Bakwena
The Bakwena or Bakoena ("those who venerate the crocodile") are a large Sotho-Tswana clan in Southern Africa of the southern Bantu group. They can be found in different parts of southern Africa such as Lesotho, Botswana, South Africa and Eswatini. "Kwena" is a Sotho/Tswana/Sepedi word meaning "crocodile", the crocodile is also their totem (seboko).[1]
Earliest ancestor of the Kwena clan, Kwena, was a grandson of Masilo I, the King of Bahurutse clan around 1360 CE. Kwena and his followers settled at Tebang, now called Heidelberg.[2] Around 1500 CE, Bakwena started spreading in the region, from the Lekwa River to Kalahari (Botswana) until settling at Ntsoanatsatsi (mythical origin land of the Sotho-Tswana people) with the Bafokeng around 1580 CE.
Early leaders
Basotho line
- first leader was Kgosi Napo.
- Napo begat and was succeeded by his son Motebang
- Motebang begat and was succeeded by his son Molemo
- Molemo begat and was succeeded by his son Tsoloane le Tsolo
- Tsholoane begat and was succeeded by his son Monaheng
- Monaheng begat and was succeeded by his son Motloang
- Motloang begat and was succeeded by his son Peete
- Doc Mokoteli begat and was succeeded by his son Mokhachane
- Mokhachane begat and was succeeded by his son Moshoeshoe
and it continues to the royal line of Lesotho.
Batswana line
Kgabo II led a small group of Bakwena and crossed the Madikwe River and founded a tribe on the lands of the Bakgatla tribe (whose totem was the blue monkey) which they drove away, modern day Botswana. As the result of a split, several tribes like the Ngwato and Ngwaketse.[5]
- Kgabo II (until c. 1740)[6]
- Motshodi (c. 1740 – c. 1770)[7]
- Motswasele I (c. 1770 – c. 1785)[3]
- Seitlhamo (late 18th century)[6]
- Legwale (late 18th century)[6]
- Maleke (early 19th century; regent)[6]
- Tshosa (early 19th century; regent)[6]
- Motswasele II (c. 1807–1821)[8]
- Sechele I (c. 1829–1892)[9]
- Sebele I (1892–1911)[10]
- Sechele II (1911–1918)[11]
- Sebele II (1918–1931)[12]
- Kgari Sechele II (1931–1962)[13]
- Neale Sechele (1963–1970)[14]
- Bonewamang Padi Sechele (1970–1978; appointed as the Tribal Authority)[15][16]
- Mack Sechele (1978–1986; regent)[16]
- Moithali Sechele II (1986–1996; regent)[17]
- Kgosikwena Sebele (1996–2002; regent)
- Kgari Sechele III (2002–present)
- Rosenberg, Scott; Weisfelder, Richard F. (13 June 2013). Historical Dictionary of Lesotho. p. 45. ISBN 9780810879829.
- Eldredge, Elizabeth A. (2015). Kingdoms and Chiefdoms of Southeastern Africa: Oral Traditions and History ... p. 245. ISBN 9781580465144.
- Stevens 1975, p. 88.
- Morton & Ramsay 2018, Kgabo I (pre-1700).
- Schapera 1980, p. 84.
- Schapera 1980, pp. 83–84.
- Morton & Ramsay 2018, Motswasele II (1785?–1821).
- Morton & Ramsay 2018, Sechele I (ca. 1810–1892).
- Morton & Ramsay 2018, Sebele I (ca. 1838–1911).
- Morton & Ramsay 2018, Sechele II Kealeboga Sebele (1892–1939).
- Morton & Ramsay 2018, Sebele II, Kelebantse Sechele (1892–1939).
- Morton & Ramsay 2018, Kgari Sechele II (1904–1962).
- Morton & Ramsay 2018, Neale Sechele (1917–1985).
- Morton & Ramsay 2018, Bonewamang Padi Sechele (1926–1978).
- Ramsay 1996, p. 80.
- Ramsay 1996, pp. 65, 80.
- Morton, Barry; Ramsay, Jeff (2018). Historical Dictionary of Botswana (5th ed.). Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-5381-1133-8.
- Ramsay, Jeff (1996). "The Fall and Decline of the Bakwena Monarchy". Botswana Notes and Records. 28: 65–86. ISSN 0525-5090.
- Schapera, I (1980). "Notes on the early history of the Kwena (Bakwena-bagaSechele)". Botswana Notes and Records. 12: 83–87. ISSN 0525-5090.
- Stevens, Richard P. (1975). Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Botswana. The Scarecrow Press Inc. ISBN 0-8108-0857-9.
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