Editing History of Botswana (section)

=== Early modern period ===
[[File:Campbell - Thlapingkaptein en sy vrou.png|thumb|An illustration of a Tswana man and his wife in the early 1800s]]
The Tswana people had a presence throughout present-day Botswana by 1600.{{Sfn|Hjort|2009|p=703}} Some peoples of the region remained in the Late Stone Age until about this time.{{Sfn|Tlou|Campbell|1997|p=22}} According to oral tradition, the pastoralist [[Herero people|Herero]] and [[Mbanderu people|Mbanderu]] peoples split from the [[Mbunda people]] in the 17th century as Tswana cattle raids scattered the groups.{{Sfn|Denbow|Thebe|2006|pp=8–9}} Oral tradition also holds that the [[Yeyi people]] migrated from the upper [[Chobe River]] into the [[Okavango Delta]] in the 18th century, though contact between the Yeyi and the Khoe may have existed much longer.{{Sfn|Denbow|Thebe|2006|p=8}} Different Tswana tribes were able to separate and form independently from one another as the region's primary asset, cattle, is easily transported.{{Sfn|Hjort|2009|p=703}}{{Sfn|Leith|2005|p=19}} The western tribes were especially prone to separation because of the large distances between towns and farmlands. They were often the targets of raids by the [[Griqua people]].{{Sfn|Morton|2012|p=392}}

The first Tswana state was formed by the [[Ngwaketse people]] in the mid-18th century. Subsequent states were formed by the Kwena people, the [[Ngwato people]], and the [[Tawana people]] over the following decades.{{Sfn|Robinson|Parsons|2006|p=113}} With these came the development of the ''[[mophato]]'' (plural ''mephato''), a militia regiment organised by age group, among the eastern Tswana peoples in the 1750s.{{Sfn|Morton|2012|p=386}} Two Kgatla peoples, the [[Kgafela people]] and the [[Tlokwa people]], joined at this time and seized control over the area surrounding [[Pilanesberg]] in present-day South Africa. They subjugated several peoples in the region and twice won conflicts against the [[Fokeng people]].{{Sfn|Morton|2012|pp=390–391}} The use of ''mephato'' spread to the western Tswana peoples by the end of the century.{{Sfn|Morton|2012|p=386}} It was never widely adopted in the south.{{Sfn|Morton|2012|p=392}}