"A nation without a past is a lost nation,
and a people without a past is a people without a soul."
Sir Seretse Khama, 1921 - 1980,
first President of the Republic of Botswana.
Botswana - History
Batswana, like other Africans are poorer today because of a lack of writing culture during the past centuries which could have assisted previous generations to document their history for use by future generations. Unlike the historically important Timbuktu manuscripts which have been preserved in Mali, the hieroglyphics in Egypt and the rock art in the Tsodilo Hills in the north of the country, much of Botswana’ s history was passed through word of mouth from one generation to the other. Along the way the message from the elderly people got distorted by either accident or design when they could no longer remember what they had been told or they died before sharing this information.
Zulu-centricity all too often passes as sufficient explanation for black history in Southern Africa, certainly among whites and even among Africans. Whether as heroes or as villains, the Zulu in general and Shaka in particular are seen as the only historically significant black actors south of the Limpopo. It has been a 'master-text' only rivalled by the story of Boers versus Brits in the public history of South Africa.
Throughout the era of colonial overrule the imperial masters actively denied the fundamental truth that our region had a shared pre-colonial past. (In this respect we should not delude ourselves into believing that the Bechuanaland Protectorate was somehow not a colonial jurisdiction.)
The introduction of the last, 1965, official “Bechuanaland Protectorate Handbook” thus affirmed in its introduction that: “Happy is the nation that has no history. By this standard there can be few nations in Africa happier than Bechuanaland, for apart from the inter- and intra-tribal conflicts normal to the African continent before its emergence into modern life and thought, its record is remarkably free of incident of any kind.
The Batswana offered an equally friendly reception to missionaries, traders and soldiers alike when they came to offer their various receipts for happiness, and since the British drew a line on the map and said ‘This is Bechuanaland’ they have lived quietly and un-demandingly for seventy uneventful years.”
In 1970, as the keynote speaker of that year’s graduation ceremony of the then University of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland, Sir Seretse Khama made his now iconic statement on the need to recover a national understanding of the past: “We were taught, sometimes in a very positive way, to despise ourselves and our ways of life. We were made to believe that we had no past to speak of, no history to boast of. The past, so far as we were concerned, was just a blank and nothing more...
“It should now be our intention to try to retrieve what we can of our past. We should write our own history books, to prove that we did have a past, and that it was a past that was just as worth writing and learning about as any other. We must do this for the simple reason that a nation without a past is a lost nation, and a people without a past are a people without a soul.” Note that Botswana's first President spoke of a “nation without a past” not as he has often been misquoted “a nation without culture”. In a post colonial context there is a big difference.
Africans along with other so-called “primitive” or “tribal” peoples were, as the late Eric Wolfe pointed out in a landmark study, thus degraded as being “Peoples without History”. Cast as peoples with culture but not history the “natives” here and elsewhere were thus then the subjects of study by a special category of academic that thrived under imperialism, namely the “Cultural Anthropologist.”
The history of human settlement in Botswana dates back to the earliest evidence of mankind’s existence. Today, archaeological evidence of early, middle and late Stone Age occupation can be found throughout Botswana. By 20,000 BC Late Stone Age peoples in the region were producing sophisticated rock paintings while surviving by hunting and foraging. It is commonly believed that many modern “Khoisan” language peoples (locally known as Basarwa) are direct descendents of these Late Stone Age occupants. From 200BC there is evidence of the spread of pastoralism among the Late Stone Age communities of northern Botswana.
Iron Age settlement dates from the fourth century. Many scholars have speculated that the spread of Iron Age throughout southern Africa may be linked to an influx of “Bantu” language farmers. But this view has been challenged, while the past assertion of a more modern chronology of “Bantu migrations” from eastern into southern Africa has been discredited by advances in archaeology and historical methodology.
European hunters, traders and missionaries started arriving in Botswana in 1806. The industrial revolution in Europe had created a need for new markets and raw materials. This precipitated a later rush for Africa from traders seeking concessions for their governments. Moreover, the gun - a new method for hunting - had been introduced to Batswana, who realised the value and power of firearms after a handful of Boers had been able to rout the Ndebele tribe in the 1830s.
