Francistown is the second-largest city in

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 ...

, with a population of about 103,417 inhabitants and 147,122 inhabitants in its agglomeration at the 2022 census. It is located in eastern Botswana, about north-northeast from the capital,

Gaborone Gaborone ( , , ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Botswana, largest city of Botswana, with a population of 246,325 based on the 2022 census, about 10% of the total population of Botswana. Its metropolitan area is home to 534, ...

. Francistown is located at the confluence of the Tati and Ntshe rivers, and near the

Shashe River The Shashe River (or Shashi River) is a major left-bank tributary of the Limpopo River in Zimbabwe. It rises northwest of Francistown, Botswana and flows into the Limpopo River where Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa meet.tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they ...

to the

Limpopo Limpopo () is the northernmost Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The term Limpopo is derived from Rivombo (Livombo/Lebombo), a ...

) and from the international border with

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

. Francistown was the centre of

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and ...

's first

gold rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, ...

and is still surrounded by old and abandoned mines. The City of Francistown is an administrative district, separated from North-East District. It is administered by Francistown City Council. The main language spoken and used in and around Francistown is

Kalanga Kalanga may refer to: * Kalanga people * Kalanga language Kalanga, or TjiKalanga (in Zimbabwe), is a Bantu language spoken by the Kalanga people in Botswana and Zimbabwe which belongs to the Shonic(Shona-Nyai) group of Language. It has an ext ...

. Other languages used in the area are isiNdebele, ChiShona as well as

SeTswana Tswana, also known by its native name Setswana, is a Bantu language indigenous to Southern Africa and spoken by about 8.2 million people. It is closely related to the Northern Sotho and Southern Sotho languages, as well as the Kgalaga ...

. Francistown is the only city in Botswana with an English name. There are no English-language named towns and only a couple of villages with English names.

History

Although evidence of habitation by humans goes back around 10,000 years, written evidence is more recent. Historical evidence shows that Francistown started off as one of the villages of the BaKalanga people. Nyangabgwe was the nearest village to Francistown to have been visited by Europeans, when it was visited by the missionary, Robert Moffat. Moffat was followed in 1867 by a gold prospector,

Karl Mauch Karl Gottlieb Mauch (7 May 1837 – 4 April 1875) was a German explorer and geographer of Africa. He reported on the archaeological ruins of Great Zimbabwe in 1871 during his search for the biblical land of Ophir. Exploration and Great Zimbabwe ...

who found the Bakalanga mining gold along the

Tati River The Tati River is a river in northeast Botswana, a tributary of the Shashe River, which in turn is a tributary of the Limpopo River. The river flows through Francistown, where it is joined by the Ntshe (or Inchwe) River from the left. History A ...

, and publicised the

Tati Goldfields The Tati Goldfields are a mineral-rich band in Botswana and Zimbabwe in southern Africa. The band runs approximately long by wide, and crosses the Tati River. It is the southernmost of the gold-bearing bands in the Archaen greenstone ( schist ...

starting the first Southern Africa goldrush. The present town was founded in 1897 as a settlement near the Monarch mine and named after Daniel Francis, an English prospector from

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

who acquired prospecting licences in the region in 1869. Francis was a director of the

Tati Concessions Land The Tati Concession was a land and mining concession created in the western borderlands of the Matabele Kingdom. The concession was originally granted by the Matabele King, Lobengula, son of Mzilikazi, to Sir John Swinburne in exchange for gold ...

