Land, Chiefs, Mining explores aspects of the experience of the Batswana in the thornveld and bushveld regions of the North-West Province, shedding light on defi ning issues, moments and individuals in this lesser known region of South Africa. Some of the focuses are: an important Tswana kgosi (chief ), Moiloa II of the Bahurutshe; responses to and participation in the South African War and its aftermath, 1899-1907; land acquisition; economic and political conditions in the reserves; resistance to Mangope’s Bophuthatswana; the impact of game parks and the Sun City resort; rural resistance and the liberation struggle; and African reaction to the platinum mining revolution.
Written in a direct and accessible style, and illustrated with photographs and maps, the book provides an understanding, for a general reader ship, of the region and its recent history. At the same time it opens up avenues for further research.
The authors, Andrew Manson and Bernard Mbenga, both based at North-West University, Mahikeng Campus, have, for some thirty years, been studying and writing on the region’s past.

Chapter 1. ‘The dog of the boers’? Moila I of the Bahurutshe c1795-1875
Chapter 2. The South African War and its aftermath 1899-1908
Chapter 3. Land, leaders and dissent 1900-1940
Chapter 4. Away in the locations’: Life in the Bechuanaland reserves 1910-1958
Chapter 5. Rural resistance: The Bahurutshe revolt of 1957-58
Chapter 6. Blunting the prickly pear’: Bophuthatswana and its consequences 1977-1994
Chapter 7. Modernity in the Bushveld: Mining, national parks and casinos

The authors, Andrew Manson and Bernard Mbenga, both based at North-West University, Mahikeng Campus, have, for some thirty years, been studying and writing on the region’s past.