Gaborone, Botswana

Gaborone is the capital of Botswana, a landlocked country in southern Africa, and that nation's administrative, commercial, and cultural center. Gaborone developed from a small village into Botswana's most cosmopolitan city shortly after the country gained its independence in 1966, and it has been considered by many to be among the fastest-growing cities on the African continent.

Landscape

Gaborone is located in the southeastern part of Botswana and about 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the country's border with South Africa. The city sits in an area of flat land between two low hills, known as Kgale and Oodi. To the northwest of Gaborone is the Kalahari Desert. The cities of Molepolole and Kanye lie to the north and south, respectively.

The climate in Gaborone is generally hot and arid, with a rainy season that lasts from November until March. Because water is a precious resource in the deserts of Botswana, one of the reasons for Gaborone's importance as a settlement has always been its proximity to a plentiful and reliable water source, the Notwane River. The river runs along the edge of the city, providing the bulk of Gaborone's water supply through a large dam.

Since much of the construction in Gaborone is recent, it is a relatively modern city, though it is surrounded by villages. Most of the major streets in Gaborone radiate outward from the Government Enclave, a cluster of administrative buildings that includes the National Assembly and the British High Commission in the western part of the city. In the city's commercial area, modern shopping malls coexist with open-air market stalls, and most residential buildings in the city are simple concrete and stucco structures.

The city's ongoing rapid development in the early twenty-first century is widespread, with sprawling suburbs and buildings being constructed all over the city; According to Botswana's Central Statistics Office, Gaborone occupied about 169 square kilometers (65.3 square miles) of land area. As the city expands, its borders merge into those of neighboring villages. In response to this, the capital has integrated more agricultural projects into its urban development plans.

People

With an estimated 294,783 residents in 2023, Gaborone, along with Francistown in the northeast, is one of the most densely populated cities in Botswana. Much of this growth can be attributed to the influx of migrants from other areas of the country. As of 2023, Botswana had an estimated population of 2,417,596 people.

Because of its many immigrant residents, Gaborone's population is a diverse mixture of Botswana's various ethnic groups. The largest of these is the Tswana; other African ethnic groups living in Gaborone include the Kalanga, the Khalagari, the Tswapong, and the Birwa. The city is also home to a small number of Botswana citizens of European descent and, to a much lesser extent, Chinese immigrants.

In addition, Botswana's history as a British protectorate has resulted in a dominant culture that is a blend of Tswana and English traditions. Both English and Setswana, the national language, are widely spoken in Gaborone and other urban centers.

Economy

Botswana is a relatively prosperous country with a successful economy; in 2017, Botswana was named fourth of Africa's ten most competitive economies by the World Economic Forum (WEF). Much of the nation's wealth derives from the diamond trade, which has played an important part in the development of Botswana's economy. Botswana is joint owner of one of the largest diamond producers in the world, the Debswana Diamond Company, with the De Beers Group. For years, most diamonds that were mined in Botswana were processed outside of the country, but diamond sorting, cutting and polishing industries have developed in Gaborone and elsewhere in the country and have been the source of many jobs.

Tourism represents a major sector of Gaborone's economy. Many visitors are drawn by Botswana's appeal as an ecotourism destination. The government has invested heavily in the development of the tourism sector in Gaborone, as well as in the maintenance of natural wildlife reserves. Gaborone has begun attracting urban tourists and business visitors as well.

The service, retail, and finance sectors are also important industries in Gaborone. The city houses numerous modern shopping malls and is the home of the International Financial Services Centre in Botswana (IFSC), an organization that works to facilitate international investment in the local economy. Several American companies, including Federal Express and Avis, have established a presence in Gaborone as well. The city has its own television station, the Gaborone Broadcasting Company (GBC), and Gaborone's Sir Seretse Khama International Airport is Botswana's main international airport.