(Tati Concessions Company), which acquired the land from King Lobengula. The centre of the new town was formed when the company sold off 300 lots in August of that year. The Monarch mine was not the only mine in operation at that time, and it was widely believed that Francistown would grow rapidly. In the beginning, the town comprised one street east of, and parallel to the railway line. This street featured several companies, including two hotels (the Grand and the Tati), retail and wholesale shops, and three banks. Prior to independence Francistown was Botswana's largest commercial centre. In 1897, the company sold part of the land for residential and commercial purposes. The city started as a gold mining town, and gold sustained the area's economy from the late 1800s until the 1930s. When gold was discovered nearby in 1869 it sparked the first gold rush in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

fifteen years before the gold boom at

Witwatersrand The Witwatersrand (, ; ; locally the Rand or, less commonly, the Reef) is a , north-facing scarp in South Africa. It consists of a hard, erosion-resistant quartzite metamorphic rock, over which several north-flowing rivers form waterfalls, w ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. The industry was hard hit by the global recession of the 1930s. Between 1936 and 1980s, the economy of Francistown was largely supported or dependent on the

Witwatersrand Native Labour Association The Witwatersrand Native Labour Association (WNLA), more popularly Wenela, was set up by the gold mines in South Africa as a recruiting agency for migrant workers. Eventually, it comprised a large organisation with its own depots, buses and aeropla ...

, a company that recruited labour for South African mines. The miners were recruited from many African countries, and transported to South Africa through Francistown by air or railway. Haskins Street (named after a prominent family in the town prior to independence) was the first tarred road in Botswana. Since 1966, the city has grown significantly due mainly to active cross-border trading with Rhodesia/Zimbabwe. In 1997, Francistown became a city, Botswana's 2nd after Gaborone. With the city located astride Botswana's main road and rail transport routes, mining, commerce and agriculture have been essential parts of its economy. Tati Nickel, The Dumela Industrial Complex and

Botswana Meat Commission The Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) is a non-profit body which was established by the government of the newly independent Botswana in 1965. Its main functions are the buying, slaughtering, processing, and marketing of all beef and beef products wit ...

are the main economic drivers in the city. Both government departments and private benefit the local economy.

Economy

Mining

Francistown is located on Botswana's main air and road transport routes;

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

and

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

are important. Principal mining companies include Tati Nickel, owned by

Norilsk Nickel Norilsk Nickel (), or Nornickel, is a Russian nickel and palladium mining and smelting company. Its largest operations are located in the Norilsk–Talnakh area near the Yenisei River in the north of Siberia. It also has holdings in Nikel, Zapo ...

, which has operations at the Selkirk and Phoenix mines, producing principally

cobalt Cobalt is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. ...

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

and

nickel Nickel is a chemical element; it has symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive, but large pieces are slo ...

. The Dumela Industrial Complex, an

industrial park An industrial park, also known as industrial estate or trading estate, is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more heavyweight version of a business park or office par ...

, is an important employer; the Botswana Metal Refinery was being built in 2008 near the city. However, the project was halted due to high costs.

Media

The city's media fraternity is still in its infancy. The media includes Botswana's '' The Voice'' newspaper, which was founded in 1993. This is a very popular

tabloid newspaper A tabloid is a newspaper format characterized by its compact size, smaller than a broadsheet. The term originates from the 19th century, when the London-based pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, Burroughs Wellcome & Co. used the term to de ...

that had also spread its wings to the capital city,

Climate

Francistown features a hot

semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of se ...

, with warm to hot summers and mild winters. The city on averages sees of precipitation annually. The city features a short

wet season The wet season (sometimes called the rainy season or monsoon season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. Generally, the season lasts at least one month. The term ''green season'' is also sometimes used a ...

that spans from December through March and a lengthy

dry season The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The t ...

that covers the remaining eight months. Francistown receives on average only of precipitation at the peak of its dry season (from June through August), which is also when it experiences its chilliest temperatures. Average low temperatures routinely fall below during the aforementioned months. The record high temperature registered in Francistown was and the lowest temperature recorded was .

Demographics

Ever since the founding of Francistown as a gold mining and railway centre in the nineteenth century, the city's population has consistently shown a steady increase. Francistown is Botswana's second largest city with 22.7% of the country's urban population in 1991. The growth of

Selebi-Phikwe Selebi-Phikwe (also spelt ''Selibe Phikwe'') is a mining town located in the Central District of Botswana. It had a population of 42,488 in 2022. The town is an administrative district, separate from the surrounding Central District. Mining ...

