Gagoangwe (c. 1845 – 1924) was the Acting (Regent)

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

, the

Queen Mother A queen mother is a former queen, often a queen dowager, who is the mother of the monarch, reigning monarch. The term has been used in English since the early 1560s. It arises in hereditary monarchy, hereditary monarchies in Europe and is also ...

or ''Mohumagadi'' of the Mmanaana Kgatla and

BaNgwaketse The Bangwaketse (also known as the BaNgwaketse, or Ngwaketse) are one of the eight principal tribes in Botswana, and are ethnic Tswana. (The "Ba" or "Bo" prefix in African tribal names in southern Africa means "people of" or "people who speak" ...

in what is now

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

. Gagoangwe was a member of the Kwena family, a devout Christian, and regent for her grandson,

Bathoen II Bathoen Seepapitso Gaseitsiwe (18 May 1908—3 October 1990) also known as Bathoen II and B2 was a Motswana ''kgosi'', jurist and politician who served as Chief of the Bangwaketse from 1928 to 1969. He served as Chairman of the Botswana Nationa ...

Early life

Gagoangwe was the daughter of

Sechele I Sechele I a Motswasele "Rra Mokonopi" (1812–1892), also known as Setshele, was the ruler of the Kwêna people of Botswana. He was converted to Christianity by David Livingstone and in his role as ruler served as a missionary among his own ...

, ''

kgosi A (; ) is the title for a hereditary leader of a Batswana and South Africa peoples tribe. Usage The word "kgosi" is a Setswana term for "king" or "chief". Various affixes can be added to the word to change its meaning: adding the prefix ''di- ...

'' or king of the

BaKwena The Bakwena or Bakoena ("those who venerate the crocodile") are a large Sotho-Tswana clan in Southern Africa of the Bantu peoples, southern Bantu group. They can be found in different parts of southern Africa such as Lesotho, Botswana, South Africa ...

. Sechele I was converted to Christianity during the late 1840s through the work of

David Livingstone David Livingstone (; 19 March 1813 – 1 May 1873) was a Scottish physician, Congregationalist, pioneer Christian missionary with the London Missionary Society, and an explorer in Africa. Livingstone was married to Mary Moffat Livings ...

; converting the entire BaKwena tribe, including Gagoangwe. When she was young, she gouged out the eye of a servant. Her father allowed the servant to put out one of her eyes in return, in accordance to the biblical Old Testament principle " an eye for an eye". Thereafter, she was known as the "one-eyed Queen".

Marriage and children

Gagoangwe married her first husband, ''kgosi'' Pilane. In 1875, she

elope Elopement is a marriage which is conducted in a sudden and secretive fashion, sometimes involving a hurried flight away from one's place of residence together with one's beloved with the intention of getting married without parental approval. A ...

d with Bathoen I who was heir to the leadership of the

. In 1890, Bathoen I and Gagoangwe remarried in a Christian marriage ceremony, legitimizing their marriage in the eyes of the Christian church. She was a devout Christian and impacted Bathoen I's support of the

London Missionary Society The London Missionary Society was an interdenominational evangelical missionary society formed in England in 1795 at the instigation of Welsh Congregationalist minister Edward Williams. It was largely Reformed tradition, Reformed in outlook, with ...

. In 1910, Bathoen I died and Gagoangwe's older son, Seepapitso III, became king. He was later killed by his own brother, Moepapitso, in 1916. Following this, Gagoangwe had her murderous son, Moepapitso, killed, and obtained control of the regency in 1923. She is reported to have said that "since one of her breasts onshad been cut off, let the other be cut off too".

Reign

In 1923, Gagoangwe became the Acting King as regent for Bathoen II. She took her place as regent to preserve '' bogosi'' for her grandson. She reigned over

, territory of a subgroup of the

Tswana Tswana may refer to: * Tswana people, the Bantu languages, Bantu speaking people in Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and other Southern Africa regions * Tswana language, the language spoken by the (Ba)Tswana people * Tswanaland, ...

people in what is now

during a crucial time for this territory. The territory was in the midst of a fight for independence against the

Boers Boers ( ; ; ) are the descendants of the proto Afrikaans-speaking Free Burghers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. From 1652 to 1795, the Dutch East India Company controlled the Dutch ...

and the colonial

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

. Gagoangwe continued the development projects of Seepapitso III, and secured the regency for her daughter Ntebogang Ratshosa before her own death.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gagoangwe Botswana royalty Botswana women in politics 1840s births 1924 deaths Year of birth uncertain Female regents in Africa Bechuanaland Protectorate people Botswana Christians 20th-century Botswana people Converts to Christianity African queen mothers Botswana people with disabilities