Botswana Country Information

Diamonds are forever. Mineral excavation plays is a very large industry for this country and Botswana can boast having one of the largest and richest diamond ore formations. This industry has single handedly brought economic stability to the country, a status that it can associate with its southern neighbor South Africa. As developed as Botswana may seem like it still requires a bit of caution for the traveler. The capital will have paved streets, but the rest of the country is still a large open wilderness and dirt roads that you need to highly careful when you navigate through them.

Botswana is just a bit smaller than the state of Texas. It is 1100km (684mi) from the north to south and 960km (597mi) from east to west. Majority of the central and soutwestern area you will find the endless sand dunes of the Kalahari Desert. When you move to Northern Botswana, you eventually will move towards more hospitable land where the Okavango River that flows from Namibia floods and forms the Okavango Delta. Since the water is provided all year round you will have a lot of species that will settle in this area. You will be able to witness these animals in the wild at the Chobe National Park. You always hear about the annual migration of the wildebeest herd to find more water and their migration path is part of the Makgadikgadi & Nxai Pans National Parks

• Area: 581,730 sq km (224,607.209 sq mi)
• Terrain: flat with gently rolling lands. In the soutwest there is the Kalahari Desert
• Climate: Hot summers and warm winters; semiarid

The Batswana compose majority of the population and were an ethnic group called Tswana that migrated from South Africa during the Zulu Wars from the 1800s. Most Batswana were farmers in their villages before being under British colonization. The singular form of Batswana is Motswana. Formerly it protected under international law by the United Kingdom and called Bechuanaland. The name Botswana was officially adopted after earning their full indepedence on September 30, 1966.

There are other ethnic groups in Botswana that include Kalanga, Bushmen or AbaThwa. There are also several indigenous tribes throughout the country such as Bayei, Bambukushu, Basubia, Baherero and Bakgalagadi. Botswana has an Indian poopulation both Person of Indian Origin (PIO) and Non-Resident Indians (NRI). PIOs are Indians that are not citizens of India and were born and raised in Botswana. Indians also emigrated to Botswana not just from Indian, but from other African countries such as Kenya, Mozambique, Mauritius, South Africa, and Tanzania. These Indain familes moved to Botswana in search of better opportunities for their family. They worked in general trading and overtime grew these businesses into large corporations doing business with the international market. There are also Indians engaged in the diamond business as well. The Indians are well respected in this country for being good business leaders and working hard.

In Botswana there is a growing population of Chinese people. Some hold working permits and have opened trading businesses. In 2009, it was against the law for Chinese to own clothing stores because the laws made were set so those businesses could only be set up by locals. There have also been a number of Chinese without proper working permits working on various construction projects throughout the country that is a rising concern.

Botswana has been a serious contender at the international level and it is credited by the constitutional democracy. Every five years there are elections for a new President. The are 57 seats in the National Assembly and whichever party wins over the majority of the seats that party's presidential candidate will then win the presidency. The president then selects the cabinet out of the members of the National Assembly which will include the Vice President and a number of ministers and assistant ministers for a total of 24 cabinet members.

There are three popular parties in the government that include the Botswana Democratic Party, Botswana National Front, and the Botswana Congress Party.

The Botswana democracy is rooted from Setswana traditions. The Supreme Court will have general civil and criminal jurisdiction. The constitution does uphold human rights, which will be enforced by the courts. Botswana has an excellent record of maintaining human rights.

There are nine districts within Botswana that have their own local government and there are five town councils. The commissioners from these nine districts have executive governance and are appointed by the main Botswana government. These elected officials work with other district councilors and district committees to provide for their local citizens.