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Updates: 

ISO 3166-2 Newsletter number I-5, dated 2003-09-05, shows a change in the divisions of Botswana. Chobe and Ngamiland [North-West] have been replaced by just North-West. The source for this change is information received from the Botswana Department of Surveys and Mapping, dated 2001. The simplest conclusion would be that Chobe and Ngamiland merged to form North-West in ~2001. The capital of North-West is Maun.

ISO 3166-2 reflected further changes in an update dated 2014-10-29. It added codes for a district, two cities, and four towns. The U.S. government had already made those changes in its two standards: Geopolitical Entities and Codes (GEC) and Geopolitical Entities, Names, and Codes (GENC). GEC is the successor to the FIPS standard; GENC is the U.S. version of ISO 3166-2. Both of the relevant updates (GEC Update 15 and GENC's second edition) were dated 2014-03-31, scooping the ISO standard by about seven months. The main table below has been updated to match, in the light of this and other evidence. (The latest ISO update also changed hyphens to spaces in some names, e.g., "North-West" to "North West.")

FIPS Publication Change Notice No. 10, affecting FIPS PUB 10-4, was issued on 2006-03-23. It assigns a GEC code to North-West district.

Country overview: 

Short name	BOTSWANA
ISO code	BW
GEC code	BC
Languages	English (en), Setswana (tn)
Time zone	+2
Capital	Gaborone

 

Bechuanaland was a British protectorate at the beginning of the 20th century. It became independent, and took the name Botswana, on 1966-09-30. Its borders have remained almost the same.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Botswana
2. Dutch: Botswana, Republiek Botswana (formal)
3. English: Republic of Botswana (formal), Bechuanaland (obsolete)
4. Finnish: Botswana
5. French: Botswana m
6. German: Botsuana, Botswana n
7. Icelandic: Botsvana
8. Italian: Botswana f
9. Norwegian: Botswana, Republikken Botswana (formal)
10. Portuguese: Botswana, Botsuana, República f do Botswana m (formal)
11. Russian: Республика Ботсвана (formal)
12. Spanish: Botsuana, República f de Botswana (formal), Bechuania (obsolete)
13. Swedish: Botswana
14. Turkish: Botsvana Cumhuriyeti (formal)

Origin of name: 

Land of the Bechuana, or Tswana (ethnic name)

Primary subdivisions: 

Botswana is divided into ten districts, four town councils, and two city councils.

Division	Typ	HASC	ISO	GEC	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)
Central	d	BW.CT	CE	BC01	585,595	142,093	54,672
Chobe	d	BW.CH	CH	BC12	23,347	20,800	8,003
Francistown	c	BW.FR	FR	BC13	98,961	79	30
Gaborone	c	BW.GB	GA	BC14	231,592	169	65
Ghanzi	d	BW.GH	GH	BC03	43,355	117,910	45,367
Jwaneng	t	BW.JW	JW	BC15	18,008	100	38
Kgalagadi	d	BW.KG	KG	BC04	50,492	25,023	9,628
Kgatleng	d	BW.KL	KL	BC05	91,660	7,960	3,063
Kweneng	d	BW.KW	KW	BC06	304,549	31,100	11,966
Lobatse	t	BW.LB	LO	BC16	29,007	42	16
North-East	d	BW.NR	NE	BC08	60,264	5,120	1,970
North-West	d	BW.NC	NW	BC11	152,284	109,130	41,989
Selibe Phikwe	t	BW.SP	SP	BC17	49,411	50	19
South East	d	BW.SR	SE	BC09	85,014	1,780	685
Southern	d	BW.SN	SO	BC10	197,767	28,470	10,954
Sowa Town	t	BW.ST	ST	BC18	3,598	159	61
Total					2,024,904	581,730	224,606
Typ: c = city, d = district, t = town HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. ISO: Codes from ISO 3166-2. For full identification in a global context, prefix "BW-" to the code (ex: BW-LO represents Lobatse). The GENC standard uses the same codes. GEC: Codes from GEC. Population: 2011-08-09 census.

 

Note: the 2011 census report says that two localities in Ghanzi were not enumerated. Their estimated population was 228.

Further subdivisions:

See the Sub-districts of Botswana page.

In addition to the districts, there are town councils and townships. These entities seem to change frequently. Some sources place them on the same level with the districts. I have classed them as subordinate to the districts. So do the standards.

Some of the districts are subdivided into census districts. In most countries, census districts are inherently variable. They are redrawn for each new census. For the 1991 census, these four districts had smaller census districts within them (source [3]).

1. Central: Central Mahalapye, Serowe-Palapye, Central Bobonong, Central Boteti, Central Tutume
2. Kgalagadi: Kgalagadi-South, Kgalagadi-North
3. North-West: Ngamiland South, Ngamiland North, Chobe
4. Southern: Ngwaketse, Barolong

Territorial extent: 

1. Central includes the town councils or townships of Mahalapye, Orapa, Palapye, Selebi-Phikwe, Serowe, and Sowa.
2. North-East includes the town council of Francistown.
3. South-East includes the town councils of Gaborone and Lobatse.
4. Southern includes the town councils of Barolong and Jwaneng.

