Botswana

“ Botswana 813 km, Mozambique 1,231 km,
South Africa 225 km, Zambia 797 km
Coastline: none—landlocked
Maritime claims: none—landlocked
Disputes: quadripoint with Botswana, Namibia, and Zambia is in disagreement
Climate: tropical; moderated by altitude; rainy season (November to March)
Terrain: mostly high plateau with higher central plateau (high veld) ; mountains in east
Natural resources: coal, chromium ore, asbestos, gold, nickel, copper, iron ore, vanadium, lithium, tin
Land use: 7% arable land; NEGL% permanent crops; 12% meadows and pastures; 62% forest and woodland; 19% other ”

“ But only three or four dozen meters away are canned meat that I took for breakfast. It's good that I was in the zone of visibility of a potential stay of people, and if it were a little further, where on both sides of the river the land is uninhabited? Perhaps they would have found me with a helicopter, but not the fact that they have one. Even so, it will cost me dearly. However, from now on I have no money, no clothes: there is nothing to lose. "It's a pity that there won't be enough time to visit Botswana," I reasoned, trying not to panic... ”

“ Land boundaries: 3,774 km
PEOPLE Population: 975,000 (July 1982) , average annual growth rate 4.6%
Nationality: noun—Motswana (sing.) , Batswana (pl.) ; adjective—Botswana
Ethnic divisions: 94% Tswana, 5% Bushmen, 1% European
Religion: 85% animist, 15% Christian
Language: Tswana vernacular
Literacy: about 22% in English; about 32% in Tswana; less than 1% secondary school graduates
Labor force: 78,000 formal sector employees; most others are engaged in cattle raising and subsistence agriculture ”

“ Motswana (singular) , Batswana (plural)
Ethnic groups:
Tswana (or Setswana) 79%, Kalanga 11%, Basarwa 3%, other, including
Kgalagadi and white 7%
Religions:
indigenous beliefs 85%, Christian 15%
Languages:
English (official) , Setswana
Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 79.8%
male: 76.9%
female: 82.4% (2003 est.)
Government Botswana
Country name:
conventional long form: Republic of Botswana
conventional short form: Botswana
former: Bechuanaland
Government type:
parliamentary republic
Capital:
Gaborone ”

“ These countries are Botswana, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Burma, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Population below poverty line: National estimates of the percentage of the population lying below the poverty line are based on surveys of sub-groups, with the results weighted by the number of people in each group. ”

“ Defense ———-
Branches: Botswana Defense Force (includes Army and Air Wing) ,
Botswana National Police
Manpower availability: males age 15-49: 334,177 males fit for military service: 175,471 males reach military age (18) annually: 17,088 (1996 est.)
Defense expenditures: exchange rate conversion - $199 million, 5.2% of GDP (FY93/94)
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@Bouvet Island ——————-
(territory of Norway)
Map —-
Location: 54 26 S, 3 24 E — Southern Africa, island in the South
Atlantic Ocean, south-southwest of the Cape of Good Hope (South
Africa) ”

“ It would be folly to risk them with their frail barks. Moreover, he learned that the town of Boma, on the Atlantic coast, could be reached by easy journeys across the country. His main problem, as to whether the Lualaba and the Congo were the same, had long since been solved. He had been following the Congo all the time, had seen its splendid forests and mighty affluents, its dashing rapids and bewildering whirlpools and falls, had even, through the spectacles of Livingstone, seen its head waters in Lake Bangweolo, amid whose marshes the veteran explorer laid down his life. ”

“ This water-torn plateau country, with its little useless rivers, has presented a formidable obstacle to exploration, and has served to throw all interior water into the Congo. To the north of the Great Basin stretches the high lands of the unknown countries which form also the watershed of the Shari and the Nile. Eastward stretches the hill country on the west of the Victoria and Albert Nyanza, and on the east of Tanganika, while to the south is the watershed of the Zambesi. ”

