* People settled in Botswana as early as the Fourth Century AD.The earliest inhabitants of the region, the hunter-gatherer San people, can still to be found in Botswana’s remote areas.
* Botswana was never a colony. The country’s Paramount Chiefs sought British protection to forestall Boer incorporation of the country into South Africa.
* The discovery of the rich Orapa, Letlhakane and Jwaneng diamond mines after independence, laid the foundation for Botswana’s stable economy.
SETTLEMENTS
The early history of the people and territory of Botswana is still being uncovered, as archaeologists sift evidence from legend.
Indications of settled communities go back as far as the fourth century.
Before that, the territory was sparsely populated by hunter-gatherer communities of the San people.
Major settlements took place in the early 16th century. British missionaries arrived in the 19th century.