Botswana History Pages, by Neil Parsons 7: Geography To Index To end of page Back to History Home Page 1: Brief History of Botswana ... Geography Links Notes and Comments Provisional version by Neil Parsons April 1999 The Republic of Botswana is a landlocked country in the centre of southern Africa with an area of about (581,700 sq km (224,000 sq miles). The capital is Gaborone (until 1969 spelt Gaberones, i.e. "Gaborone's" named after Chief Gaborone), the modern city having been founded in 1964. Back to contents Boundaries The territory is approximately 1000 kilometres from north to south and 1000 kilometres from east to west. Eastern and southern borders are river-courses and an old wagon-road; the western border consisits of lines of longitude and latitude, and the northern border combines straight line projections between distant beacons with a river course. Botswana is bounded by Namibia to the west and north (the Caprivi Strip), Zambia to the northeast, Zimbabwe to the north-east, and South Africa to the southeast and south. The actual border with Zambia along the Zambezi River, at the east end of the thin finger of Namibian territory known as the Caprivi Strip, is only a few hundred metres long. The precise demarcation of this unique four-way border junction in the Zambezi river between Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe has never been satisfactorily determined in international law. It was disputed by South Africa in the early 1970s when Botswana up-graded the 100-year old ferry service to the Zambian bank. | |
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