Botswana Population, Main Cities and Geography

By | January 27, 2023

Botswana: population and cities

Population

Population

According to Countryaah website, Botswana has about 2.3 million residents.

Ethnic composition

The country’s population is made up of approx. 60% Tswana, 12.5% Shona, furthermore the San (Bushmen) Khoi Khoi (“Hottentots”), Ndebele and 4% members of other African tribes. There are also around 110,000 foreigners – including 20,000 Indians, 15,000 Chinese and around 4,000 Europeans.

With traces of human settlement, Botswana is considered to be the “cradle of humanity” with an age of over 2 million years. The approximately 60,000 San living here are the successors of the Stone Age people.

Religious affiliation

About 70% of the population of Botwana are Christians. In addition, traditional African natural religions are practiced by the majority of the residents. There are also small minorities of Muslims and Hindus.

National language

The official language of the country is English. Setswana and other Bantu languages are used as colloquial language.

Capital and other cities

The capital of Botswana is Gaborone, with a population of around 240,000. According to Abbreviation Finder, BWA stands for Botswana in English. Click to see other meanings of this 3-letter acronym.

Other larger and important cities in Botswana are:

– Francistown with around 85,000 residents

– Molepole with around 55,000 residents

– Selebi Phikwe with around 50,000 residents

– Maun with around 45,000 residents

– Serowe with around 43,000 residents.

Botswana: geography, map

Botswana is located in southern Africa and covers an area of 581,730 km². Check topmbadirectory for politics, flags, famous people, animals and plants of Botswana. Thereof:

  • ForestAround 46% of the country is forest and scrubland.
  • Meadow and pasture landAround 32% of the land is used as meadow or pasture land.
  • Arable land and fieldsAround 2% of the land is used as arable land or fields.
  • DesertKalahari Desert
  • About 38% are national parks, game reserves and other protected areas

 

The country shares a border with the following three countries:

Namibia with a length of 1,360 km,

South Africa with a length of 1,840 km and

Zimbabwe with a length of 813 km.

Longitude and latitude

Botswana extends over the following geographical latitude (abbreviation Δφ) and geographical longitude (abbreviation Δλ):

Δφ = from 17 ° 40 ‘to 27 ° south latitude Δλ = from 20 ° to 29 ° 20′ east longitude

You can find detailed information on this subject under Longitude and Latitude.

Time in the country

For Botswana, the following value applies to Central European Time (CET), i.e. the time without summer time. A minus sign means that it is earlier there, a plus sign that it is later than CET:

Δ t (CET) = + 1 h

Further and detailed explanations of the time can be found under Time zones, time.

The highest point of the sun in Gaborone

Gaborone lies on a southern latitude of around φ = 25 °. If the sun or its image point is at the southern tropic, i.e. at δ = -23.5 °, summer begins in Gabarone, this is December 21. Then, for the highest position of the sun at noon, according to Eq. 1 (see position of the sun):

-25 ° = – (90 ° – h) + -23.5 °

so:

H = 88.5 °

At 88.5 °, the sun in Gaborone has the highest level of the entire year above the horizon (more precisely: above the horizon).

Attention

In Gaborone the sun at noon is not in the south, as in our latitudes, but in the north. In this case, the sun moves from east to north to west, where, like us, it sets.

Mountains, rivers, lakes

The highest mountain in the country is a summit of the Tsodilo Hills with a height of 1,489 m.

The longest river in the country is the Limpopo with a length of about 1,600 km. Another river in the country is the Okawango, about 1,300 km long. The Okawango has a great peculiarity: the river, which rises in the 2,600 m high highlands of Bie (Bihé) in Angola, does not flow into the sea, but silts up or seeps into a delta in the Kalahari desert in the interior of Botswana. Correctly, however, this is only about 10% of the amount of water, the rest evaporates or is diverted, for example, for agriculture.

The Makgadikgadi is a salt pan with a total area of around 12,000 km², which turns into a salt marsh during the rainy season.

The Okavango Delta

The Okawango has its source in Angola and does not flow into the sea, another river or a large lake, but rather “seeps” into the earth in the Okavango Delta in the Kalahari Desert, so to speak. However, far less 10% of the water actually seeps away here – the rest evaporates beforehand or is used for agriculture. In the area of the Okavango Delta is the Okavango Panhandle to the northwest. This is a network of lakes, rivers, islands and forests consisting of five main arms. Furthermore, the delta can be divided into the three areas “Eastern Delta”, “Inner Delta” and the area of the “Moremi Game Reserve”. During the rainy season, the landscape turns into the largest inland delta in the world – with an area of 15,500 km². The then suddenly blooming lush vegetation attracts countless animal species such as antelopes, lions, leopards, cheetahs, warthogs, crocodiles, giraffes, hyenas, hippos, buffalos, snakes, elephants and rhinos. In the delta you move with the Mokoro – the old wooden dugout canoe – or meanwhile with modern Morokos made of plastic.

Kalahari semi-desert

The Kalahari semi-desert covers over 52,800 km² of the country. This semi-arid savannah landscape has only been made accessible to tourists since 1998. Due to the low annual rainfall of less than 300 mm, an almost unique landscape has developed and preserved here. Red sand, dry grass and individual groups of trees characterize most of the landscape, which is the last habitat of the indigenous population, the San (Bushmen). Around 600 of the legendary Kalahai lions still live here. Of the 100,000 still existing Bushmen (San) with an almost 25,000 year old culture, around 60,000 live in Botswana and of these only around 600 live in the Kalahari semi-desert.

Botswana Population