Botswana flag history

Last modified: 2002-10-19 by jarig bakker
Keywords: botswana | bechuanaland | high commissioner |
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• High Commissioner's flag
• High Commissioner for Basutoland, the Bechuanaland Protectorate and Swaziland
• "Bechuana flag"

• Botswana

High Commissioner's flag

Prior to independence on 30 September 1966, Botswana was the British protectorate of Bechuanaland. The Bechuanaland Protectorate was administered through the office of the high commissioner in South Africa which was created by letters patent in 1878. The high commissioner was charged with the conduct of British relations with the South African Republic (Transvaal) and the Orange Free State, as well as with "those native states and tribes outside the colonies of the Cape and Natal, including Swaziland" (which was administered by the government of the South African Republic under the convention of 1894). The high commissioner was also governor of Basutoland (now Lesotho) and supervised the affairs of the Bechuanaland Protectorate (now Botswana) and Swaziland.

The high commissioner flew a British Union Flag charged in the centre, on a white roundel, with the letters S.A.H.C. in black above which was a Tudor crown, all within a green garland of laurel. This flag which was taken into use in 1907, is similar in design to that of the Western Pacific high commissioner.

This flag was used until 1931 afterwhich the posts of governor-general and high commissioner were separated. The governor-general of South Africa would henceforth fly a royal-blue flag bearing the royal crest with two scrolls inscribed "Union of South Africa" and "Unie van Suid-Afrika" respectively. The high commissioner, based in South Africa, was represented by a resident commissioner in each of the high commission territories (Basutoland, Bechuanaland and Swaziland). Of these, only the resident commissioner for Basutoland, which was a crown colony, had a personal flag. The other two territories were British protectorates and thus their inhabitants were merely "protected persons".

The flag of the high commissioner for Basutoland, the Bechuanaland Protectorate and Swaziland was a similiar design to that used previously by the South African high commissioner, being a British Union Flag charged in the centre, on a white roundel, with the letters H.C. in black, above which was an imperial crown, all within a green garland of laurel. The flag fell into abeyance following the independence of the high commission territories in the late 1960s.
Bruce Berry, 19 February 1998

The complete sequence was:
The Bakswana were in conflict with the Boers and asked the British for assistance.
1884.  Deputy Commissioner appointed.
1885.  With concurrence of Chief Khama the whole of Bechuanaland was placed under British protection.  The southern part of the country was constituted a Crown colony and called British Bechuanaland.
1895.  Annexed to Cape Colony.
Northern Bechuanaland was treated as though it was part of British Bechuanaland until 1895 when it was made a separate territory and administered by a resident commissioner under the high commissioner for South Africa.
David Prothero, 21 March 1999

Flag of the High Commissioner for Basutoland, the Bechuanaland Protectorate and Swaziland

Flag of the High Commissioner for Basutoland, the Bechuanaland Protectorate and Swaziland.  Taken into use in 1931 and used until the independence of the various colonies - Bechuanaland on 30 September 1966 as the Republic of Botswana; Basutoland as the Kingdom of Lesotho on 4 October 1966 and Swaziland as the Kingdom of Swaziland on 6 September
1968.
Bruce Berry, 24 Mar 1999

"Bechuana flag"

Image from the series of Cigarette Silks Iron-on Transfers, the subject of which is : Nation Animals & Flags,
(source this website) now I let you admire "Bechuana" (without "land" ... and without its eland...)
Olivier Touzeau, 14 Oct 2002

Those "cigarette silks" include some pretty fanciful flags, not to mention oddly chosen animals. The eland chosen for Bechuanaland isn't entirely inappropriate, although it is better known in South Africa and in fact appears as the supporters (left and right) in the arms of the Eastern Cape.
Mike Oettle, 14 Oct 2002