A Short History of Barolong.(part 1)

The BaRolong belong to the Western cluster of the Sotho group of the Bantu-speaking tribes of South Africa. They are among the best known of the Tswana tribes. As regards their location the BaRolong are scattered over a considerable portion of South Africa. They have impo~tant settlements in different parts of the portion of the Cape Province known as British Bcchuanaland; in the Bechuanaland Protectorate they are settled not only in the Lobatsi district but as far away as in Ngamiland in the country of the Tawana and in the Ghanzi district; 1 in the Transvaal they are found principally in the district of Lichtenburg at Polfontein (Bodibe) and at Khunwana and in the Orange Free State in the district of Thaba Nchu. As I have pointed out elsewhere,' owing to the geographical distribution of their settlements, prior to the formation of Union in 1910 the BaRolong fell under the jurisdiction of four different European Governments, namely, the governments of Cape Colony, Bechuanaland Protectorate, the Transvaal Republic and the Orange River Colony. The formation of Union reduced the number of European governments to which they are subiect to two, namelv the Union Government and the Bechuanaland ~Protectorate Administration

The real home of the BaRolong, however, has for many generations been in British nechuana~ land, where apart from having settlements of considerable dimensions at places such as Morokweng and . Ganyesa in the district of Vryburg; Mafikcng, Lotlhakane, Phitshanc, Tshidilamolomo, Sctlagolc, Disaneng, l\1:areetsanc and others in the district of Mafeking, they have at various times in their history moved over the greater part

of this territory, leaving their ruins, great and small, in numerous places. The Rev. John Campbell, of the London Missionary Society, made contact with them during his visit to Lattakoo (Dithakong) in 1813;3 they were also visited by the Rev. Robert Moffat, the L.M.S. missionary of Kuruman fame, in 1824 who "at a place called Mositc received definite information that the Mantatees were in actual possession of the Barolong town".' Hodgson and Broadbent,S the Methodist missionaries, were together with them at Matlwasi, near the present Klerksdorp, just before they were attacked by the Batlokwa under Moletsane. Hodgson and Archbell were with them at Platberg· (Motlhanawapitse) north of Warrenton after they had moved from Matlwasi, and when they moved thence to Thaba Nchu in 1833 they were accompanied by the Methodist missionaries, Archben and Edwards' who had in the meantime succeeded Hodgson.

Thaba Nchu decided to trek northwards again to return to their traditional home. In the course of this northward migration some of them went as far as Moshaneng in the country of the BaNgwaketse (in the Bechuanaland Protectorate), while others remained in the vicinity of the Mafeking and V ryburg di.tricts and others remained in the Transvaal. They have in the course of their history been driven hither and thither by warfare with different peoples such as the BaTlhaping, the Korana, the Batlokwa, the Matebele and the emigrant Boers who founded the Dutch Republics. Internal dissensions among themselves, the search for better grazing grounds for their stock, for better land for cultivation and for water supplies adequate to meet the needs of both man and beast are among other causes which account for their wide dispersal. At the present time they are most numerous in the district of Mafikeng where they have been situated for the best part of a century since their return from Thaba Nchu.