Botswana Facts
What is the capital of Botswana?
Gaborone is the capital of Botswana. It is also the largest city of Botswana with a population of 191,776.
The city is the government capital as well as the economic capital. Gaborone is headquarters to numerous companies and the Botswana Stock Exchange.
Where is Botswana?
Botswana is a country located in southern Africa. Geographically the country is flat and up to 70% of Botswana is covered by the Kalahari Desert.
What countries border Botswana?
Botswana is bordered by South Africa to the south and southeast, Namibia to the west and north, and Zimbabwe to the northeast. It meets Zambia at a single point.
What are the administrative divisions of Botswana?
A small, landlocked country of just over two million people, Botswana is divided into 16 districts – 10 rural districts and 6 urban districts.
Who are the political leaders of Botswana?
President: Ian Khama
Vice President: Mompati Merafhe
What currency is used in Botswana?
The Botswana pula is the official currency of Botswana. The ISO code for the Botswana pula is BWP. The currency name “pula” comes from the Setswana word that means rain. Botswana is located in the Kalahari Desert, where rain is rare.
What is the official language of Botswana?
The official language of Botswana is English although Setswana is widely spoken across the country.
What is the religion of Botswana?
Officially Botswana is a Christian country, although the number of practicing Christians is estimated at only around 20% of the population. These mostly belong to the Catholic, Anglican, Methodist, Lutheran and Zion Christian Church. Other religions, such as Islam, are only represented in the larger towns.
When was Botswana created?
Beginning in the 1820s, the region was disrupted by the expansion of the Zulu and their offshoot, the Ndebele. A new threat arose in the late 19th century with the incursion of Boers (Afrikaners) from neighboring Transvaal. The British, however, forbade annexation but the Boers continued to encroach on native lands during the 1870s and 80s. German colonial expansion in South West Africa (Namibia) caused the British to reexamine their policies, and, urged on by Khama III, they established a protectorate called Bechuanaland. Britain provided for the transfer of Bechuanaland to the Union of South Africa. Although Bechuanaland spawned no nationalist movement, Britain granted it internal self-government in 1965 and full independence as Botswana on September 30, 1966.
What is the economy of Botswana like?
Botswana has enjoyed one of the fastest growth-rates in per capita income in the world since independence, although it slowed considerably due to the global economic downturn. In 2010, real GDP grew by approximately 7.5%.
Mining, tourism, agriculture and transportation contribute to the country’s economic structure.
What is the history of the Botswana flag?
The flag of Botswana was adopted on September 30, 1966 right after Botswana received its independence from Britain. There is a law in Botswana that one cannot fly the Botswana flag without the permission from the Government.
