The Tswana people are a group of people who live mainly in Botswana and South Africa. In Botswana they are the principal ethnic group. In South Africa they are found mostly in the Northern Cape, North West, and Free State provinces. The Tswana language is called Setswana. It is a national language in Botswana and is one of South Africa’s 11 official languages.
The Tswana people have long lived near grasslands. Some still live in traditional round houses with one room and a thatched roof. Others now live in rectangular houses with several rooms and a corrugated metal roof. Traditionally, the Tswana have raised cattle and planted crops such as corn (maize) and sorghum. Many Tswana now work in mining and other industries.
The Tswana came to the valley of the Limpopo River more than 400 years ago. In the 1700s and 1800s many Tswana moved west to the southeastern part of Botswana.
The South African government established Bophuthatswana as a homeland for the Tswana people under a 1959 law designed to relocate black African people in places where they would not have South African citizenship. Bophuthatswana consisted of seven discontinuous parcels of land near the Botswana border or adjoining it. The homeland supposedly became independent in 1977, but no country except South Africa ever recognized its independence. It ceased to exist in 1994, with the fall of South Africa’s apartheid policy.