seven of the country's eight 'major' tribes (the only exception being the Bamalete or Balete) are Tswana, and still have a traditional Paramount Chief styled Kgôsikgolo and entitled to a seat in the House of chiefs, all dynasties being related (some have known splits in two or three competing lines), all but one in officially recognized tribal reserves :
- baRôlông (reserve created in 1935)
- baKwêna (reserve created in 1899)
- baNgwaketse (reserve created in 1899)
- bamaNgwato (reserve created in 1899)
- baTawana (reserve Ngamiland created in 1899)
- baTlôkwa (reserve created in 1933)
- baKgatla (no reserve).
- As the Batswana constitute the majority population of Botswana, the word is also sometimes used to cover all citizens of Botswana, i.e. including other tribes, such as various Khoisan.
In South Africa
The largest number of baTswana live in South Africa, were they are one of the larger black minorities whose language is official status. Until 1994 they 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 tribal baTswana polities are all styled Kgôsi (less lofty then Kgôsikgolo) :
- baTlhaping, split before 1800 in baTlhaping bagaPhuduhudu and baTlhaping bagaPhuduhutswane (further split in 4, later 5, dynastic lines).
- baTlôkwa
- baRôlông baRratlou, split into baRôlông baRratlou booMariba (further split in two dynastic lines) and baRôlông baRratlou booSeitshiro
- baRôlông baSeleka
- baRôlông baRrapulana
- baHhurutshe (split before 1800 into two nameless ruling lines, the second of which split again into baHhurutshe ba booMokgatlha and baHhurutshe bagaMoilwa, and later further split).
Elsewhere
- in Namibia and Zimbabwe they don’t constitute any significant polity.
Sources and References
- WorldStatesmen website on political and administrative entities, per present state