Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.
|
See also:BECHUANALAND (a name given from its inhabitants, the See also:Bechuana, q.v.) , a See also:country of See also:British See also:South See also:Africa occupying the central See also:part of the vast tableland which stretches See also:north to the See also:Zambezi . It is bounded S. by the See also:Orange See also:river, N.E. and E. by Matabeleland, the See also:Transvaal and Orange River See also:Colony, and W. and N. by See also:German South-See also:West Africa . See also:Bechuanaland geographically and ethnically enjoys almost See also:complete unity, but politically it is divided as follows: I . British Bechuanaland, since 1895 an integral part of Cape Colony . See also:Area, 51,424 sq. m . Pop . (1904) 84,210, of whom 9276 were whites . II . The Bechuanaland See also:Protectorate, the See also:northern part of the country, governed on the lines of a British See also:crown colony . Area (estimated), 225,000 sq. m . Pop . (1904) 120,776, of whom Europeans numbered 1004 . The natives, in addition to the See also:Bechuana tribes, include some thousands of See also:Bushmen (Masarwa) . Administratively attached to the protectorate is the See also:Tati See also:con-cession, which covers 2500 sq. m. and forms geographically the south-west corner of Matabeleland . The Griqualand West See also:province of Cape Colony belongs also geographically to Bechuanaland, and except in the See also:Kimberley See also:diamond mines region is still largely inhabited by Bechuana . (See GRIQUALAND.) See also:Physical Features.—The See also:average height of the tableland of which Bechuanaland consists is nearly 4000 ft . The See also:surface is hilly and undulating with a See also:general slope to the west, where the level falls in considerable areas to little over 2000 ft . A large part of the country is covered with grass or See also:shrub, chiefly See also:acacia . There is very little See also:forest See also:land . The western region, the See also:Kalahari See also:Desert (q.v.), is mainly arid, with a sandy See also:soil, and is covered in part by dense See also:bush . In the northern region are large marshy depressions, in which the See also:water is often See also:salt . The best known of these depressions, See also:Ngami (q.v.), lies to the north-west and is the central point of an inland water See also:system apparently in See also:process of drying up . To the north-See also:east and connected with Ngami by the Botletle river, is the See also:great Makari-Kari salt See also:pan, which also drains a vast extent of territory, receiving in the See also:rainy See also:season a large See also:volume of water . The See also:marsh then becomes a great See also:lake, the water surface stretching beyond the See also:horizon, while in the dry season a See also:mirage is often seen .
The permanent marsh land covers a region 6o m. from south to north and from 30 to 6o m. east to west
.
In the south the See also:rivers, such as the Molopo and the See also:Kuruman, drain towards the Orange
.
Other streams are tributaries of the See also:Limpopo, which for some distance is the frontier between Bechuanaland and the Transvaal
.
The rivers of Bechuanaland are, with few exceptions, intermittent or lose themselves in the desert
.
It is evident, however, from the extent of the beds of these streams and of others now permanently dry, and from remains of See also:ancient forests, that at a former See also:period the country must have been abundantly watered
.
From the many See also:cattle-folds and walls of See also:defence scattered over the country, and ruins of ancient settlements, it is also evident that at that period See also:
From See also:December to See also:February violent
See also:thunder and See also:hail storms are experienced
.
In the winter or dry season there are occasional heavy dust storms
.
See also:Geology.—The greater part of Bechuanaland is covered with superficial deposits consisting of the sands of the desert regions of the Kalahari and the See also:alluvium and saliferous marls of the Okavango See also:basin
.
The See also:oldest rocks, granites, gneisses and schistose sandstones, the Ngami See also:series, rise to the surface in the east and south-east and doubtless immediately underlie much of the See also:sand areas
.
A See also:sandstone found in the neighbourhood of Palapye is considered to be the See also:equivalent of the Waterberg formation of the Transvaal
.
The See also:Karroo formation and See also:associate dolerites (Loalemandelstein) occur in the same region
.
A See also:deposit of See also:sinter and a calcareous sandstone, known as the Kalahari See also:Kalk, considered by Dr Passarge to be of See also:Miocene See also:age, overlies a sandstone and curious See also:breccia (Botletle Schnichten)
.
