Who the Bakgalagadi are
Wikipedia describes the Kgalagadi (Bakgalagadi) as a Sotho-Tswana ethnic group native to Botswana, whose name is said to mean “people of the Kalahari”, concentrated in the central Kalahari in the Ghanzi and Kgalagadi districts. It says they are thought to have migrated into Botswana from the Transvaal in the 17th century (citing a KnowBotswana page), that their first language is Kgalagadi (Shekgalagadi), with English and Tswana as second languages, and that their traditional economy rests on cattle herding and agriculture alongside hunting and gathering. The article says they are related to the Lobedu, Sotho and Tswana, a list flagged as needing confirmation, and its short description puts them in “northeast South Africa”, which conflicts with the body. Our Batawana source says the Batawana displaced the Bakgalagadi at the Kgwebe Hills and took their wells; see Batawana.
Groups and a founder
The article lists the subgroups Bangologa, Baboloongwe, Baphaleng, Bakgwatheng and Bashaga, noting that these divisions are a simplification: communities grouped as Bangologa have local identities such as Baeharu, and some groups trace descent from a founder named Morolong, whose descendants include Moeharu, Motjhaga, Moselebe, Moritji and Mokgwatheng. It cites a page from 101 Last Tribes for this. Our earlier note, from Wikipedia’s article on the Tswana, described the Bakgalagadi as one of the minority peoples that the Batswana had subjugated by about 1880; the Kgalagadi article does not discuss that, and we have not found a source that does. Please see Bangwato for the Tswana history we do have.
What we have not read
The Wikipedia article cites two web pages (KnowBotswana and 101 Last Tribes) and no scholarship; we have read neither. We have not found Schapera’s or Ellenberger’s accounts or any Kgalagadi-authored history, and we do not know how the Bakgalagadi describe their own past.
Izithakazelo (direto) and totem
We found no published Bakgalagadi praises or confirmed totem, so we are printing neither. If you are Bakgalagadi and recite your direto, we would like to record them, with your permission and credited to you.
Sources and further reading
- Wikipedia: Kgalagadi people (cites KnowBotswana and 101 Last Tribes)
- Wikipedia: Batawana
- Wikipedia: Tswana people (our earlier listing)
Are you Bakgalagadi? Tell us your praises and what elders say about the history, and we will add it, credited to you. Share what you know or WhatsApp 065 138 8213.