Orapa Orapa is a town located in the Central District of Botswana. It is the site of the Orapa diamond mine, the largest diamond-producing mine in the world, and is considered to be the diamond capital of the country. Nearby is another kimberlite ...

and

Jwaneng Jwaneng is a town located in the Southern District of Botswana, but it is not part of this, being a separate district, with its own Town Council. History The town was formed around the Jwaneng diamond mine, considered the richest in the world ...

since 1971, together with the very rapid growth of Gaborone, has reduced Francistown's share of the total urban population from a figure of 34.7% in 1971. In the same period (1971-1991), the country's urban population grew by 427.2% from 54,411 to a population of 287,063. The

Bakalanga The Kalanga or BaKalanga are a southern Bantu ethnic group mainly inhabiting Matebeleland in Zimbabwe, northern Botswana, and parts of the Limpopo Province in South Africa. The BaKalanga of Botswana are the second largest ethnic group in th ...

, the second largest

ethnic group An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...

are traditionally centred around the town and the surrounding area. Recently, the city has seen a large influx of

illegal immigrant Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of that country's immigration laws, or the continuous residence in a country without the legal right to do so. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upward, wi ...

s from neighbouring

Culture

Francistown is home to the Supa Ngwao Museum, with exhibits related to the area's history and heritage. The museum, which receives most of its funds from the government, is currently going through refurbishment as of October 2011. A new nature reserve, Tachila, has been established from central Francistown on an old Tati Company Farm, Lady Mary. The nature reserve is expected to be a tourism turn-over for the already flourishing city with its variety of wild animals.

Places of worship

Among the

places of worship A place of worship is a specially designed structure or space where individuals or a group of people such as a congregation come to perform acts of devotion, veneration, or religious study. A building constructed or used for this purpose is so ...

, they are predominantly

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

churches and temples : Evangelical Lutheran Church in Botswana (

Lutheran World Federation The Lutheran World Federation (LWF; ) is a global Communion (religion), communion of national and regional Lutheran denominations headquartered in the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland. The federation was founded in the Swedish city of L ...

Assemblies of God The World Assemblies of God Fellowship (WAGF), commonly known as the Assemblies of God (AG), is a global cooperative body or communion of over 170 Pentecostal denominations that was established on August 15, 1989. The WAGF was created to provi ...

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

International Pentecostal Holiness Church The International Pentecostal Holiness Church (IPHC) or simply Pentecostal Holiness Church (PHC) is an international Holiness-Pentecostal Christian denomination founded in 1911 with the merger of two older denominations. Historically centered in ...

, Christ Embassy, Roman Catholic Diocese of Francistown (

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Education

The city has primary schools on almost all its townships, most if not all of which are run by the city council. Notable amongst these are Ikhutseng Primary School, Tati Town Primary School and Nyangabgwe Primary School, which are one of the oldest in the city. There is also Aerodrome Primary School. The government also has junior high schools, trading as "secondary schools". Most of these were started as partnerships between government and society. It was only recently that the government took most of these over. Examples of these include Setlalekgosi, Montsamaisa and Selepa Junior Secondary Schools. These offer the best education at JC level and have a three-year course. There are private schools in the city as well, among others the historic and famous John Mackenzie School, which offers primary, junior secondary as well as senior secondary education. The school also offers O-Levels for students who have pursued the IGCS Examination. There is also Mophato English Medium School, TKM, Clifton Preparatory School and many more other smaller private schools. There are currently two senior secondary schools in Francistown, being Mater Spei College, partly ran by the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and Francistown Senior Secondary School, opened in 1978 and currently enrolling 1200 students. Located in the history-rich township of Aerodrome, it is one of the largest institutions in the city. The Francistown Teacher Training College became one of the campuses of the

University of Botswana The University of Botswana (UB) was established in 1982, as the first institution of higher education in Botswana. The university currently has three campuses: one in the capital city Gaborone, one in Francistown, and another in Maun. The Unive ...

