The history of Botswana, a country located in Southern Africa, includes its pre-state history, its colonial period as the Bechuanaland Protectorate (1885–1966), and its modern history as a sovereign state from 30 September 1966 onwards.
Pre-statehood
Early history – Humans settle in present-day Botswana. – Ancestors of the Kalanga people and the Sotho-Tswana peoples migrate to present-day Botswana. – Ancestors of the Kgalagadi people and Yeyi people migrate to present-day Botswana. – The Kingdom of Butua is established by the Chibundule dynasty of the Kalanga people. – Ancestors of the Tswana people, Subia people, Birwa people, and Pedi people migrate to present-day Botswana. – Ancestors of the Kwena people migrate to present-day Botswana. – Nichasike overthrows the Chinbundule dynasty and seizes power in the Kingdom of Butua. – The Ngwaketse people split from the Kwena people. – The Ngwato people split from the Kwena people. – The Tawana people split from the Ngwato people.
19th century 1824 July – Robert Moffat of the London Missionary Society makes contact with the Ngwaketse people. 1825 – Sebetwane of the Kololo people leads attacks against the Kwena and Ngwaketse peoples. 1826 28 August – Sebego I of the Ngwaketse people defeats the Kololo people at Dithubaruba. – The Kingdom of Butua defeats the Ngwato people at Matopos. 1835 – The Kololo people defeat the Tawana people. 1841 July – David Livingstone of the London Missionary Society begins missionary work among the Tswana people. 1842 – The Northern Ndebele people of present-day Zimbabwe attack the Kwena people, Kgafela Kgatla, and Ngwato people. Macheng, heir to the Ngwato chiefdom, is taken prisoner. 1844 The Ngwato people use firearms to repel the Northern Ndebele people at Shoshong. Two rival groups emerge among the Ngwaketse people after the death of Sebego I. 1848 1 October – David Livingstone baptises Sechele I of the Kwena people, who becomes head of the local church. 1852 The Batswana–Boer War begins. The Tlôkwa people, Lete people, Hurutshe people, Mmanaana Kgatla, and Rolong people migrate to present-day Botswana. 30 August – The Kwena people repel an invasion by the Transvaal Republic in the Battle of Dimawe. 1853 January – Transvaal and the Kwena people come to a peace agreement. The Kwena people carry out guerrilla warfare for another three years. June – The Ngwaketse people rejoin under the joint leadership of Gaseitsiwe and Senthufe. 1857 Gaseitsiwe overthrows Senthufe and takes control of the Ngwaketse people. 16 July – Lutheran missionaries begin evangelising to the Kwena people. November – Robert Moffat negotiates the release of Macheng. Sechele I makes him kgosi of the Ngwato people. 1859 April – Sechele I has Macheng overthrown and makes Sekgoma I the kgosi of the Ngwato people. 1863 March – The Ngwato people repel another attack by the Northern Ndebele people at Shoshong. 1866 May – Macheng is reinstated as kgosi of the Ngwato people replacing Sekgoma I. 1867 4 December – The Tati Goldfields are discovered by Karl Mauch, causing a gold rush over the next two years. 1870 April – Transvaal military leader Harklaas Malan captures Kgamanyane, kgosi of the Kgafela Kgatla, and publicly whips him. November – The Kgatla people join the Kwena people under the rule of Sechele I. 1871 May – Mochudi is founded when the Kgatla people migrate to the Kingdom of Kwena. 1872 29 August – Macheng is banished from Shoshong in an effort organised by Khama III. 1873 January – Sekgoma I returns as kgosi of the Ngwato people. January – A schism occurs between brothers Khama III, a Christian, and Kgamane, who joined and renounced Christianity. Khama III flees to Serowe. 1875 Khama III overthrows Sekgoma I and becomes kgosi of the Ngwato people. 11 August – The Kgafela people win the first battle of the Kwena–Kgafela War against the Kwena people in Mochudi. November – The Kwena people win a battle against the Kgatla people in Thamaga. 1876 July – The Kwena people win a battle against the Kgatla people in Molepolole. August – In response to the Dorsland Trek, Khama III requests British protection of the region. 1877 – The Dorsland Trek migrates through present-day Botswana. 1881 November – Ikaneng leads the Lete people in repelling an invasion. 1883 – The Kwena–Kgafela War ends. The Rolong, Ngwaketse, Kwena, and Kgatla peoples form a defense pact. 1884 – The Tawana people repel an invasion of Khutiyabasadi by the Northern Ndebele people.
