Sowa is a
town
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares an ori ...
which lies in the
Central District of
Botswana
Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalaha ...
, but constitutes a separate administrative district. The Sowa Township was established in 1991 by an act of Parliament, Statutory Instrument No.26 of 1991 and governed by Sowa Township Regulations, 1991 under the Township Act (Cap 40:02). The population was of 2,879 inhabitants, according to 2001 Census, and had grown to 3,598 according to the 2011 census.
''Sowa'' means
salt
Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quant ...
in the language of the
San. The town is located near the
Sua Pan
The Sua Pan or Sowa Pan is a large natural topographic depression within the Makgadikgadi region of Botswana. It is located near the village of ''Sowa'', whose name means salt in the language of the San. The Sua salt pan is one of three large p ...
(also known as Sowa Pan), a
salt pan where
sodium carbonate (soda ash) is mined.
References
Populated places in Central District (Botswana)
{{Botswana-geo-stub