Two Gabarone sites were to benefit from the creation of special economic zones, one by the airport for diamond and business trade and another at the Gaborone Fairgrounds for financial services, under designations by the national parliament in 2015. The project was intended to attract foreign investment and grew out of the country's efforts to diversify its economy as diamond production and trade began to diminish in the late 2010s and early 2020s. Falling commodity prices led to economic recession in Botswana in 2015, and the World Bank projected the nation’s economic growth to slow from 5.8 percent in 2022 to 3.8 percent in 2023. The official national unemployment rate rose to around 25.4 percent in 2022.

Landmarks

In the center of Gaborone, the National Museum and Art Gallery houses artifacts, crafts, and artwork that reflect Botswana's history and culture; the museum closed in 2016 for renovations. In western Gaborone, the imposing Kgale Hill provides a view of the entire city.

Gaborone's National Assembly is located at the top of a wide walking mall lined with shops and offices. The city also contains several monuments, such as the Pula Arch, which commemorates the country's independence, the War Memorial, which honors Batswana who fought in World War II, and a statue of Seretse Khama, the first president of Botswana.

Gaborone is also home to the Botswana National Stadium and several sports clubs, including the Gaborone Cricket Club, the Botswana Tennis Association, and the Gaborone Golf Course. North of the golf course is the Maitisong Cultural Centre, which is considered the premier location for the performing arts in Botswana.

The Gaborone Game Reserve and the Mokolodi Nature Reserve, both located outside the city, are busy parks where visitors can observe many native animals—including cheetahs, elephants, zebras, ostriches, impala, and rhinoceroses—in natural surroundings. South of the city on the banks of the Notwane River is the St. Claire Lion Park.

History

Botswana has been occupied by humans for about 100,000 years. After the Batswana tribe moved into the region, they became the dominant ethnic group southeast of the Kalahari Desert. Several separate Batswana chiefdoms were established over the following centuries.

In the middle of the nineteenth century, colonial forces from Dutch South Africa moved into the Botswana region and began raiding it. Their attacks intensified after gold was discovered in the area in 1867. The Batswana people, who were already friendly with the British because of the English missionaries who had begun to work with them, requested assistance from the British government to help protect their land and resources.

In 1885, Botswana officially became part of an entity called the Bechuanaland Protectorate. The Gaborone region itself was settled at about the same time, when Batlokwa chief Kgosi Gaborone led his tribe into Tlokweng, which is located just to the east of present-day Gaborone.

The British initially claimed that they intended to protect and not colonize the Botswana region. However, the area became important to them for economic reasons, as the British South Africa Company (BSAC) intended to build a railway line through it to facilitate trade. They began taxing the residents of Bechuanaland and passed laws that removed some authority from tribal chiefs.

It would not be long before the people of Bechuanaland began moving toward their own independence. An important figure in this process was Seretse Khama, the chief of the Bangwato tribe. Seretse Khama was a British-educated lawyer whose marriage to a white Englishwoman created a furor. Because of his interracial marriage, he was barred from entering the country for several years but eventually returned to fight for Botswana's independence. The fight was won in 1966, when Botswana gained democratic self-government and Seretse Khama became its first president.

Gaborone was chosen as the new nation's capital because it was already the site of a few administrative buildings (the seat of government was relocated to Gaborone from Mafeking in South Africa in 1965). In addition, it had a good water source, and its population was not affiliated with any specific tribe, making it a relatively neutral area. Within a few years of its becoming Botswana's capital, Gaborone had expanded greatly in terms of its size and infrastructure. As of the early twenty-first century, Gaborone remains small in comparison to the majority of other world capitals but also the largest and most important city in Botswana.

In 2015 and 2016, El Niño–related drought threatened the city's water supply as Gaborone Dam levels fell to historic lows and even ran dry for some weeks. This interrupted the business operations of smaller enterprises and caused power outages in some areas, prompting some concerns about conservation and future water-supply protection in light of climate disruption. Due to its location and environmental factors, Botswana is one of the world’s more drought-prone countries.

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