Botswana

Botswana is located in central-southern Africa, adjacent to South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Angola. With a landlocked population of just more than 2 million (July 2010 estimate) and a landmass slightly smaller than Texas, the country, formerly known as the Bechuanaland Protectorate under the British, became an independent nation in 1966. Botswana's mineral resources have helped the country hold influence in global exchange, as it is rich in diamonds, copper, and nickel and has fostered export and trading partnerships as well as tourist relations to increase the nation's wealth and global standing. Cattle raising and subsistence farming are practiced by many residents, though with the Kalahari Desert covering much of Botswana's topography, less than 1% of the land is arable.

English is the official national language, though according to the 2001 census, only 2.1% of Batswana identify English as their primary language. Instead, 78.2% speak Setswana, 7.9% speak Kalanga, and 11.8% speak other languages. Botswana's ethnic groups include the majority Tswana as well as the Shona (Kalanga), Basarwa, Kgalagadi, European Africans, and Indians. Zimbabweans have also increasingly migrated to Botswana for protection or financial gain, as increasing wealth through luxury exports has made Botswana's annual GDP (gross domestic product) one of the highest in Africa. Nomadic hunter-gatherers have had trouble being recognized in Botswana; many Basarwa have lost indigenous rights to the use of public land.

Religiously, nearly two thirds of Batswana are members of Protestant denominations, including Anglican, Methodist, Pentecostal, Baptist, Seventh-Day Adventist, Lutheran, and the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa. While missionary societies and explorers like David Livingstone exposed southern Africans to Christianity from 1845 onward, many Batswana today have adopted the independently run African Initiated Churches (AICs) as their primary preference for worship. Though the percentages of actual practitioners are most likely much higher, 6% of Batswana in the 2001 census self-identified as Badimo adherents. Badimo honors the ancestral living-dead as a part of daily life and includes cultural practices encompassing rituals, celebrations, and symbols that are nationally recognized. About 5% of Batswana identify as Catholic, and there are also small pockets of Hindu and Muslim immigrants.

Botswana in recent years has struggled with a high prevalence of HIV/AIDS and has been working hard to treat the illness while combating the further spread of outbreaks through preventive education and medicine disbursement. Several communities have faced the death of nearly one fourth of all adult citizens due to AIDS-related illness, [Page 155]which has affected levels of productivity and unemployment. Nevertheless, Botswana has had relative success for more than four decades with a parliamentary republic multiparty system. The current president, Seretse Ahma Ian Khama, was elected in 2008 for a 5-year term.

Botswana is a member of the African Union and African Development Bank, the Commonwealth, the Southern African Development Community, the World Trade Organization, and the International Criminal Court, established in 2002.