波札那(Botswana)

正式名称波札那共和国（Republic of Botswana）

旧称贝专纳兰（Bechuanaland）

非洲南部内陆国家，与那米比亚、辛巴威和南非交界。面积581,730平方公里。人口约1,586,000（2001）。首都︰嘉柏隆里。茨瓦纳人占人口半数还不到，其他较大的种族集团有哈拉加里人、恩瓜托人、茨瓦庞人、比尔瓦人和卡兰加人。还有一小群游牧民族（科伊科伊人和桑人），常作季节性的迁移，越过那米比亚边界。语言︰英语（官方语）和茨瓦纳语。宗教：基督教（混合了大量的非洲传统信仰）。货币︰普拉（P）。地形基本上是台地，平均高度约1,006公尺。西部和西南部是喀拉哈里沙漠的一部分，北部是奥卡万戈河三角洲沼泽地带。常年不断的地表水源为乔贝河（与那米比亚的界河）、西北端的奥卡万戈河，以及东南部与南非的界河林波波河。经济传统上依赖牲畜饲养；1980年代钻石矿的开发已为国家带来财富。政府形式为多党制共和国，一院制。国家元首暨政府首脑是总统。

该区最早的居民是科伊科伊人和桑人。早在西元190年时就有人定居於此，当时是操班图语的农人往南迁徙的时期。13～14世纪在特兰斯瓦西部兴起几个茨瓦纳人王朝，18世纪移往波札那，并建立几个强大国家。19世纪初欧洲传教士抵此，但在1867年发现黄金，引起欧洲人的兴趣。1885年该区成为英属贝专纳兰保护国。翌年，莫洛波河以南地区成为王室殖民地，十年後为开普殖民地所吞并。贝专纳兰本身一直到1960年代都是英国保护地。1966年贝专纳兰共和国（後来改名波札那）宣布独立，加入国协。独立後的波札那力图在南非（经济上所仰赖的国家）和邻近黑人国家之间保持微妙的平衡关系。1990年那米比亚独立和南非放弃种族隔离政策才缓和了紧张关系。

English version：

Botswana

formerlyBechuanalandCountry, southern Africa, bounded by Namibia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. Area: 219,916 sq mi (569,582 sq km). Population (1997 est.): 1,501,000. Capital: Gaborone. Less than half the population are ethnic Tswana; other main groups include the Khalagari, Ngwato, Tswapong, Birwa, and Kalanga. Small groups of Khoikhoi and San follow a nomadic way of life and move seasonally across the Namibian border. Languages: English (official), Tswana. Religion: Christian, with a large admixture of traditional African beliefs. Currency: pula. Botswana is essentially a tableland, with a mean elevation of about 3,300 ft (1,000 m). Part of the Kalahari Desert is in the southwest and west, while the Okavango Swamp is in the north. The only sources of permanent surface water are the Chobe River, which marks the Namibian boundary; the Okavango River, in the far northwest; and the Limpopo River, which marks the South African boundary in the southeast. The economy is traditionally dependent on livestock raising; the development of diamond mining in the 1980s has increased the country's wealth. It is a republic with one legislative body; its head of state and government is the president. The region's earliest inhabitants were the Khoikhoi and San (Bushmen). Sites were settled as early as AD 190 during the southerly migration of Bantu-speaking farmers. Tswana dynasties, which developed in the western Transvaal in the 13th-14th century, moved into Botswana in the 18th century and established several powerful states. European missionaries arrived in the early 19th century, but it was the discovery of gold in 1867 that excited European interest. In 1885 the area became the British Bechuanaland Protectorate. The next year, the region south of the Molopo River became a crown colony, and it was annexed by the Cape Colony 10 years later. Bechuanaland itself continued as a British protectorate until the 1960s. In 1966 the Republic of Bechuanaland (later, Botswana) was proclaimed an independent member of the British Commonwealth. Independent Botswana tried to maintain a delicate balance between its economic dependence on South Africa and its relations with the surrounding black countries; the independence of Namibia in 1990 and South Africa's rejection of apartheid eased tensions.