These deposits are held by Passarge to indicate See also:Tertiary desert conditions, to which the basin of the Zambezi is slowly reverting
.
See also:Fauna.—Until towards the See also:close of the 19th See also:century Bechuanaland abounded in big See also:game, and the Kalahari is still the See also:home of the See also:lion, See also:leopard, See also:hyena, See also:jackal, See also:elephant, See also:hippopotamus, See also:rhinoceros, See also:buffalo, See also:antelope of many See also:species, See also:ostrich and even the See also:giraffe
.
Venomous See also:reptiles, e.g. puff-adders and cobras, are met with, enormous frogs are common, and walking and flying locusts, mosquitoes, See also: In those containing water in the rainy season only, the fish preserve See also:life when the See also:bed is dry by burrowing deeply in the See also:ooze before it hardens . The See also:principal fish are the baba or See also:cat-fish (clarias sp.) and the yellow-fish, both of which attain considerable See also:size . Bustards (the great kori and the koorhaan) are common . See also:Flora.—In the eastern See also:district are stretches of grass land, both sweet and sour veld . In the " bush " are found tufts of tall coarse grass with the space between See also:bare or covered with herbaceous creepers or water-bearing tubers . A common creeper is one bearing a small See also:scarlet See also:cucumber, and a species of water-See also:melon called tsoma is also abundant . Of the melon and cucumber there are both See also:bitter and sweet varieties . Besides the grass and the creepers the bush is made up of See also:berry-yielding bushes (some of the bushes being See also:rich in aromatic resinous See also:matter), the wait-abit See also:thorn and white thorned See also:mimosa . The See also:indigo and See also:cotton See also:plants grow See also:wild . Among the rare big trees—found chiefly in the north-east—are See also:baobab and See also:palmyra and certain See also:fruit trees, one bearing a See also:pink See also:plum . There are remains of ancient forests consisting of wild See also:olive trees and the See also:camel thorn, near which grows the ngotuane, a plant with a profusion of See also:fine, strongly scented yellow See also:flowers . See also:Chief Towns.—The chief See also:town in See also:southern Bechuanaland, i.e. the part incorporated in Cape Colony, is See also:Mafeking (q.v.), near the headwaters of the Molopo river . It is the headquarters of the Barolong tribe, and although within the Cape border is the seat of the See also:administration of the protectorate . Vryburg (pop., 1904, 2985), founded by See also:Boer filibusters in 1882, and Taungs, are towns on the railway between Kimberley and Mafeking . Taungs has some 22,000 inhabitants, being the chief See also:kraal of the Batlapin tribe . About 7 M. south of Vryburg, at See also:Tiger Kloof, is an See also:Industrial Training See also:Institute for natives founded in 1904 by the See also:London Missionary Society . Upington (2508) on the north See also:bank of the Orange, an agricultural centre, is the chief town in Gordonia, the western See also:division of southern Bechuanaland . Kuruman (q.v.) is a native town near the source of the Kuruman river, 85 M. south-west of Vryburg . It has been the See also:scene of missionary labours since the See also:early years of the 19th century . North of Mafeking on the railway to See also:Bulawayo are the small towns of Gaberones and Francistown . The last named is the chief township in the Tati concession, the centre of a See also:gold-See also:mining region, and the most important white See also:settlement in the protectorate . Besides these places there are five or six large native towns, each the headquarters of a distinct tribe . The most important is Serowe, with over 20,000 inhabitants, the See also:capital of the Bamangwato, founded by the chief Khama in 1903 . It is about 250 M. north-north-east of Mafeking, and took the See also:place ofthe abandoned capital Palapye, which in its turn had succeeded See also:Shoshong . The chief centre in the western Kalahari is Lehututu . See also:Agriculture and See also:Trade.—The soil is very fertile, and if properly irrigated would yield abundant harvests . Unirrigated land laid under See also:wheat by the natives is said to yield twelve bushels an See also:acre . Cereals are grown in many of the river valleys . See also:Maize and See also:millet are the chief crops . The See also:wealth of the Bechuana consists principally in their cattle, which they tend with great care, showing a shrewd discrimination in the choice of pasture suited to oxen, See also:sheep and goats . Water can usually be obtained all the year See also:round by sinking See also:wells from 20 to 30 ft. deep . The " sweet veld " is specially suitable to cattle, and the finer shorter grass which succeeds it affords pasturage for sheep . Gold mines are worked in the Tati district, the first discoveries having been made there in 1864 . There are gold-bearing See also:quartz reefs at Madibi, near Mafeking, where mining began in 1906 . Diamonds have been found near Vryburg . The existence