Bechuanaland Protectorate (1885–1966) 1885–1889 1885 27 January – The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland declares a protectorate over the Tswana people during the Berlin Conference, creating the Bechuanaland Protectorate. 1887 May – The Ngwato people and British police expel the Seleka people from Ngwapa to Transvaal. 1889 5 February – Tswana leaders denounce Khama III's decision to invite British rule. October – The British South Africa Company is granted a charter that will allow operation in the Bechuanaland Protectorate.
1890–1899 1890 The United Kingdom places the Bechuanaland Protectorate under the Foreign Jurisdictions Act. The United Kingdom extends the Bechuanaland Protectorate to the Chobe River. 1891 9 May – Sekgoma Letsholathebe becomes regent of the Tswana people in place of Khama III. 1892 January – The first of the Ngwato people enrol at Lovedale College. September – Sechele I dies. He is succeeded as kgosi of the Kwena people by Sebele I. September – Kgosi Mosinyi II of the Kaa people dies, causing a succession crisis. 1893 October – The British South Africa Company, British police, and the Ngwato people attack and conquer the Northern Ndebele people. 1894 January – Sekgoma Letsholathebe leads an attack on the Caprivi Strip to steal slaves and cattle. October – The United Kingdom reorganises territorial allotment in the Bechuanaland Protectorate to favour Khama III. 1895 – The United Kingdom splits the Bechuanaland Protectorate, merging the southern British Bechuanaland with Cape Colony, which would become present-day South Africa. Tswana chiefs and British missionaries form a coalition to speak against further absorption of Tswana tribes into Cape colony. 1896 – The 1890s African rinderpest epizootic reaches the Bechuanaland Protectorate, killing 90% of the protectorate's cattle and causing a years-long famine. 1897 Francistown is founded. October – Khama III exiles his heir, Sekgoma Khama. 19 October – The Mahikeng–Bulawayo Railroad finishes construction. 1898 – Samuel Moroka leads his followers to settle in Tati. 1899 The borders of Batswana reserves are defined. April – The United Kingdom imposes a hut tax on the protectorate. 25 November – The Kgafela Kgatla win a battle against Boers at Derdepoort at the beginning of the Second Boer War.
1900–1909 1901 27 April – Koranta ea Becoana is founded as the first Batswana-owned newspaper. 1903 The capital of the Mangwato tribe moves from Phalatswe to Serowe. The Herero people and the Nama people begin migrating to the protectorate from German South West Africa to escape the Herero and Namaqua genocide. 1905 29 March – Tiger Kloof Native Institution opens as a secondary school. 1906 12 June – The protectorate's resident commissioner overthrows and imprisons regent Tawana kgosi Sekgoma Letsholathebe. 1909 Several Tswana tribes are made part of the newly formed Union of South Africa. The United Kingdom confirms that the Bechuanaland Protectorate will not be merged into the union. Rudolf Pöch produces the first film recording of present-day Botswana.
