Shona speakers settled in the north east of Botswana in around the 10th century AD.

The first Tswana settled in the south east of Botswana in approximately the 15th century possibly having migrated from the south. By the 18th century the Tswana were very well established in the area.

In 1820 various clans began to form into a string of nations along what is now the border between Botswana and South Africa this was prompted because the clans felt the need to defend themselves against the tide of humanity fleeing from the Transvaal and Natal between 1820 and 1840 as a result of Zulu militancy and Boer expansionism.

The borders were secured in 1885 with the declaration of a British protectorate known as Bechuanaland, the reason behind the declaration was the rivalry between the British and the Boers.

The capital of the Bangwato clan at Shoshong had a population of about 30,000 by 1960.

The construction of a railway through Bechuanaland to Rhodesia and a serious outbreak of rinderpest destroyed the transit trade in the 1890's.

Botswana became independent in 1966. Through until the late 1970's, the country's first president was Seretse Khama, who was exiled by the British and later returned as a chief.

Botswana was dependent on both South Africa for food imports, and on the wages of Botswana mine workers working in South Africa for income.

Khama publicly opposed arparthied and committed his country to the so called front line states in opposing the Smith regime in Rhodesia which led to Rhodesian attacks on Botswana.

This occurred at a time when Botswana had no army or airforce and when a devastating drought had killed off a third of the national herd.

Economically things had improved because the country now had large foreign currency reserves. Botswana showed the world's second highest rate of economic growth in 1986.