of See also:coal near, Palapye about 6o ft. below the surface has been proved . The coal, however, is not See also:mined, and much of the destruction of timber in southern Bechuanaland was caused by the demand for See also:fuel for Kimberly y . See also:Copper ore has been found near Francistown . Formerly there • as a trade in ostrich feathers and See also:ivory; but this has ceased, and the chief trade has since consisted in supplying the natives with See also:European goods in See also:exchange for cattle, hides, the skins and horns of game, firewood and See also:fencing poles, and in forwarding goods north and south . The protectorate is a member of the South See also:African Customs See also:Union . The value of the goods imported into the protectorate in 1906 was £118,322; the value of the exports was £77,736 . The See also:sale of See also:spirits to natives is forbidden. r Communications.—As the great See also:highway from Cape Colony to the north, Bechuanaland has been described as the " See also:Suez See also:canal of South Africa." The See also:trunk railway from Cape Town to the See also:Victoria Falls traverses the eastern edge of Bechuanaland throughout its length . The railway enters the country at Fourteen Streams, 695 m. from Cape Town, and at Ramaquabane, 584 M. farther north, crosses into See also:Rhodesia . The old trade route to Bulawayo, which skirts the eastern edge of the Kalahari, is now rarely used . See also:Wagon tracks See also:lead to Ngami, 320 m . N.W. from Palapye Road Station, and to all the settlements . From the scarcity of water on the See also:main routes through the Kalahari these roads are known as " the thirsts "; along some of them wells have been sunk by the administration . See also:Government.—The protectorate is administered by a See also:resident See also:commissioner, responsible to the high commissioner for South Africa .
Legislation is enacted by proclamations in the name of the high commissioner
.
See also:Order is maintained by a small force of semi-military See also:police recruited in See also:Basutoland and officered by Europeans
.
See also:Revenue is obtained mostly from customs and a hut tax, while the chief items of See also:expenditure have been the police force and a See also:subsidy of £20,000 per annum towards the cost of the railway, a liability which terminated in the year 1908
.
The average See also:annual revenue for the five years ending the 31st of See also:
Lichtenstein (1804) and W
.
J
.
Burchell (1811-1812), both distinguished naturalists, and other explorers, had made See also:familiar the general characteristics of the southern part of the
country
.
The Rev
.
John See also: Andersson (1853–1858) and others, covered almost every part of the country hitherto unknown . In 1864 Karl Mauch discovered gold in the Tati district . At the See also:time of the first contact of the Bechuana with white men the Cape government was the only civilized authority in South Africa; and from this cause, and the circumstance that the missionaries who lived among and exercised great See also:influence over them were of British See also:nationality, the connexion between Bechuanaland and the Cape became close . As early as 1836 an See also:act was passed extending the See also:jurisdiction of the Cape ccurts in certain cases as far north as 25° S.—a limit which included the southern part of Bechuanaland . Although under strong British influence the country was nevertheless ruled by its own chiefs, among whom the best-known in the See also:middle of the 19th century were Montsioa, chief of the Barolong, and Sechele, chief of the Bakwena and the friend of Livingstone . At this period the Transvaal Boers were in a very unsettled See also:state, and those living in the western districts showed a marked inclination to encroach upon the lands of the Bechuana . In 1852 Great See also:Britain by the Sand river See also:convention acknowledged the See also:independence of the Transvaal . See also:Save the See also:Vaal river no frontier was indicated, and " boasting," writes Livingstone in his Missionary Travels, " that the See also:English had given up all the blacks into their See also:power . . . they (the Boers) assaulted the Bakwains " (Bakwena) . With this event the See also:political history of Bechuanaland may be said to have begun . Not only was Sechele attacked at his capital Kolobeng, and the European stores and Livingstone's See also:house there looted, but the Boers stopped a trader named M'Cabe from going northward . Again to quote Livingstone, " The Boers resolved to shut up the interior and I determined to open the country." In 1858 the Boers told the missionaries that they must not go north without their (the Boers') consent . Moffat complained to Sir See also:George See also:Grey, the See also:governor of Cape Colony, through whose intervention the molestation by Transvaal Boers of British subjects in their passage through Bechuanaland was stopped . At a later date (1865) the Boers tried to raise taxes from the Barolong, but without success, a See also:commando sent against them in 1868 being driven off by Montsioa's See also:brother