1910–1919 1910 1 July – Ngwaketse kgosi Bathoen I dies. 1911 23 January – Kwena kgosi Sebele I dies, causing a succession crisis. April – Sekgoma Letsholathebe is released from prison. 1914 – The protectorate joins World War I with the United Kingdom, sending soldiers to France, East Africa, and Namibia. 1915 Maun is founded as the capital of the Batawana tribe. Bobonong is founded as the capital of the Birwa tribe. Thousands of the Rolong people migrate from South Africa to Tati. 1916 May – The Kwena Tribal Council is formed to govern the Kwena people. 18 June – Moeapitso kills his brother Seepapitso II. November – The resident commissioner disbands the Kwena Tribal Council. 1918 The Spanish flu reaches the Bechuanaland Protectorate. 12 February – Kwena kgosi Sechele II dies. He is succeeded by Sebele II. 1919 July – The Native Advisory Council is established. 1920 2 March – The European Advisory Council is established. 24 December – The Birwa people are expelled from the Tuli Block and sent to Bobonong.
1920–1929 1923 21 February – Mangwato kgosi Khama III dies. 1926 19 January – Tshekedi Khama becomes regent kgosi of the Mangwato tribe. 1928 April – Bathoen II becomes kgosi of the Ngwaketse tribe. 1929 November – Molefi becomes kgosi of the Kgafela Kgatla, replacing regent Isang Pilane.
1930–1939 1930 – Charles Rey is appointed resident commissioner of the protectorate. 1931 7 May – Charles Rey overthrows Kwena kgosi Sebele II and banishes him to Ghanzi. 1933 8 April – Kgosi Gobuamang surrenders to the British. August – Charles Rey suspends Ngwato regent Tshekedi Khama after he has a European flogged. 1936 30 October – Charles Rey suspends Kgafela Kgatla kgosi Molefi and reinstates regent Isang Pilane. 1937 – Charles Rey ends his tenure as resident commissioner. He is replaced by Charles Arden-Clarke. 1939 – The protectorate enters World War II, with 10,000 Batswana serving in the African Auxiliary Pioneer Corps.
1940–1949 1941 – Kgafela Kgatla regent Isang Pilane dies. 1942 – Kgafela Kgatla regent Mmusi joins the African Auxiliary Pioneer Corps, and the Zion Christian Church establishes a ruling council over Kgafela Kgatla. 1944 – Naledi Ya Batswana begins publication through government subsidies. 1945 Moremi III is suspended as kgosi of the Tawana people. Molefi is restored as kgosi of Kgafela Kgatla. 1946 Tawana kgosi Moremi III dies. 1947 February – Elizabeth Pulane Moremi is appointed as the Tawana regent. September – The Ngwato people attack the village led by John Nswazwi, forcing him to flee the protectorate. 1948 – Seretse Khama, heir to the Mangwato tribe, controversially marries Ruth Williams, a white British woman. The United Kingdom banishes Khama from the Bechuanaland Protectorate. 1949 25 June – The Mangwato tribe endorses the marriage of Seretse Khama and Ruth Williams during a kgotla. Regent Tshekedi Khama, who did not wish to endorse the marriage, leaves the tribe. 6 December – The Bechuanaland Protectorate takes direct control over the Ngwato tribe rather than allowing Sertse Khama to rule.
1950–1959 1951 20 September – Tawana secretary Leetile Disang Raditladi is escorted out of Ngamiland by gunmen. 1952 The Bamangwato National Congress forms to represent Seretse Khama. Riots take place in protest of his exile. 11 September – A 6.1 magnitude earthquake occurs in Botswana. 11 October – A 6.7 magnitude earthquake occurs in Botswana. 1953 13 May – Rasebolai Kgamane is placed in charge of the Ngwato Reserve. 1956 Seretse Khama is permitted to return to Botswana after renouncing his claim to the Ngwato tribe. Seretse Khama and Tshekedi Khama both renounce their claims in favour of creating the Ngwato Tribal Council that limits the kgosi. Similar councils were adopted by other tribes soon afterward. 9 October – Rasebolai Kgamane becomes the Ngwato kgosi. 1957 September – Elections are held to create democratic local councils. 1958 The first tarred road in Botswana is paved in Lobatse. British advisory councils request the creation of a legislature for the protectorate. 1959 Copper mines are created in the Bechuanaland Protectorate. April – The Bechuanaland Protectorate Federal Party is established by Leetile Disang Raditladi.