Chiefdoms · The Swahili Coast and the Gold Country · as at first light, 1 January 1200

The Toutswe chiefdoms

Cattle chiefdoms on the hardveld of eastern Botswana, between the edge of the Kalahari and the Limpopo's tributaries.

From the seventh century Zhizo-derived herders built villages on flat-topped hills with great cattle kraals, whose vitrified dung still lies metres deep. By the twelfth century three main centres dominated, each covering tens of thousands of square metres with huge communal kraals: Toutswemogala (the largest, near Palapye), Bosutswe (on the Kalahari edge north of Serowe) and Shoshong (in the Shoshong hills). Below them were secondary hill villages (Mmadipudi, Thatswane, Taukome) and small villages with kraals about 30 m across (Maipethwane, Kgaswe).

Glass beads and other imports reached the main and secondary sites, so the chiefs were tied into the Indian Ocean trade, probably by way of the Limpopo valley. On 1 January 1200 the Toutswe world is still standing but near its end: at Bosutswe the Toutswe phase lasts until about the thirteenth century, after which a new elite with Mapungubwe-like houses and pottery (the Lose) takes over; the decline of the system as a whole is placed in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, blamed on overgrazing, drought and competition from the Limpopo and the plateau.

Who rules

Title
The chiefs of the three great hill centres (Toutswemogala, Bosutswe and Shoshong), each over lesser hill villages and cattle posts
Since
Not pinned
Family
Toutswe people, cattle-keepers; Zhizo pottery traditions in their origins
Confidence
low

Archaeology only: Denbow's surveys and excavations (1980s onwards) defined a hierarchy of three tiers of sites, recognised from the air by the Cenchrus ciliaris grass that grows on old kraal dung.

What the realm holds

  • Toutswemogala and its district
  • Bosutswe and the Kalahari edge north of Serowe
  • Shoshong and the Shoshong hills
  • Secondary hill villages: Mmadipudi, Thatswane, Taukome
  • Small villages and cattle posts: Maipethwane, Kgaswe and many unnamed

How it was acquired

Herders settled the hills from the seventh century; the three-tier hierarchy is twelfth century.

Allies and rivals

To the east the K2 kingdom of the middle Limpopo, a trading partner and growing rival; to the west and north the San hunter-gatherers of the Kalahari edge and the Makgadikgadi, who traded skins and game products and herded for the farmers in some readings.

The realm that morning

Three chiefdoms, each independent as far as can be told; whether one paramount stood over them is not pinned. Their eastern limit towards the K2 kingdom lies near the Motloutse; south of Shoshong and Mahalapye the country is drawn as outside this sheet.

Wealth

Cattle above all, with goats and sheep; sorghum and millet; hunting and foraging; ivory and skins traded for glass beads.

Military

No fortifications of war; the hilltop sites may have offered some defence. Nothing is known of warfare.

Threats

  • Overgrazing and drought (the culling patterns at Taukome suggest herds beyond the grazing)
  • The rise of the K2 kingdom drawing trade to the Limpopo

Court and kin

Not known. The three-tier site hierarchy implies chiefs with sub-chiefs and headmen.

Coinage

None; cattle as wealth; glass beads as prestige goods.

Wars and treaties

None attested.

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

  1. Thirteenth century (not pinned to a year)At Bosutswe the Toutswe phase ends and a Mapungubwe-influenced elite (the Lose phase) takes over; the system of three centres breaks down in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.Depends on: Drought, overgrazing and the K2 kingdom's growing pull. Stopped by: Good rains and a revival of the western trade.

Places of note

  • Toutswemogala Hill: The largest Toutswe centre.
  • Bosutswe Hill: Main centre on the Kalahari edge.
  • Shoshong hills: Third main centre (site location approximate).

Where the sources disagree

  • Some summaries describe the Toutswe area as reaching from the Zambezi to the Limpopo; the dense site distribution is in the eastern Central District, which is what we draw.
  • Toutswemogala's radiocarbon dates run from the seventh to the late nineteenth century with two occupations; which occupation is live on 1 January 1200 is not pinned, but the twelfth-century hierarchy makes it the senior centre.

Evidence: Archaeology only (Denbow and colleagues); site hierarchy and dates reasonably established, political structure inferred.

On the map: The outline follows the published site distribution in broad terms; the chiefdoms' internal borders cannot be drawn.

Primary sources for this realm

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

Sources and studies

  1. Kieffer and Lindsay, Rise of the Toutswe kingdom (EBSCO Research Starters, 2022, summarising Denbow)
  2. Toutswe (Wikipedia)
  3. UNESCO Tentative List 1340: Toutswemogala Hill Iron Age Settlement
  4. Bosutswe (Wikipedia, citing Denbow et al. 2007, 2008)

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.