Editing History of Botswana (section)

=== European missionaries ===
European missionaries first arrived in present-day Botswana in 1816 through the [[London Missionary Society]]. This and other missionary groups worked to convert the chiefs to Christianity and to build missionary schools.{{Sfn|Hillbom|Bolt|2018|p=38}} The missionary [[Robert Moffat (missionary)|Robert Moffat]] set his mission station on the border of present-day Botswana as a barrier against the [[Boers]] so they could not move further inward.{{Sfn|Denbow|Thebe|2006|p=28}} Moffat published the first Setswana language text with a uniform orthography when he began translating Christian texts and wrote a Setswana dictionary. Both the [[Old Testament|Old]] and [[New Testament]]s could be read in Setswana by 1857.{{Sfn|Denbow|Thebe|2006|pp=57, 65}}

The 19th century Tswana people used several economic ideas that were rare in southern Africa, including credit, service contracts, and the ''[[mafisa]]'' system of the rich loaning cattle to the poor in exchange for labour.{{Sfn|Hjort|2009|p=701}} They also had a conception of [[private property]] by the mid-19th century, and both married men and married women were entitled to land rights.{{Sfn|Hjort|2009|p=698}} The men typically herded cattle while the women grew crops.{{Sfn|Hillbom|Bolt|2018|pp=31–32}} Sorghum was the region's most commonly grown crop in the 19th century. Land was widely available, but droughts meant that farming was inconsistent.{{Sfn|Hillbom|Bolt|2018|p=34}}

British traders arrived in the 1830s and engaged in transactions with the chiefs.{{Sfn|Hillbom|Bolt|2018|p=38}} The influx of European settlers nearby allowed the Tswana tribes to incorporate themselves into the global economy.{{Sfn|Samatar|1999|p=43}} Chief [[Sechele I]] of the Kwena people took advantage of the new trading routes, securing control of British trade for his tribe.{{Sfn|Robinson|Parsons|2006|p=114}} The Scottish missionary [[David Livingstone]] arrived in Botswana in 1845, where he established the [[Kolobeng Mission]]. This was the beginning of heavier European involvement in the Tswana tribes as they established intercontinental trade routes.{{Sfn|Denbow|Thebe|2006|p=xvi}} Westernised fashion was adopted in urban areas through the rest of the century and combined with traditional clothing.{{Sfn|Denbow|Thebe|2006|pp=120–121}} In another effort to thwart the Boers, Livingstone provided firearms to the Kwena people. Sechele was the first person who Livingstone converted to Christianity, and the chief subsequently offered to convert his head men using rhinoceros-hide whips.{{Sfn|Denbow|Thebe|2006|p=29}}

The Tswana peoples faced conflict from other groups in the region, peaking in the 1850s. Many Batswana, particularly the Kwena and Ngwato tribes, fought against Afrikaners and Zulu tribes in the eastern Kalahari Desert.{{Sfn|Rotberg|2023|p=195}} The Kwena and the Mmanaana fought against Boers from Transvaal in 1852, defending their territory and ending the nation's westward expansion.{{Sfn|Morton|2012|p=396}} The Batswana saw missionary groups as a means of refuge from invaders, incentivising conversion to Christianity.{{Sfn|Rotberg|2023|p=196}} Sechele requested a British protectorate in 1853 to end regional conflicts, but he was denied.{{Sfn|Beaulier|Subrick|2006|p=107}}

European visitors became more common in the mid-19th century as hunters, explorers, and traders sought profit and adventure in the region.{{Sfn|Denbow|Thebe|2006|p=29}} Many wrote [[travel book]]s about the area, which were some of the only non-academic publications about present-day Botswana at the time.{{Sfn|Denbow|Thebe|2006|pp=65–66}} By the 1860s, migration out of the region increased as Batswana men travelled to work in South African mines.{{Sfn|Hillbom|Bolt|2018|p=96}} The discovery of the [[Tati Goldfields]] triggered the first European gold rush of Southern Africa in 1868.{{Sfn|Hillbom|Bolt|2018|p=38}} An early mining camp established in the 1870s expanded greatly as it became a major railway hub between [[Cape Province]] and [[Bulawayo]], becoming Botswana's first major city, [[Francistown]].{{Sfn|Denbow|Thebe|2006|pp=15, 29}} At this point in Botswana's history, the major chiefs were all Christian.{{Sfn|Samatar|1999|p=43}} A war between the Kwena and the Kgafela in 1875.{{Sfn|Morton|2012|p=396}} By the end of the decade, chief [[Khama III]] of the Ngwato people seized control of British trade from the Kwena people.{{Sfn|Robinson|Parsons|2006|p=114}}