Botswana – Geography
Botswana – Geography, The population is linguistically and culturally more homogeneous than usual for African states. About half of the Tswana people belong to subgroups, but many more master the Tswana language, setswana, and it has been a major political goal for independent Botswana to weaken tribal thinking and reduce inequalities between ethnic groups. A special position is the San people (” bushmen “), the country’s original residents, who traditionally lived in the Kalahari desert. Only the few still live as collectors and hunters. Tswana and the other ethnic groups are predominantly Bantu people, immigrated into several waves. Recent immigration includes herero, who fled from German brutality in the then German South West Africa (now Namibia), and ndebele from Zimbabwe.
Living standards are high according to African conditions and strongly increasing. Population growth is still high by more than 3% per annum, among other things. because mortality, including infant mortality, is low. Illiteracy is only widespread among the elderly and lies at approximately 20% (2003). Botswana is severely affected by HIV and AIDS; It is estimated that more than one third of the population is infected with HIV or has developed AIDS.
The population is unevenly distributed in the country. The vast majority live in a belt around the eastern railroad. Traditionally, settlement settled in large villages, but urbanization is vigorous and more than a quarter of the population lives in a few major cities: the capital Gaborone, Mahalapye, Selebi-Phikwe and the Francistown transport hub near the Zimbabwe border.
- Countryaah: Do you know how many people there are in Botswana? Check this site to see population pyramid and resident density about this country.
Economics and business. By independence in 1966, Botswana was one of Africa’s least developed countries and dependence on South Africa was almost total. A very large part of the workforce was employed in South Africa’s mines, and the foreign economy was dominated by transfers from here. However, since the discovery of some of the world’s largest diamond deposits in the early 1970’s, Botswana has had Africa’s fastest growing economy and undergone a transformation from poor agricultural land to a modern state characterized by stability and economic growth.
Agriculture continues to employ a significant proportion of the population, but the number of employed persons has fallen sharply (by 74% between 1991 and 2001) due to several years of drought and a low standard of living in the countryside compared to the cities. Only 2% of the area is cultivated. Cereals and other crops are grown especially on a few hundred large farms. Livestock breeding is predominant for the majority of Tswana farmers. It’s about. two cattle per cow. resident and a goat. The mode of operation has undergone a modernization with, among other things, extensive wellbores and considerable commercial meat production. For culture and traditions of Botswana, please check allunitconverters.
Diamond production is the world’s largest; in 2004, Botswana accounted for 22.4% of the world’s diamond production measured in value. However, production may later be surpassed by Russia. Botswana’s diamond mines are operated by the South African De Beers Group in a fifty-fifty joint venture with Botswana. It takes place in three mining areas at Orapa, Letlhakeng and Jwaneng. Copper and nickel are mined at Selebi-Phikwe; large coal deposits at Molepolole are utilized for on-site electricity generation. The rest of the energy consumption, like very large parts of the country’s other commodity consumption, is imported from South Africa. New mining areas have been developed to supplement the dominant diamond sector. Water supply is a growing problem and is causing controversy with neighboring Namibia about the use of water in rivers. Lake Ngami is now almost completely dehydrated and can hardly be called a lake; this is due to complicated drainage conditions in the large inland delta, Okavango, which is not yet fully understood.
Nature. The vast majority of Botswana is a natural landscape and considerable areas have been set aside for national parks. The entire country lies at 800-1000 m altitude on the South African Shield and is devoid of any real mountains. The dry western part is covered by the Kalahari desert, which in the southernmost part is really the sand desert, while the northern one is bush steppe. To the east of this is the famous Okavango Delta. It is an inland river delta consisting of 15,000 km2 swamps with a species rich and distinctive animal and plant life. During the rainy season, the rivers reach east to the Makgadikgadi Saltpans; this area attracts along with Chobe National Parksubstantial crowds of tourists, offering photo safaris and trophy hunting to the wealthy. Botswana’s tourism industry is focused on the exclusive market, and national parks are partly funded by trophy fees and entrance fees.
Botswana – language
Botswana Languages There are two official languages in Botswana: English and Bantu Setswana, which is the main language for over half of the population. In addition, smaller groups speak the bantu languages birwa, kalanga, mbukushu, shekgalagadi and yeye; These include herero and ndebele, who came with immigration from neighboring countries in the 1900’s. The remaining languages belong to the khoisan language family, of which the following are spoken by 4000 people or more: kxoe, tsoa, shua and! Xóõ.