“ It is by no means a Rhine journey, with gay steamers, flush with food and wine. The Congo is one-and-a-half times larger than the Mississippi, and with a width which is majestic in comparison with the “Father of Waters.” It shows a dozen varieties of palm. Its herds of hippopotami, flocks of gleeful monkeys, troops of elephants standing sentry at forest entrances, bevies of buffaloes grazing on its grassy slopes, swarms of ibis, parrots and guinea-fowl fluttering everywhere—these create a life for the Congo, surpassing in variety that of the Mississippi. ”

“ The Boloki tribe belongs to the great Bantu race that stretches from 6° north of the Equator to Cape Town, and from the east to the west coast. The Bantus reach a higher latitude on the western than on the eastern side of the African continent, and here and there we find dotted over this vast tract of country small tribes—like the Hottentots, the Bushmen, the Pigmies, etc.—that are remnants probably of the aborigines of the country. ”

“ Passing his former station at Mswata, he sailed for Bolobo, passing through a country with few villages and alive with lions, elephants, buffaloes and antelopes,51 proof that the population is sparse at a distance from the river. Beyond the mouth of the Lawson, the Congo leaves behind its bold shores and assumes a broader width. It now becomes lacustrine and runs lazily through a bed carved out of virgin soil. This is the real heart of equatorial Africa, rich alluvium, capable of supporting a countless population and of enriching half a world. ”

“ The importance of the Mbomu, a northern ramification of the Ubanghi, is increased by the fact that it forms for a considerable distance a natural boundary between the Congo Free State and the French possessions. Its position, therefore, renders it of considerable political consequence. The Mbomu, although not yet entirely explored, is destined therefore to play, with its numerous branches, a large part in the history of the Congo. The country around is not only of great fertility, but also very beautiful. Here is to be found one of the finest forests in the territory. ”

“ As surely as the sun stands over the southern hemisphere in our winter and the northern in our summer, bringing the rains and the swellings of the tropical rivers when it is in the zenith with regard to them, so surely can it be predicated, from a comparison of the rainy seasons and times of rising, that the Lualaba belongs to no river of the northern hemisphere; in the southern hemisphere Africa possesses only one river, the Congo, which could take up the vast water supply of the Lualaba. ”

“ Without these splendid flowing highways of commerce, pulsing from the heart of the continent to the sea, the wonderful progress of the last quarter of a century would not have been possible. Following the lead of the Congo and its tributaries, Belgian pioneers have moved through the great wilderness, planting the plough and the cross, until to-day Central Africa, so long curtained from the eyes of civilised man, lies bare to the world. ”

“ You will see on your map that the great northern bend of the Congo is like a bent bow, and far below it is the string of the bow—the Sankuru—pieced out at one end by the Kassai River, which unites it with the Congo, while the other end stretches far across, almost to the other end of the bow. Dr. Wolf's discovery added almost 800 miles of navigable waters to the Congo basin, stretching almost due east to central Africa. ”

“ The vast bulk of the inhabitants of the Congo basin belong to the Bantu-Negro stock, but there are found, in the great forests, sparsely distributed bands of the Pygmy people, who probably represent the aboriginal inhabitants of Central Africa. (see Akka; Bambute; Batwa; Wochua) . In the north-east of the colony, in the upper basin of the Welle and the Mbomu, the Niam-Niam (q.v.) or Azandeh, a Negroid race of warriors and hunters with a social, political and military organization superior to that of the Bantu tribes of the Congo basin, have intruded from the north. ”

“ Stanley's adventurous journey in 1877 no white man had looked upon the Congo between Nyangwé and the lower cataracts; now there are permanent stations and trading posts all the way along the great stream from its mouth to Stanley Falls, and several stations have been established on the tributaries of the Congo wherever there is a promise of commerce. The route to Nyangwé is as safe as any part of Africa, and from thence to Tanganika Lake and Zanzibar there are no obstacles to traffic and travel. ”

