Tswana, also called Motswana (singular) or Batswana (plural), formerly spelled Bechuana, westerly

division of the Sotho, a Bantu-speaking people of South Africa and Botswana. The
Tswana comprise several groupings, the most important of which, numerically speaking, are the
Hurutshe, Kgatla, Kwena, Rolong, Tlhaping, and Tlokwa. They numbered about four million at the
turn of the 21st century.

Historically, the Tswana have lived in a grassland environment, practicing animal husbandry and
subsistence agriculture based on corn (maize) and sorghum. There has long been a seasonal and
periodic migration of men who work in the mining and industrial centres of South Africa, although
the migration has greatly declined since the 1990s.

Tswana material culture reflects the widespread intrusion of European goods and standards.
Traditional housing forms range from the traditional circular single-roomed dwelling with conical
thatched roof to multiroomed rectangular houses with roofs of corrugated iron. Transport varies
from ox-drawn sledges to motor vehicles. European dress prevails.

Traditionally, every Tswana is affiliated to a patrilineal descent group, each group associated with a
distinctive symbol that serves as a polite mode of address and sometimes as a surname. In self-
administering political units, especially those in Botswana, the basic social unit is the ward, a readily
identifiable self-contained social and administrative entity comprising a number of lineally related
families together with their dependents and servants. Its leader is usually the head of the senior
family. Although identification with a particular ward is strong, age groups (age sets, or regiments)
have existed that cut across ward loyalties.

Ethnic group membership includes alien elements, and Tswana members are often in a minority, so
that a Tswana group accordingly lacks cultural and even linguistic uniformity. The chief rules with the
assistance of advisers and officials, but at the same time all matters of public policy usually require
the approval of a general council open to all adult male members.

In 1977 the apartheid South African government created an “independent” Bantu homeland for the
Tswana, called Bophuthatswana, but it was never recognized by the international community and
was abolished with the fall of the official apartheid policy in 1994.