Gaborone is the capital of Botswana. Gaborone (pronounced GAH-bə-ROH-nee) is also largest city in the country with a population of 246,325 (2022 census), about 10% of the total population of Botswana.

Gaborone is situated between Kgale Hill and Oodi Hill, near the confluence of the Notwane River and Segoditshane River in the south-eastern corner of Botswana, 15 kilometres from the South African border.

Locals often refer to the city as GC or Motse-Mshate.

The city is served by the Sir Seretse Khama International Airport.

It is an administrative district in its own right, but it’s also the capital of the surrounding South-East District.

Gaborone is the economic capital as well as the government capital; it is headquarters to numerous companies and the Botswana Stock Exchange. Gaborone is also home to the Southern African Development Community (SADC), a regional economic community established in 1980.

Many languages are spoken in the city: Setswana (Tswana) being the main language, English, Kalanga, and Kgalagadi among others.

The city of Gaborone is named after Chief Gaborone of the Tlokwa tribe, who once controlled a nearby community.

Because it had no tribal affiliation and was close to fresh water, the city was planned to be the capital in the mid-1960s when the Bechuanaland Protectorate became an independent nation.

The centre of the city is a long strip of commercial businesses, called Main Mall with an area of government offices to its east.

Gaborone was once one of the fastest-growing cities in the world, and this has created problems with housing and illegal settlements.

Botswana is a country in Africa.

Capital: Gaborone
Currency: Botswanan Pula
Official language: English
Population: 2.588 million (2021) World Bank
Dialing code: +267
Gross Domestic Product: 17.61 billion USD (2021) World Bank

Botswana’s ten districts are:

1. Southern District
2. South-East District
3. Kweneng District
4. Kgatleng District
5. Central District
6. North-East District
7. Ngamiland District
8. Kgalagadi District
9. Chobe District
10. Ghanzi District

Botswana’s councils created from urban or town councils are: Gaborone City, Francistown, Lobatse Town, Selebi-Phikwe Town, Jwaneng Town, Orapa Town and Sowa Township.

The name Botswana refers to ‘Land of the Tswana’. The landlocked, Southern Africa country is officially known as the Republic of Botswana.

Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the south and southeast, Namibia to the west and north, and Zimbabwe to the northeast.

Botswana is connected to Zambia through the Kazungula Bridge making it the world’s shortest border between two countries.

A country of slightly over 2 million people (2021), Botswana is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world. It is essentially the nation state of the Tswana ethnic group, who make up 79% of the population.

About 11.6 per cent of the population lives in the capital and largest city, Gaborone.

Formerly one of the world’s poorest countries—with a GDP per capita of about US$70 per year in the late 1960s—it has since transformed itself into an upper-middle-income country, with one of the world’s fastest-growing economies.

The Tswana ethnic group were descended mainly from Bantu-speaking tribes who migrated southward of Africa to modern Botswana, living in tribal enclaves as farmers and herders.

In 1885, the British colonised the area and declared a protectorate under the name of Bechuanaland.

As colonisation stopped, Bechuanaland became an independent republic under its current name on 30 September 1966.

Since then, it has been a representative republic, with a consistent record of uninterrupted democratic elections and the lowest perceived corruption ranking in Africa since at least 1998.

The economy is dominated by mining and tourism. Botswana has a GDP (purchasing power parity) per capita of about $18,113 as of 2021, one of the highest in subsaharan Africa.

Botswana is the world’s biggest diamond producing country.

Its relatively high gross national income per capita gives the country a high standard of living and the third-highest Human Development Index of continental Sub-Saharan Africa (after Gabon and South Africa).

The country has been adversely affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. In 2002, Botswana began offering anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) to help combat the epidemic.

Botswana is a member of the Southern African Customs Union, the Southern African Development Community, the Commonwealth of Nations, and the United Nations.