Bling bling! Welcome to Diamond Town, Africa!
("Geography Now" opening jingle)
It's time to learn geography...NOW!
Hey everybody I'm your host Paul Barbado.
If there was ever an African comeback kid, Botswana would definitely fit that title.
But first, you know the drill. Let's dissect the flag.
(slot machine noises)
The flag is pretty simple, it has a blue field cut horizontally
by a black stripe with a white frame.
The blue represents water, or more specifically rain, as it is a precious resource the country relies on and sustains life of the country.
The black and white frame also has 2 meanings, the first one being that Botswana is a country of diverse cooperation between people of different races,
that work in harmony.
And the second, that it represents the stripes of a zebra. Easy! Moving on!
Botswana's location is kind of serendipitous in that, for the longest time,
they didn't even realize that they were sitting on buried treasure.
First of all, Botswana is located in the southern area of the African continent,
about the same size as France and is bordered by 4 other countries.
Looking at the map, you would think Botswana is only bordered by Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe,
but if you look very close at the northeastern tip where the Chobe river meets the Zambezi, you see the Zambezi quadripoint,
in which all 4 countries meet.
This spot has the ever so narrowest of borders, only a few dozen meters wide, that Botswana has with Zambia on the Zambezi river.
This area is right on the A-33 road that takes you to the Kazungula Ferry, the only place in all of Botswana that gives you access to Zambia directly from Botswana.
This is also the only part of Botswana that touches the world-famous Zambezi River, which has been historically used for centuries for navigating across the African savanas.
It's kind of funny though, because when drawing the borders,
they probably could have taken more, but Namibia was like:
Oh hell no! I'm gonna go get me some of that Zambezi y'all! Look at me, I got this dry, skeleton coast. I needs my hydrations!
Botswana's capital and largest city is Gaborone, if you speak Setswana, it's pronounced "HE-borone."
Located close to the border of South Africa, and the country is divided into 9 districts.
With the exception of Namibia's straight and quite frankly very distinct and noticably well-marked border with Botswana,
the Caprivi strip.
Most of the borders are rivers.
Like the Chobe, the Limpopo, the Shashe, which by the way, in the very east,
Zimbabwe was like:
"Look, I know we're using this river as a border, but I'm just gonna draw a radius around the station of Thuli and everything in that circle is mine to use as a wildlife reserve."
"Even if it does cross the river."
Botswana: "Oh, okay, a wildlife reserve, okay, okay. You can have it, Zimbabwe."
Otherwise, Botswana is pretty open and free, it's the 3rd least densely populated country in Africa.
It's a haven for nature and safari enthusiasts.
Oh! Good opportunity to transition!
(earthquake rumbling)
(bird caws)
Botswana doesn't just have a bunch of open land,
but also a bunch of exceptionally unique land unlike anywhere else in Africa.
First off, the country is generally flat and about 70% of the country is dominated by the semi-arid Kalahari Desert in dry savannas, especially
in the west part of the country.
Whereas the east and the north parts are generally greener.
In the far north and in the northwest district, you have one of the strangest natural phenomena, the Okavanago Delta.
Now, if you've heard of this place, contrary to what you may have been told,
this is not acually the world's largest inland delta, there are 2 others that pass it in Mali and Sudan.
However, this world-renowned UNESCO Heritage Site sticks out because of the way how the delta operates.
Basically, the Okavanago River meanders into geological faults that, in response, spread the waters out into a vast network of channels, creeks, and wetlands.
Now, here's a thing.
Every year rain water from the highlands of Angola come down and surge into the Okavanago, causing the entire flood basin to swell up to 3 times its permanent size
between March and June.
For the next few months, the entire area becomes this weird, shallow, swampy wetland with an abundance of wildlife that flourishes in it.
In fact, one of the strangest things about this area is that it is one of the few places where you will find animals that, contrary to their cousins in
the other areas, have completely adapted to the hydrated landscape.
You can see swimming cheetahs, lions, and even hyenas
fully aclimated to the conditions that surround them.
Nothing is scarier than knowing that a cheetah can swim after you.
Finally, at the latter months of the year, the Okavanago dries up again and about 60% of it is absorbed by plants
over 30% is evaporated, and the rest is either transpired into the underground aquifers or drained into Lake Ngami.
Now, granted, Botswana is dealing heavily with drought and desertification in their country,
and is trying to combat it with legislative action.
To the east, you have the even stranger Makgadikgadi and Sua pans, which are 2 large salt basins
Just like Salar de Uyuni that we learned 2 episodes ago!
Remember? REMEMBER?!
This area used to be a lake, that eventually dried up and is actually the site of Botswana's largest salt and sodium carbonate mines.
If you look clesely, you can even see the mines close to the eastern edge of the basin.
No, those green rectangles are not crop fields.
Those are actually well fields and the solar evaporation ponds filled with water that are used to process and calcify the minerals in the mines.
Speaking of mines, since the 1980's,
Botswana has actually been the world's largest producer of gem diamonds.
5 diamond mines have opened up since independence, and the world's richest diamond mine is found in Jwaneng.
The diamond industry has actually played a huge role in the past, and in today, in the development of the economy and people's lives.
Now let's talk about that.
(conch shell sounds)
Botswana is kind of like the place that you would be proud of if it was your little adopted African son.
Unless if you were Afri- well, I mean, Africans can adopt Africans, too, but -
You would be proud of it if it was your son!
First of all, Botswana has just a little bit over 2 million people, the majority of whom, about 80%, identify as ethnically Tswana.
Which is also where Botswana get its name from.
Bot-swana.
Other minority groups include the Klanga, the Basarwa, the Kagalagadi, and a small percentage of the population is also white.
