Tswana is a Bantu language spoken by people living in southern Africa. The main Tswana-speaking groups include the Kgatla, Rolong, Hurutshe, and Kwena. Farmers with a culture like that of the Tswana people have lived in the area since the A.D. 400’s. Tswana chiefdoms in the Witwatersrand area date from as long ago as the 1200’s. A related group, the Khalagari or Kgalagadi, have a long history of settlement in present-day Botswana.
Traditional Tswana societies were characterized by the size of their towns and cattle herds. Their stone-walled towns had populations of up to 10,000 people. During the early 1800’s, the Tswana were devastated by raids of the Ndebele under their ruler Mzilikazi and then were brought under Afrikaner rule (see Afrikaners; Mzilikazi).
