ABSTRACT
Botswana is a large, land-locked country in Southern Africa. Its area is about 220,000 square miles, roughly the size of Arizona and Nevada combined, but its population in 1977 was estimated to be under three quarters of a million people, including some 50 to 60 thousand absentees working as migrants in neighboring territories. Prior to independence in September 1966, Botswana was officially known as the Bechuanaland Protectorate and was a dependency of the United Kingdom. The economic dependence of Botswana on South Africa is difficult to exaggerate. Botswana is one of the so-called “frontline states” in the confrontation between Black and White Africa over Rhodesia, and is studiously correct in all its dealings with South Africa. The Botswana government was extremely anxious for mining to take place, since it saw in mining development the possibility of a major change in its situation.