Molema . This led to a protest (in 187o) from Montsioa, which he lodged with a landdrost at See also:Potchefstroom in the Transvaal, threatening to submit the matter to the British high commissioner if any further See also:attempt at See also:taxation were made on the part of the Boers . The Boers then resorted to cajolery, and at a See also:meeting held in See also:August 187o, at which See also:President See also:Pretorius and See also:Paul See also:Kruger represented the Transvaal, invited the Barolong to join their territories with that of the See also:republic, in order to save them from becoming British . Montsioa's reply was See also:short: " No one ever spanned-in an See also:ass with an ox in one yoke." In the following year the claims of the Boers, the Barolong, and other tribes were submitted to the See also:arbitration of R . W . See also:Keate, See also:lieutenant-governor of See also:Natal, and his See also:award placed Montsioa's territory outside the limits of the Transvaal . This attempt of the Boers to gain See also:possession of Bechuanaland having failed, T . F . See also:Burgers, the president of the Transvaal in 1872, endeavoured to replace Montsioa as chief of the Barolong by Moshette, whomhe declared to be the rightful ruler and See also:paramount chief of that See also:people . The attacks of the Boers at length became so unbearable that Montsioa in 1874 made a See also:request to the British authorities to be taken under their See also:protection . In formulating this See also:appeal he declared that when the Boers were at See also:war with Mosilikatze, chief of the Matabele, he had aided them on the See also:solemn under-See also:standing that they were to respect his boundaries .
This promise they had broken
.
Khama, chief of the Bamangwato in northern Bechuanaland, wrote in August 1876 to Sir See also: The Transvaal War of that date offered opportunities to the freebooting Boers of the west which were not to be lost . At this time the British, wearied of South African troubles, were disinclined to See also:respond to native appeals for help . Consequently the Boers proceeded without let or hindrance with their conquest and See also:annexation of ansteli d aland territory . In 1882 they set up the republic of Stella- See also:Goshen. land, with Vryburg as its capital, and forthwith proceeded to set up the republic of Goshen, farther north, in spite of the protests of Montsioa, and established a small town called Rooi Grond as capital . They then summoned Montsioa to quit the territory . The efforts of the British authorities at this period (1882–1883) to bring about a satisfactory settlement were feeble and futile, and fighting continued until See also:peace was made entirely on Boer lines . The Transvaal government was to have supreme power, and to be the final arbiter in See also:case of future quarrels arising among the native chiefs . This agreement, arrived at without any reference to the British government, was a See also:breach of the Pretoria convention, and led to an intimation on the part of Great Britain that she could not recognize the new republics . In South Africa, as well as in See also:England; strong feeling was aroused by this act of aggression . Unless steps were taken at once, the whole of Bechuanaland might be permanently lost, while German territory on the west might readily be extended to join with that of the Boers . In the London convention of February 1884, conceded by See also:Lord See also:Derby in response to the overtures of Boer delegates, the Transvaal boundaries were again defined, part of eastern Bechuanaland being included in Boer territory . In spite of the convention the Boers remained in Stellaland and Goshen—which were west of the new Transvaal frontier, and in April 1884 the Rev . John See also:Mackenzie, who had succeeded Livingstone, was sent to the country to arrange Boer encroachment . matters . He found very little difficulty in negotiating with the various Bechuana chiefs, but with the Boers he was not so successful . In Goshen the Boers defied his authority, while in Stellaland only a See also:half-hearted See also:acceptance of it was given . At the instance of the new Cape government, formed in May and under See also:control of the Afrikander See also:Bond, Mackenzie, who was accused of being too " See also:pro-Bechuana " and who had been refused the help of any armed force, was recalled on the 3oth of See also:July by the high commissioner, Sir See also:Hercules See also:Robinson . In his place See also:Cecil See also:Rhodes, then See also:leader of the Opposition in the Cape See also:parliament, was sent to Bechuanaland . Rhodes's See also:mission was attended with great difficulty . British See also:prestige after the disastrous Boer War of 1881 was at a very See also:low Rhodes's ebb, and he realized that he could not See also:count on any mission. active help from the imperial or colonial authorities . He adopted a See also:tone of conciliation, and decided that the Stellaland republic should remain under a sort of British See also:suzerainty . But in Goshen the Boers would let him do nothing . Commandant P . J .
