Thamaga is a large village located in the Kweneng District of Botswana and about 40 km west of the capital city Gaborone . It is home to 19,547 inhabitants at the 2011 census. It is becoming year by year like a suburb part of the Gaborone agglomeration.
10-519: The village is dominated by large rock formations, the largest being Thamaga Hill. Thamaga is third in the district to Molepolole and Mogoditshane in both size and population. The majority of the residents are from the Bakgatla-ba-ga-Mmanaana Tribe, and their totem is the vervet monkey (kgabo). The name Mmanaana come from the tan/white cow (Mmanaana coloring). A significant amount of archaeological research has taken place in
20-469: Is a historic site located a few kilometers southeast of Molepolole. The area was first occupied by Bakwena, led by Sechele I (ruled 1829–92), in 1864. It was abandoned in 1937 when Bakwena were forced to move to Molepolole by Kgari II, assisted by the colonial administrators. Ntsweng today consists of a large area covered with traces of occupation. Most notable are the patterns of stones laid on their edges that form house foundations which are still visible on
30-694: Is a large village in Kweneng District , Botswana . The people who reside in Molepolole are called Bakwena , who are one of the eight major tribes in Botswana. The Bakwena Kgosi (Chief), Sebele I was among the three chiefs who went to England to seek protection from the British in the colonial era. Molepolole serves as the capital of the Bakwena . It was named after the Molepolole river. It
40-606: Is one of the largest traditional villages in Africa with a population of over 73,102 people as of 2011. It lies 50 kilometres west of the national capital Gaborone and acts as gateway for exploring the Kalahari Desert . It has a large traditional kgotla and the Scottish Livingstone Hospital , is found in Molepolole. Ntsweng was the capital of Bakwena before they moved to Molepolole. Ntsweng
50-1099: Is the home to a number of educational institutions that offers education from primary school to tertiary level. The tertiary institutions in Molepolole include Molepolole College of Education which offers diploma in education and Institute of Health Sciences which offers diploma in Nursing. Kgari Sechele Senior Secondary School is the only government-run senior secondary school in Molepolole and it offers Botswana General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE). There are 8 government-run junior secondary schools in Molepolole namely: There are 17 government run primary schools in Molepolole namely; Private schools include Bluebows English medium school which offers pre-school, primary school and secondary school and Kweneng International Secondary School. The other 4 privately owned schools are Shepherd English Medium, Al-haq English Medium, Kgomotso English Medium Primary School (now Regent Hill) and Emmanuel Adventist Academy (formerly Meadows English Medium) which offer pre-primary and primary education only. There
60-504: The Thamaga area, based on radiocarbon dating , has been traced back at least 5000 years. Government and Infrastructure Education There are seven government primary schools: Three junior secondary schools: There is one private primary school There are numerous private creches and day care centres. 24°43′S 25°32′E / 24.717°S 25.533°E / -24.717; 25.533 Molepolole Molepolole
70-529: The center of each ward. This seems to follow the "central cattle pattern", a conceptual model for the organization of settlements among southern Bantu, where the central placement of the kraal reflects the central role of cattle in the culture and ideology of the people. The Botswana Prison Service (BPS) operates the Molepolole Prison. Molepolole Police Station Scottish Livingston Hospital Mafenyatlala mall Molepolole Stadium Molepolole
80-407: The surface. There are also the ruins of what used to be Sebele II's office which is at present referred to as Mmakgosi's house. The ruins of that building are situated next to an area which used to be the royal kraal at Ntsweng but is now the royal cemetery. Several clusters of ruins seem to represent different wards. Analyses of the settlement layout and soil samples suggest cattle were often kept in
90-512: The surrounding area over the last ~20 years, and current research is being conducted by a team from the University of California-Berkeley and the University of Botswana . The Bakgatla-ba-ga-Mmanaana settled there in the mid-1930s and they are a break-away group and the same people as Bakgatla-ba-ga-Mmanaana in Moshupa , just 17 km to the southwest. Most of the old village wards where
100-547: The tribes men settled from Moshupa maintained the same names as the wards in Thamaga. People of any particular wards between the two villages are related and commonly use similar surnames. Even the chiefs of the two villages are of the same blood and use common names of Mosielele and Gobuamang. The area was formerly inhabited by various groups or "Bakgalagadi" (earlier arrivals of Bantu-speaking farmers and herders) and hunter-gatherers ancestral to \he people today called San , Bushmen , and Basarwa . The history of these peoples in
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