“ Walking the streets of Thursday Island, the smallest of the group, yet the centre of commerce and the seat of such government as the Colony of Queensland can afford it, you will be struck with the number of nationalities represented. Dwelling together, if not in unity, certainly in unison, are Caucasians and Mongolians, Ethiopians and Malayans, John Chinaman living cheek by jowl with the barbarian Englishman, Cingalee with Portuguese, Frenchman with Kanaka—all prejudices alike forgotten in the one absorbing struggle for the unchanging British sovereign. ”

“ The upper dépôt of the Congo lies upon the north bank, accidenté ground, poor, stony, and sandy soil, with rounded, grass-clad hills, The southern is less broken; there are long slopes and waves of land which trend in graceful lines, charmingly diversified, to the uplands, where the old capital, São Salvador, is situated; and upon the undulating blue ridges, distance behind distance, appear markings by Nature's hand, which the stranger's eye can hardly distinguish from villa or village. ”

“ The Congo has a length of more than three thousand miles. The maritime region of the Congo River basin is restricted in its character. For a few miles inward the ground has an upward slope; then the traveler is confronted by ridge upon ridge of hills, which gradually assume the character of high mountains.
The Congo rushes on through this mountainous section, as though through one of our western cañons, till it reaches Stanley Pool. Here the channel becomes much broader, the stream attaining a width of five miles, with an extraordinary depth of water. ”

“ Spontaneously, generously, she called on the Congo to have independence in the near future. She faithfully carries out her promise according to methods advised by experience and in the interests of all.
Far from imposing preconceived solutions, she would like the Congo to recommend institutions adapted to local customs and preferences and meeting the needs of the country. Such profound changes pose serious problems. Success requires order, good faith, the desire to make strong and lasting covers. ”

“ Between the two latter and German West Africa and Angola, the territories of British South Africa and British Central Africa in the interior extend northward to the Congo State and to German East Africa, which occupies the east coast north of Lake Nyassa and the Ruvuma River. The Orange River and Vaal River colonies adjoin Natal and British South Africa. North of German East Africa lies British East Africa, which touches on the north the British sphere of influence in the Sudan, Abyssinia, and on the coast, Italian Somaliland. ”

“ Early in the eighties more than one European power cast covetous glances at what might be called the South Central area. Thanks to the economic foresight of King Leopold, Belgium had secured the Congo. Between this region which was then a Free State, and the Transvaal, was an immense and unappropriated country,—a sort of no man's land, rich with minerals, teeming with forests and peopled by savages. Two territories, Matabeleland, ruled by Lobengula, and Mashonaland, inhabited by the Mashonas, who were to all intents and purposes vassals to Lobengula, were the prize portions. ”

“ In five years discoveries of great value had been made in Darkest Africa, hundreds of tribes had been peacefully visited, over five hundred treaties of suzerainty had been made with the ruling chiefs, forty stations had been erected and their complement of officers put to the work of administering a definite system of local government, and five steamers on the Upper Congo were regularly communicating the affairs of a Government which now effectively controlled all the territory between the East Coast and Stanley Falls, between Bangala and Luluabourg. ”

“ For the South African end of my adventure I provided myself with letters from Lloyd George and Smuts. In the Congo I realized that I would require equally powerful agencies to help me on my way. Wandering through sparsely settled Central Africa with its millions of natives, scattered white settlements, and restricted and sometimes primitive means of transport, was a far different proposition than travelling in the [Pg 141] Cape Colony, the Transvaal, or Rhodesia, where there are through trains and habitable hotels. ”

“ If the Congo derived its waters entirely from the south side of the mountains which are supposed to form the Belt of Africa, one would naturally suppose that when the rains were confined to the north side of the mountains, the Congo, like the other rivers of Africa, would be greatly diminished in size; and that its waters would become pure. On the contrary, the waters of the Congo are at all seasons thick and muddy. The breadth of the river when at its lowest is one mile, its depth is fifty fathoms, and its velocity six miles per hour. ”