Tswana people

This article is about the ethnic group. For other uses, see Tswana (disambiguation).

Tswana

Depiction of a congregation of Tswana people with David Livingstone, by the London Missionary Society, circa 1900
Regions with significant populations
Botswana poulation of ethnic Tswana is unknown - the last census to solicite ethnicity in Botswana was in 1946 (Tlou, 1985) in two districts - In Ngamiland the ethnic Tswana were half the population of the non-Tswana (7,000 vs 16 000 (Wayeyi alone) (Tlou 1985). In the Central District, the non-Tswana - the Kalanga specifically, were more the than the Tswana. The ethnic Tswana are found in the Southern part of the Country. Walter and Ringenberg (1994) estimated that the non-Tswana make 90% of the Population. RETENG, an organisation which has long advocated for national census to ask ethnicity of citizens without success did an estimate study using the 2001 Population data and estimated that the ethnic Tswana made 17.9% of the population while the non-Tswana made 60%. Since Sestswna is medium of instruction in school currently about 78% of the population of Botswana are able to speak Setswana (Central Statistics Office, 2001) with varying levels of competence and comprehension. South Africa 3,900,000 (Tswana-speakers)
Languages
Tswana language
Religion
Christianity and African traditional religion.
Related ethnic groups
Other Bantu peoples of South Africa

person	Motswana
people	Batswana
language	Setswana
country	Botswana

The Tswana (Tswana: Batswana, singular Motswana) are a Southern African people. The Tswana language belongs to the Bantu group of the Niger–Congo languages. Ethnic Tswana make up about 80% of the population of Botswana.

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

Dynasties and tribes

Botswana

The modern republic of Botswana (formerly the British protectorate of Bechuanaland) is named for the Tswana people. All the country's eight 'major' tribes speak Tswana. All have a traditional Paramount Chief, styled Kgosikgolo, 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 tribes are the:

• Bakgatla
• Bakwena
• Balete
• Bangwato
• BaNgwaketse
• Barolong
• Batawana
• Batlokwa

South Africa

The largest number of ethnic Tswana people actually live in South Africa. They are one of the larger black minorities, and the Tswana language 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 Tswana polities are all styled Kgosi (less lofty then Kgosikgolo):

• Bafokeng (Rustenburg Area)^{[citation needed]}
  • Bafokeng^{[citation needed]}
  • Bafokeng Ba Ga Motlatla^{[citation needed]}

• Batlhaping (The fish people, Taung area), split before 1800 into
  • Batlhaping Bagaphuduhudu
  • Batlhaping Bagaphuduhutswane (further split in four, later five, dynastic lines).
  • Batlhaping Ba Ga Maidi
  • Batlhaping Ba Ga Mothibi

• Batlôkwa (the wild-cat people)
  • Batlôkwa Ba Ga Sedumedi
  • Batlokwa Ba Bogatsu
  • Batlokwa Boo Matlapane

• Barôlông Barratlou, split into
  • Barôlông Barratlou Boomariba (further split in two dynastic lines)
  • Barôlông Barratlou Booseitshiro
  • Barôlông Barratlou Boomakgobi
  • Barôlông Boo Ratlou Ba Ga Phoi
• Barôlông Baseleka
• Barôlông Barrapulana
• Barôlông Barratshidi
• Barôlông Ba Ga Molefe Ba Moata
• Barôlông Ba Ga Makgobi
• Barôlông Boo Lefifi
• Barôlông Ba Ga Moroka (Putaditjaba, Free-State, SA)

• Bahurutshe (split before 1800 into two nameless ruling lines, the second of which split again into Bahurutshe ba Boomokgatlha and Bahurutshe Bagamoilwa, and later further split). The name may historically have been written Bahhurutshe.
• Bahurutshe Ba Ga Mothogae
• Bahurutshe Ba Ga Gopane
• Bahurutshe Ba Ga Le-Ncoe
• Bahurutshe Ba Ga Mokgoswa
• Bahurutshe Ba Ga Suping

• Bakgatla , split into
  • Bagatla ba Kgafela
  • Bakgatla ba Mosetlha
  • Bakgatla ba Mmakau
  • Bakgatla ba Mocha
  • Bakgatla ba Seabe
  • Bakgatla ba Mocheche
  • bakgatla ba mmanaana

• Bakwena (crocodile people)
  • Bakwena Ba Ga Molopyane
  • Bakwena Ba Mare A Phogole
  • Bakwena Ba Magopa
  • Bakwena Boo Modimosana Ba Ga Mmatau
  • Bakwena Ba Morare (Madikwe)
  • Bakwena Ba Ga Sechele (Molepolole)

• Batlharo split into: (Kuruman, SA)
  • Batlharo Ba Ga Lotlhware
  • Batlharo Ba Ga Masibi

• Bapo
• Bapo Ba Ga Mogale

• Baphalane Ba Ramokoka
• Baphalane Ba Mantserre

• Batlhako Boo Mututu Ba Ga Mabe

• Baphiring

• Bataung Ba Moubane
• Bataung Ba Hlalele

• Baphuting Ba Ga Nawa

• Batloung Ba Ga Shole

• Bakubung Ba Ratheo (Ledig/Patsima, Mankwe, North-West, SA)

• Bakubung ba ga Marakwana

• Ba Nare

• Barokologadi Ba Ga Maotwa (Pitsedisulejang, Madikwe, North-West, SA)

• Batlhalerwa
• Batlhako (North West, Mabeskraal)
• Batlhako ba Matutu
• Batlhako ba Leema

Elsewhere

In Namibia and Zimbabwe the Tswana do not constitute any significant polity.^{[citation needed]}

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.

References

• WorldStatesmen website on political and administrative entities, per present state
• http://archive.lib.msu.edu/DMC/African%20Journals/pdfs/PULA/pula015001/pula015001004.pdf

External links

• Texts on Wikisource:
  • "Bechuana". The American Cyclopædia. 1879. 
  • "Bechuanas". New International Encyclopedia. 1905. 
  • James Wood (1907). "Bechuanas". The Nuttall Encyclopædia. 
  • "Bechuana". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911. 
  • "Bechuanas". Encyclopedia Americana. 1920.