The Tswana ethnic group are descended mainly from Bantu-speaking peoples who migrated into southern Africa, including modern Botswana, in several waves before AD 600.

When cattle were first introduced into southern Africa about 2,000 years ago, pastoralism became a major feature of the economy since the region had large grasslands free of tsetse flies.

[29] The Toutswe settlement includes house-floors, large heaps of vitrified cow dung, and burials while the outstanding structure is the stone wall.

[31] However, agriculture also played a vital role in the longevity of Toutswemogala Hill's extended occupation, as many grain storage structures have also been found on the site.

Members of the Bakwena, a chieftaincy under a leader named Kgabo II, made their way into the southern Kalahari by AD 1500, at the latest, and his people drove the Bakgalagadi inhabitants west into the desert.

The Bakololo and AmaNdebele raided repeatedly and took large numbers of cattle, women and children from the Batswana—most of whom were driven into the desert or sanctuary areas such as hilltops and caves.

In 1852, a coalition of Tswana chiefdoms led by Sechele I defeated Afrikaner incursions at the Battle of Dimawe and, after about eight years of intermittent tensions and hostilities, eventually came to a peace agreement in Potchefstroom in 1860.

[38][39] In 1884, Batawana, a northern-based Tswana clan's cavalry under the command of Kgosi Moremi, fought and defeated the Ndebele's invasion of northern Botswana at the Battle of Khutiyabasadi.

It unilaterally annexed Tswana territories in January 1885 and then sent the Warren Expedition north to consolidate control over the area and convince the chiefs to accept British overrule.

This plan, which was well on its way to fruition despite the entreaties of Tswana leaders who toured England in protest, was eventually foiled by the failure of the Jameson Raid in January 1896.

[44][45] When the Union of South Africa was formed from the main British colonies in the region in 1910, the High Commission Territories—the Bechuanaland Protectorate, Basutoland (now Lesotho) and Swaziland (now Eswatini)—were not included, but provision was made for their later incorporation.

An expansion of British central authority and the evolution of native government resulted in the 1920 establishment of two advisory councils to represent both Africans and Europeans.

[74] The Department of Forestry and Range Resources has already begun to implement a project to reintroduce indigenous vegetation into communities in Kgalagadi South, Kweneng North and Boteti.

[76] The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) claims that poverty is a major problem behind the overexploitation of resources, including land, in Botswana.

[92] The most recent election was held in 2024, with the Botswana Democratic Party losing its majority for the first time in history, ending its 58 year rule over the country.

[104] Following political changes in South Africa and the region, the BDF's missions have increasingly focused on preventing poaching, preparing for disasters, and supporting foreign peacekeeping.

The Botswana government gave the United States permission to explore the possibility of establishing an Africa Command (AFRICOM) base in the country.

Officially, the government denies that there is any link to mining, claiming the relocation is to preserve the wildlife and ecosystem, even though the San people have lived sustainably on the land for millennia.

It earned the highest sovereign credit rating in Africa and has stockpiled foreign exchange reserves (over $7 billion in 2005/2006) amounting to almost two and a half years of current imports.

Botswana Railways offers rail-based transport facilities for moving a range of commodities for the mining sector and primary materials industries, as well as passenger train services and dry ports.

[149][150] Other languages spoken in Botswana include Kalanga (Sekalanga), Sarwa (Sesarwa), Ndebele, Kgalagadi, Tswapong, !Xóõ, Yeyi, and, in some parts, Afrikaans.

[160]: 39, 40  Among the UN Global Plan countries, people living with HIV in Botswana have the highest percentage receiving antiretroviral treatment: about 75% for adults (age 15+) and about 98% for children.

[166][167][168] In the northern part of Botswana, women in the villages of Etsha and Gumare are noted for their skill at crafting baskets from mokola palm and local dyes.

[169] The oldest paintings from both Botswana and South Africa depict hunting, animal and human figures, and were made by the Khoisan (Kung San/Bushmen) over 20,000 years ago within the Kalahari Desert.

Bogobe is made by putting sorghum, maize or millet flour into boiling water, stirring it into a soft paste, and cooking it slowly.

[190] Botswana published its updated National Policy on Research, Science and Technology in 2011, within a UNESCO project sponsored by the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Development (AECID).

[196] The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) (MeerKAT) consists of thousands of dishes and antennas spread over large distances linked together to form one giant telescope.

The Botswana government has built the SKA precursor telescope at Kgale View, which is the African Very Long Base Line Interferometry Network (AVN).

According to Dr. Gaseitsiwe, Botswana's genome sequence submissions to GISAID are among the highest in the African region on a per capita basis, on a par with its well-resourced neighbour South Africa.

Botswana Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership (BHP) was built in 2003, two years after the umbrella organisation opened the BHHRL, its purpose-built HIV research lab which was one of the first on the continent.