See also:Joubert, after meeting him at Rooi Grond,
entered the country and attacked Montsioa
.
Rhodes then See also:left
under protest, declaring that the Boers were making war against
Great Britain
.
The Boers now (loth of See also:September) proclaimed
the country under Transvaal protection
.
This was a breach of
the London convention, and President Kruger explained that
the steps had been taken in the " interests of humanity."
Indignant protest in Cape Town and throughout
warren South Africa, as well as England, led to the despatch expedition
.
in See also:October 1884 of the Warren expedition, which was
sent out by the British government to remove the filibusters, to bring about peace in the country, and to hold it until further See also:measures were decided upon
.
Before Sir Charles Warren reached Africa, Sir See also: That portion lying to the south of the Molopo river was described as British Bechuanaland, and was constituted a crown colony . In 1891 the northern frontier of the protectorate was extended to its See also:present boundaries, and the whole of it placed under the administration of a resident commissioner, a protest being made at the time by the British South Africa See also:Company on the ground that the protectorate was included in the sphere of their See also:charter . Under the able administration (1885–1895) of Sir See also:Sidney See also:Shippard (q.v.) peace was maintained among the natives, who have shown great See also:loyalty to British See also:rule . The history of the country shows how much has been due to the efforts of men like Livingstone, Mackenzie and Rhodes . It is quite clear that had they not represented the true state of affairs to the authorities the whole of this territory would have gradually been absorbed by the Boers, until they had effected a union with the Germans on the west . The great road to the north would thus have been effectually shut against trade and British colonization . With regard to the precise effect of missionary influence upon the natives, opinion will alwaysremain divided . But Livingstone, who was not only a missionary but also an enlightened traveller, stated that a consider-able amount of benefit had been conferred upon the native races by missionary teaching . Livingstone was a great See also:advocate of the See also:prohibition of See also:alcohol among the natives, and that policy was always adhered to by Khama . In 1891 the South African Customs Union was extended to British Bechuanaland, and in 1895 the country was annexed to Cape Colony . At the same time it was provisionally arranged that the Bechuanaland protectorate should pass under the administration of the British South Africa Company (see Rxo-DES1A) . Khania and two other Bechuana chiefs came to England and protested against this arrangement . The result was that their territories and those of other See also:petty chiefs lying to the north of the Molopo were made native reserves, into which the importation of alcohol was forbidden . A British resident officer was to be appointed to each of the reserves . A stipulation, however, was made with these chiefs that a See also:strip of country sufficient for the purposes of a railway to Matabeleland should be conceded to the Chartered Company . In December 1895 the occurrence of the See also:Jameson See also:Raid, which started from these territories, prevented the completion of negotiations, and the administration of the protectorate remained in the hands of the imperial government . The administration, besides fostering the scanty material resources of the country, See also:aids the missionaries in their endeavours to raise the Bechuanas in the See also:scale of civilization . The results are full of encouragement . The natives proved staunch to the British connexion during the war of 1899–1902, and Khama and other chiefs gave help by providing transport . Anxiety was caused on the western frontier during the German See also:campaigns against the See also:Hottentots and Hereto (1903–1908), many natives seeking See also:refuge in the protectorate . A dispute concerning the chieftainship of the Batawana in the Ngami district threatened trouble in 1906, but was brought to a peaceful issue . The Bechuana were entirely unaffected by the Kaffir See also:rebellion in Natal . (F . R . C . ; A . P . |
|
|
[back] BECHUANA |
[next] BECK (or BEEK), DAVID (1621—1656) |
There are no comments yet for this article.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.
Links to articles and home page are encouraged.