This part of southern Africa comprises 822 thousand square kilometers. There is one vast basin, the Kalahari, and several peripheral zones. The basin, really the lower parts of an interior plateau, is scrub in the east and sand desert in the west. In its northwest is an inland river delta, the Okavango(1). This swampy area expands in the west season, spilling into the Makgadikgadi salt pans of Botswana's northeast. It is in these times that the Selinda Spillway sends some of the Okavango's waters northeast to the Chobe(2), which flows along Botswana's northern boundary to reach the Zambezi(3).
There are peripheral highlands in South Africa: much of the Witwatersrant, the Waterberge and the northern end of the Drakensberg.
Much of North West Province's southern boundary is the Vaal River, a tributary of the Orange(4). The Harts is its chief tributary. The northern boundary of Limpopo Province is the river with the provincial name. Its tributaries include the Olifants(5), the Groot-Letoba(6) and the Krokodil.(7) The largest body of water is a reservoir on the Vaal that is only partly in the area: the Bloemhofdam.
Over 11 million people live here (2007). More than six in ten speak the language called Northern Sotho or Sepedi or seTswana or Tswana. Almost three in 20 speak the language called Tsonga, Ronga, Tswa or xiTsonga. Almost one in ten speak the language cdalled Venda or tshiVenda.
Probably a majority are Christian. Probably most of the Christians follow the African Zionist Church. Probably most of the remainder follow indiginous practices, and many of the Christians are syncretic. The indiginous practices typically include a belief that ancestral spirits retain influence on the material world, and that some live people work through the supernatural. In Limpopo Province, men kill women and allege that their victims are witches.(8) In Botswana, the Venda and Lakanga recognize a high god called Ngwale or Mwari; among the seTswana, the high god is Modimo, a word related to ancestor.(9)
There are no cities with a million people. Gabarone, the capital of Botswana, has less than a quarter million but is the area's largest city. The city, less than 50 years old, is located in a storm valley that feeds the Limpopo. Government centers on the Khama Crescent and ordinary life on the Mall, and other shopping spots.
Thousands of years ago the area was inhabited by speakers of three groups: Central Southern Africa Khoisan(10); Southern Southern Africa Khoisan(11); and Northern Southern Africa Khoisan(12). Perhaps two thousand years ago, Bantu speakers arrived--ancestors of today's Tswana, Tsonga and Venda. The Tswana moved north into Botswana in the last few hundred years, by which time Europeans were also arriving, and bringing Christianity. The Zionist Churches are local offshoots of the Christian Apostolic Church of Zion, Illinois, U.S.A.
northeast of Chobe District
northeast of Botswana, and north of Limpopo Province
east of Limpopo Province
south of central and eastern Limpopo Province
southeast of North West Province
southwest of North West Province and south of southwestern Botswana
west and north of Botswana
(1) Called the Kavango or Cubango (Kubango) elsewhere. It is Africa's ninth or tenth longest river.
(2) Called the Linyanti in Namibia.
(3) Spelled Zambeze in Angola. It is Africa's fourth longest river.
(4) Or Oranje.
(5) Called the Elefantes in Mozambique (Moçambique). Olifants means Elephants.
(6) A tributary of the Olifants. Groot means Great.
(7) Translates as Crocodile.
(8) International Religious Freedom Report 2005, released by the U.S. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2005/51496.htm, accessed October 13, 2007.
(9) Botswana History Pages by Neil Parsons, www.tripod.com/bw/bhpll.htm, accessed October 13, 2007.
(10) Or Khwe or Khoe or Hottentot. Naro is a current example.
(11) Or Southern Bushman or Southern San. A current example is !Xoo.
(12) Or !Kung or Ju or Northern Bushman. Ju|'hoan is a current example.