Even the best hunters struggled to make a living in South Africa, the game having been depleted. They turned their attention to the unexplored north. The game soon dwindled, unable to withstand the relentless slaughter. Missionaries were to play a major role in the lives of Batswana, acting as mediators in disputes with other white men and bringing a religion to the country which today is central to many Batswana lives.
In 1836, some 20,000 Boers left the Cape to avoid British officialdom and settled in the land north of the Vaal River. Helped by the Batswana they resisted and defeated Mzilikazi's Ndebele, and laid claim to the land. However it was traditional Botswana territory. They had been uprooted by Mzilikazi, who regarded it as his. After the Boers had driven off Mzilikazi, the Batswana found that the land they had previously occupied was no longer theirs and were only allowed to stay on as laborers on the Boer farms. This set the scene for land clashes between the Boers and Batswana which still persist today in South Africa. As a result of constant raids and Boer expansion, the Batswana came to hate and fear them and turned to the British, whom they considered the lesser of two evils.
Southern Africa had been a troublesome region for the British. Wars against the indigenous people and squabbles with the Boers were costing them money and prestige. Britain had no desire to further increase their commitment in the area. The Germans on the other hand, however, were set to establish themselves in Namibia and the fear existed that they would cast their eyes eastward, blocking the road to promising Ndebele concessions in Zimbabwe. Reluctantly, Britain decided to annex yet another vast area; this time at minimal cost.
In March 1885, a Brimsa protectorate was declared over Bechuanaland and the borders of present day Botswana were thus defined. The area to the south of Molopo river, part of the present day northern Cape region, became a Crown colony and was known as British Bechuanaland. The area to north, present day Botswana, was to remain largely independent but under protection from the Boers in the south and the Ndebele in the north-east. Cecil John Rhodes, chairman of the British South Africa Company (BSAC), was determined to include the Bechuanaland protectorate into Rhodesia and maneuvered himself into position for the takeover of the protectorate. Britain was ready to hand over the protectorate to Rhodes when the Batswana chiefs Khama, Bathoen and Sebele went to England to plead their case. Their distrust of Rhodes was deep, following clashes Khama had with him when the two had allied against the Ndebele. The harsh treatment of those living in Rhodesia increased their efforts to keep their land out of his control. In their negotiations they managed to persuade the colonial secretary to keep their three reserved territories under crown protection. It was the British government intention though, to cede the Kalahari and the proposed railway strip running up the eastern region (to Rhodesia) to the BSAC, but even this concession to Rhodes aspirations was shortly withdrawn (after the Jameson raid).
The chief's triumphal return was followed a month later on 29 December by the Jameson Raid - an ill-timed and poorly executed plan by Rhodes to overthrow the Boers in the Transvaal republic. Dr Jameson a trusted confident of Rhodes, launched the raid with the intention of causing an uprising by the non-Boers in the Transvaal Republic. Jameson and his party were captured by president Kruger's commandos before they reached Johannesburg and Rhodes, quite rightly, received much of the blame, which effectively ended his expansion plans.
The British continued to administer the Protectorate for the next 70 years - years of slow progress against the background of security and peace. Sir Charles Rey was among several notable administrators of this period. A vibrant go-getter, he introduced dramatic changes in many areas. He increased the power of the administration and appointed an economic consultant, who proposed various surveys which were aimed at improving the cattle ranching industry and moving the Capital to within the Protectorate s borders.
Rey fought vigorously for increased finance and eventually succeeded. In eight years, he more than doubled the school attendance, increased expenditure twofold, raised attendance at out-patient hospitals by more than eight and improved the infrastructure in all areas. He was also the first to propose that a national park be established in the Chobe region. Some twenty years were to elapse before a similar infusion of funds and drive occurred.
By 1955, British policy had begun to alter course considerably. Plans were made for independence for the protectorate, and legislation was passed to effect this. The protectorate was granted internal self government in 1965 and the republic of Botswana became completely independent on 30 September 1966, under the new president, Sir Seretse Khama.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
