BW PSLE Social Studies cheat sheet

Botswana lies in southern Africa's interior plateau, mostly between 1,000 and 1,200 m above sea level, and has no coastline.

The Kalahari Desert covers roughly two-thirds of Botswana, mainly in the south, west and centre; it is a semi-arid sandveld, not a true sand sea.

The Okavango Delta is an inland alluvial fan where the Okavango River ends in the Kalahari without reaching the sea; peak flooding arrives in the dry winter months.

The Chobe, Limpopo, Shashe and Molopo rivers form parts of Botswana's borders; the Limpopo and Shashe meet at the border with South Africa and Zimbabwe.

The Makgadikgadi Pans are salt pans left by an ancient lake; they are fed by the Nata River and hold water seasonally.

Climate is semi-arid: summer rains fall roughly November to March, winter is dry and cool, and rainfall decreases from east (about 500-600 mm) to southwest (under 250 mm).

The Tropic of Capricorn crosses Botswana near the south, so most of the country lies in the tropics but at high altitude, moderating temperatures.

Environmental pressures include drought, overgrazing, bush encroachment, veld fires, and wildlife-human conflict; key responses include boreholes, veterinary fences and protected areas.

Iron Age farming communities spread into the region in the first millennium CE; sites such as Toutswe in eastern Botswana show cattle-keeping and trade by about 700-1000 CE.

Mapungubwe (about 1075-1220 CE) in the Limpopo valley was an early state built on gold and ivory trade through Indian Ocean ports.

Great Zimbabwe (about 1100-1450 CE) succeeded Mapungubwe as a major trading state; its stone walls were built without mortar.

The 1885 Berlin Conference partition led to Britain declaring the Bechuanaland Protectorate; the Tswana kgosi, notably Khama III, Sebele and Bathoen, lobbied in Britain in 1895 against transfer to the Cape Colony.

The Bamangwato Reserve and other tribal reserves were established under colonial administration; the capital moved from Mafeking to Gaborone in 1965.

Botswana gained independence on 30 September 1966, with Seretse Khama as first President; the Botswana Democratic Party governed from independence.

The 1967 discovery of diamonds at Orapa transformed the economy; Debswana is a joint venture between the government and De Beers.

Southern African decolonisation: Zimbabwe independent 1980, Namibia 1990, South Africa's first democratic elections 1994; Botswana hosted refugees and supported liberation movements.

Botswana is a parliamentary republic with a written constitution; the President is head of state and government and is elected by the National Assembly.

The National Assembly has 57 elected constituency members plus specially elected members and the Attorney-General; the Ntlo ya Dikgosi (House of Chiefs) is an advisory body with no legislative veto.

The President serves a maximum of two five-year terms; general elections are held every five years and use a first-past-the-post constituency system.

The three branches are the Executive (President and Cabinet), the Legislature (Parliament) and the Judiciary (courts, headed by the High Court and Court of Appeal).

The Independent Electoral Commission registers voters and runs elections; voting is by secret ballot and the voting age is 18.

Citizenship rights and duties: rights include life, expression, assembly and fair trial; duties include obeying the law, paying taxes, and jury or public service.

The kgotla is a traditional public assembly where the kgosi and community discuss matters; it is consultative and is recognised in the Constitution through the House of Chiefs.

Botswana is a member of the UN, African Union, SADC, and Commonwealth; SADC headquarters are in Gaborone.

Setswana is the national language and English the official language; both are used in government and schools.

The eight principal Tswana groups are Bangwato, Bangwaketse, Bakwena, Bakgatla, Batawana, Barolong, Batlokwa and Balete.

The kgosi (chief) is hereditary among the principal groups; the kgotla is the assembly place and the ward system organises villages by kin and origin.

Botho is a core social value meaning humanity, respect and good conduct towards others; it underpins expected behaviour in family and community.

The family is the basic social unit; extended family ties, bogadi (bridewealth) and respect for elders structure marriage and inheritance customs.

Cultural practices include the wedding ceremonies (patlo and other stages), initiation schools, and the ngoma dance; traditional dress includes the leteisi and German print.

Christianity is the majority religion; churches and missionary schools have shaped education and social services since the 19th century.

Villages are the dominant settlement form; land is held under tribal, state and freehold tenure, with tribal land allocated through land boards and kgotla structures.

Diamonds dominate mineral exports and government revenue; the economy is therefore exposed to global diamond demand and price swings.

Other exports include beef (notably to the EU), soda ash and salt from Sua Pan, nickel-copper at Selebi-Phikwe, and tourism based on the Okavango and Chobe.

The economy is classified as upper-middle income; growth since independence was among the fastest in the world from 1966 to the 1990s.

Unemployment, especially youth unemployment, and high inequality are persistent development challenges; dependence on a narrow export base is a structural risk.

The government uses a Sustainable Budget Index and mineral revenue rules to limit recurrent spending from diamond income.

Vision 2036 and the National Development Plans set development targets; the UN Sustainable Development Goals guide national indicators.

Tourism is low-volume, high-value, with photographic safaris in the north and community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) in areas such as the Okavango and Chobe.

Agriculture is mainly rain-fed cattle and crop farming; drought makes output volatile, and the Cattle Guarantee Scheme and BMC support the beef sector.

Scale: a map scale of 1:50,000 means 1 cm on the map represents 50,000 cm (0.5 km) on the ground.

Grid references: give the easting (vertical line) before the northing (horizontal line); a four-figure reference locates a square, a six-figure reference a point.

Contour lines join points of equal height; the closer the lines, the steeper the slope; hachures or V shapes pointing uphill mark valleys.

Latitude lines run east-west and measure north-south position; longitude lines run north-south and measure east-west position; Botswana's approximate position is 20-27 degrees S, 20-29 degrees E.

For line graphs, read the value at a given x by tracing vertically to the line and horizontally to the y-axis; describe trend, peak and rate of change.

For bar and pie charts, compare heights or sector angles; a pie sector's share equals its angle divided by 360 degrees.

To interpret a source, identify the author, date, purpose and audience, then separate stated fact from opinion or bias.

To compare two sources, look for agreement, contradiction and omission; a source is more reliable when it is close in time and independent of the event.

Scale: a map scale of 1:50,000 means 1 cm on the map represents 50,000 cm (0.5 km) on the ground.

Grid references: give the easting (vertical line) before the northing (horizontal line); a four-figure reference locates a square, a six-figure reference a point.

Contour lines join points of equal height; the closer the lines, the steeper the slope; V shapes pointing uphill mark valleys.

Latitude lines run east-west and measure north-south position; longitude lines run north-south and measure east-west position; Botswana lies roughly 20-27 degrees S, 20-29 degrees E.

For line graphs, read a value by tracing vertically to the line then horizontally to the y-axis; describe trend, peak and rate of change.

For pie charts, a sector's share equals its angle divided by 360 degrees; for bar charts, compare heights directly.

To interpret a source, identify author, date, purpose and audience, then separate stated fact from opinion or bias.

To compare two sources, look for agreement, contradiction and omission; a source is more reliable when close in time and independent of the event.