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 includesherero,
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.
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 venturewith 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.
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