History

The original inhabitants of Botswana are the San or Bushmen. They have made the Kalahari their home for the past 30,000 years surviving there since the Bantu or early Tswana arrived nearly two millennia ago. The san or bushmen number about 60,000 today with the Tswana now constituting the majority of the population.www.botswanaholidays.com - Botswana Safari, Botswana Tours, Botswana Accommodation

The discovery of gold in the late 19th century in what was then considered a hot and inhospitable country attracted the attention of the Boers, this led to the Tswana people petitioning England for protection. This was granted in 1885 and Bechuanaland came into being. In 1964 Britain accepted proposals for democratic self governance and the 1965 constitution led to the first General Elections and to independence on the 30th of September 1966. The “Republic of Botswana” was born. Seretse Khama was elected as the first president and again re-elected four years later, he died of cancer when in office in 1980. The sitting vice president, Ketumile Masire followed (again being re-elected) he retired from office in 1998 and was succeeded by Festus Mogae who was again re-elected in 2004.

In 1966 diamonds were discovered and almost overnight the poorest country in Africa became one of the wealthiest