Building a Nation A History of Botswana 1800-1910 by Jeff Ramsay, Barry Morton, and Themba Mgadla (original) (raw)

This is a scanned copy of the original 1996 text, which provides a comprehensive account of Botswana's nineteenth-century roots. The book chronicles the political, social, and economic changes affecting the various communities, which were incorporated into the Bechuanaland Protectorate. Beginning with an introduction to the nature of History and the kinds of sources used, the new edition looks briefly at Southern African Communities before 1800. It then continues with a re-examination of the period of Bakololo and Amandebele invasions (1823-44) and traces the process by which Batswana rulers were able to build up their own authority and resist outside incursions through their participation in the trade of guns for game products. A full account of the 1852-53 Batswana victory over the Transvaal Boers is included. Other chapters examine such issues as Christian evangelization, education, shifting patterns of indigenous servitude, and the subjugation by Batswana of non-Batswana speaking communities, such as Khoisan speakers, Wayeyi and Bakgalagari. The myth of Batswana seeking a British Protectorate is rejected in its chapter on the coming and consolidation of British rule. The final chapter traces the beginning of a separate territorial consciousness beginning in the early campaigns to keep the Protectorate free of the rule of neighboring settler colonies. A revised 1999 edition formatted for schools has also been previously posted, as well as its manuscript.