Botswana (Land of the Tswana; bɒtˈswɑːnə, UKbʊt-,_bʊˈtʃw-), officially the Republic of Botswana (Lefatshe la Botswana, lɪˈfatshɪ la bʊˈtswana), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 per cent 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. It is connected by the Kazungula Bridge to Zambia, across the world's shortest border between two countries.
A country of slightly over 2.3 million people, Botswana is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world. It is essentially the nation state of the Tswana, 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 US70peryearinthelate1960s—ithassincetransformeditselfintoanupper−middle−incomecountry,withoneoftheworld′sfastest−growingeconomies.Modern−dayhumansfirstinhabitedthecountryover200,000yearsago.TheTswanaethnicgroupweredescendedmainlyfromBantu−speakingtribeswhomigratedsouthwardofAfricatomodernBotswanaaround600AD,livingintribalenclavesasfarmersandherders.In1885,theBritishcolonisedtheareaanddeclaredaprotectorateunderthenameofBechuanaland.Asdecolonisationoccurred,BechuanalandbecameanindependentCommonwealthrepublicunderitscurrentnameon30September1966.Sincethen,ithasbeenarepresentativerepublic,withaconsistentrecordofuninterrupteddemocraticelectionsandthelowestperceivedcorruptionrankinginAfricasinceatleast1998.Theeconomyisdominatedbyminingandtourism.BotswanahasaGDP(purchasingpowerparity)percapitaofabout18,113 , one of the highest in the subsaharan Africa. Botswana is the world's biggest diamond producing country.