Mostly descendents from former English and European settlers during the colonial days.
Actually, recently, there's been a huge influx of white people moving into Botswana from neighboring Zimbabwe,
as the president Robert Mugabe, if you can even call him a president, much less a 3-decade long dictator,
has institued laws that actively discriminate and oppress the white minority.
Unless, if you are like super talented, like Kirsty Coventry, who won 7 Olympic medals, including 2 golds for Zimbabwe in the 2004 and 2008 Olympics.
And Mugabe called her "a daughter of Zimbabwe" and gave her $100,000.
Oh! Sorry! Back to Botswana!
Essentially, pretty much everybody in the country speaks English.
The tswana people might speak Twsana ot Setswana.
And many of the white people might speak Afrikaans as well as a second language.
For those of you who don't know by the way, Afrikaans is kind of like an Africanized Dutch.
Long story short, Botswana used to be part of the British empire, under the name of Bechuanaland.
Okay, let's just get it over with and get the pun out, because I know you'll go crazy if I don't.
Bet-you-wanna-land in Bechuanaland!
There, you happy now?
Moving on.
The interesting thing, though, is that Botswana actually has very fascinating tribal groups found along the rural areas of the country.
One of the most sought-after people groups for studies by sociologists would have to be the San Bushmen,
found in the northern regions by the Okavanago delta.
The San Bushmen people speak a Khoisan language, which is saturated with these unique click sounds.
Many dialects can even have up to 48 different click consonant sounds.
(San Bushmen speaking a Khoisan language)
The country operates in a democratic parliamentary republic, with a president as a head of state.
In fact, according to Transparency International, Botswana actually has the least corrupt government in all of Africa.
On par with countries like Portugal and South Korea.
Culturally, Botswana identifies closely with other countries in the south African region.
About 70% of the people identify as Christian.
And regular church attendance is actually pretty high. The rest are either non-religious or ascribe to folk religions.
Essentially, though, Botswana used to be one of the poorest countries but today has developed a steady economy and infrastructure that has made it into the 4th largest GDP in all of Africa.
On par with countries like Mexico and Turkey.
This is partially thanks to the mining industry, but also to the new financial sector that Botswana's heavily investing in.
With strong fiscal policies and free market enterprises, Botswana was able to nab over 7 billion in foreign exchange reserves,
just about 10 years ago.
Today Botswana has Africa's highest credit rating and with a well-capitalized system which allows high interest rates,
Botswana seems to be doing something incredibly right.
Botswana: "I'm coming for you, Switzerland!"
Well, Botswana, looks like you've stepped into the international limelight.
Now let's see how that's going for you.
Now, when it comes to friends, Botswana kind has this like weird seesaw effect in which they like groups of people
that typically don't like each other.
First off, we have Russia and the US.
The US is not only a huge partner with multiple embassies and consulates for each side,
but so far, is also the largest provider of aid and medical relief, especially in the HIV and AIDS division amongst the residents.
Peace Corps professionals consistently stop by, and even help build facilities, as well as develop and train native Botswanans to tackle the issue.
Nonetheless, Russia is actually seen as a little bit more favorable to the Botswanans.
Russia swooped right in, shortly after independence, and was one of the first countries to acknowledge Botswana as a nation.
Just like they did with Angola and Benin.
Are you kinda seeing a pattern going on here?
They hit it off really well early in the game, Russia maintains numerous trade policies and educational cooperation agreements with them.
And to this day, each side has embassies and consulates.
Botswana was kinda seen by Russia as like a potential breeding ground for communist ideologies.
However, unlike Angola and Benin,
the whole thing never really kicked off and eventually they became a democratic republic
but still maintained good relations and to this day, Botswana is one of the countries that Russians do not require a visa to enter.
Then you have Israel and Pakistan.
Pakistan has been a favored business partner and has built ties with Botswana for years,
and even has overseas embassies in Beijing and Yemen for each other.
However, Israel also has cooperation agreements and invests heavily in the irrigation sector to help Botswana fight its desertification problem
by suggesting models that have worked for their own country.
Israel's also faciliating the development of the Botswana International University of Science and Technology.
Finally, you have what Botswana would consider the best friends, Namibia and South Africa.
These 3 countries go way back.
First, South African used to have some drama with Botswana, but today is really close and has signed numerous agreements in tax, agriculture, health, transport, and more.
A huge portion of the Botswanan economy is dependent on South Africa
and culturally, they resonate pretty close, as they were both parts of the British empire.
Namibia, though, is really close to Botswana, too.
But remember, Namibia kinda broke away and became independent from South Africa.
So here we have a country and another country that used to be part of that country
being friends with this country.
It's kinda like going to a party and realizing your ex-wife is there.
Naw! But relations between South Africa and Namibia are fine.
Soon after Namibia's independence, Botswana was one of the first countries to shake hands and sign treaties.
The only issue is that Namibia once scared the crap out of Botswana, because they almost planned on deferring the water from the Okavanago River away from the basin to help irrigate their land,
which would destroy the whole delta.
Luckily, the plans were diverted.
In conclusion, Botswana is like the little African country that accidentally got blessed and then ran with it.
Stay tuned. Brazil is coming up next!
Hey geograpeeps, so it's like 2 AM and I'm about to upload this video, but before I do, I just wanna say thank you so much to my friend Jason
he's the one who did the most of the motion graphics in this video which is why so much of it looks so amazing.
And so much better than the other episodes, because -
Thank you so much, Jason. If guys wanna check out his reel, his motion graphics reel,
I'll put a link in the description and I can't thank you enough.
I love you bro. Have a good one.