in 1973. The Francistown College of Technical and Vocational Education was officially opened by former president of Botswana

Ian Khama Seretse Khama Ian Khama() (born 27 February 1953) is a Motswana politician and former military officer who was the fourth President of the Republic of Botswana from 1 April 2008 to 1 April 2018. After serving as Commander of the Botswana Defenc ...

on 10 October 2008. The college was built in order to accommodate 1,500 learners on technical and vocational courses and teacher-training programmes. The college buildings are situated amongst a area in the suburbs of Gerald Estates. The city also hosts the Institute of Health Sciences, which is located near the Nyangabwe Referral Hospital. The institution, amongst others, offers courses in nursing and health care.

Transport and infrastructure

The city is a major transport hub. A railway line links the city with

Harare Harare ( ), formerly Salisbury, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of , a population of 1,849,600 as of the 2022 Zimbabwe census, 2022 census and an estimated 2,487,209 people in its metrop ...

via

Bulawayo Bulawayo (, ; ) is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council claimed it to be about ...

. The same line links Francistown with the capital city

and

Lobatse Lobatse is a town in south-eastern Botswana, 70 kilometres south of the capital Gaborone, situated in a valley running north towards Gaborone and close to the border with South Africa. Lobatse has a population of 29,772 as of 2022. The town is ...

in the south. Surfaced roads link the city to Ramokgwebana in the north, and to

Kazungula Kazungula is a small border town in Zambia, lying on the north bank of the Zambezi River about west of Livingstone on the M10 Road. At Kazungula, the territories of four countries (Zambia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Namibia) come close to mee ...

as well as

Kasane Kasane is a town in Botswana, close to Africa's 'Four Corners', where the borders of Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe almost meet. The town is at the far northeastern corner of Botswana where it serves as the administrative center of the Ch ...

via Nata. The city is served by Francistown International Airport, which was opened on 9 September 2011 after being built at a cost of P596 million, officially opened by Minister of Transport, Frank Ramsden. With a terminal building designated for traffic forecast of up to 2025, it has a larger capacity and has replaced the old airport, which is now used by the

Botswana Defence Force The Botswana Defence Force (BDF, ) is the military of Botswana. The main component of the BDF is the Botswana Ground Force; there is also an air wing and a riverine patrol contingent attached to the ground forces, with 10 Panther airboats and 2 ...

's Air Arm.

Sports

Based at the Francistown Club, the Francistown School of Tennis is a professional tennis centre dedicated to developing young children (starting at 4 years old) into international tennis players. Francistown also hosts several football clubs. These include TAFIC Sporting Club, TASC FC (Tati Sporting Club), ECCO City Greens FC, Great North Tigers FC (GNT) and others. All the teams have played in the country's highest league,

Botswana Premier League The Botswana Premier League is the highest level Association football, football league in Botswana. Organised by the Botswana Football Association, the league was formed in 1978 to replace the pre-independence Bechuanaland Union African Soccer L ...

, sponsored currently by BTC Mobile. GNT was recently promoted to the Premier League, while TAFIC play in the lower division. The new Francistown Stadium is still under construction, and will be complete soon. The stadium will be the largest in the northern part of Botswana, with a capacity of 27,000 spectators, and will be home ground to some of the above teams. Other stadiums in the city include the Francistown City Council's Area S stadium.

Twin towns – sister cities

Francistown is twinned with: *

Genk Genk () is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city located in the Belgian Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg near Hasselt. The municipality comprises only the town of Genk itself. It ...

, Belgium *

Tai'an Tai'an () is a prefecture-level city in Western Shandong Province of the People's Republic of China. Centered on Mount Tai, the city borders the provincial capital of Jinan to the north, Zibo to the east, Linyi to the southeast, Liaocheng ...

, China

References

External links

Francistown School of Tennis

Francistown Senior Secondary School
{{Authority control Cities in Botswana Populated places established in 1897 North-East District (Botswana) Shashe River 1897 establishments in the British Empire