The UN LOCODE page  for Botswana lists locations in the country, some of them with their latitudes and longitudes, some with their ISO 3166-2 codes for their subdivisions. This information can be put together to approximate the territorial extent of subdivisions.

Change history: 

1. 1885-09-30: British protectorate established over Bechuanaland. By 1890, its territory was equivalent to present-day Botswana. A map for the period 1885-1899 shows the protectorate divided into tribal reserves, crown lands, and freehold districts. The crown lands are in two sections. One is roughly the same as present-day Ghanzi and Kgalagadi; the other includes parts of North-West and Central. The tribal reserves are BaTawana (now the western part of North-West), BamaNgwato (most of Central), BaKgatla (Kgatleng), BaKwena (Kweneng), BaLete (part of South-East), and BaNgwaketse (Southern). The freehold districts are Tati District (North-East), Gaberones Block, Lobatsi Block (both South-East), BaRolong Farms (a small part of Southern), and one which is unlabeled but matches the Tuli Block (Central) (source [2]). The protectorate remained divided into eight tribal reserves, five farm blocks, and crown lands into the 1930s (source [4]).
2. ~1955: Name of Mochudi district changed to Kgatleng. (My evidence is that source [5] has a list of districts with their 1946 populations, in which Mochudi corresponds directly to Kgalagadi in source [6].)
3. The Encyclopædia Britannica World Atlas 1957 edition (source [6]) lists the following divisions of Bechuanaland.

District	GEC	Pop-1946	Pop-1936	Area (mi.²)
Gabecones	BC03	12,312	22,383	494
Chobe	BC01	5,159	2,890	165,175
Ghanzi	BC04	5,177	13,264
Kgalagadi	BC05	7,145	6,504
Kgatleng	BC06	20,207		3,600
Kweneng	BC07	40,126	26,650	15,000
Lobatsi	BC08	8,363	8,620	664
Ngamiland	BC09	38,859	42,258	34,500
Ngwaketse	BC10	38,794	23,823	9,000
Ngwato	BC11	101,647	102,127	42,080
Tati	BC02	17,707	16,374	2,074
Tuli	BC12	532	863	1,930
12 districts		296,310	265,756	274,517
Pop-1946: 1946-05-07 census. Total includes 282 residents of Mafeking, South Africa, then the administrative center of Bechuanaland. Pop-1936: 1936 census. Source: 1951 Encyclopædia Britannica World Atlas. GEC: U.S. DoD codes (from a later date).

1. Gabecones is a misprint for Gaberones. Tuli should be Tuli Block, a strip running along the Limpopo River and now contained in Central district. Note: the GEC codes come from a document dated 1972-09-29, which lists the names of districts as they stood then.
2. ~1961: Name of Tati district changed to Francistown.
3. 1965: Capital moved from Mafeking, South Africa, to Gaberones.
4. 1966-09-30: Bechuanaland Protectorate became independent, and took the name Botswana..
5. 1969-08-15: Name of national capital, and its district, changed from Gaberones to Gaborone. Names of Lobatsi district and its capital changed to Lobatse. Name of Tuli Block changed to Tuli. Name of capital of Kgalagadi district changed from Tsabong to Tshabong. (Date given is the publication date of the decree.)
6. ~1980: Tuli district merged with Ngwato (Central). Lobatse district split and merged with Gaborone and Ngwaketse (Southern), with the capital city, Lobatse, going to Gaborone. Parts of Chobe district annexed by Ngamiland and Ngwato districts.
7. The following table shows the divisions of Botswana, according to various sources, at about this time. Where population figures are not shown, Barolong and Jwaneng are included with Ngwaketse; Okavango is included with Ngamiland; Sowa is included with Central. Some districts may be census districts.

District	Tp	2001-08-17	1991-08-21	1981-08-12	1971-08-31	Area (km.²)	Capital
Barolong	d		18,400	15,471	10,973	2,003
Central	d	501,381	412,970	323,329	216,058	147,730	Serowe
Chobe	d	18,258	14,126	7,934	5,097	20,800	Kasana
Francistown	t	83,023	65,244	31,065	18,613	79	Francistown
Gaborone	t	186,007	133,468	59,657	17,718	169	Gaborone
Ghanzi	d	33,170	24,719	19,096	11,835	117,910	Ghanzi
Jwaneng	t	15,179	11,188	5,567		100	Jwaneng
Kgalagadi	d	42,049	31,134	24,059	15,137	106,940	Tshabong
Kgatleng	d	73,507	57,770	44,461	31,150	7,960	Mochudi
Kweneng	d	230,335	170,437	117,127	65,251	35,890	Molepolole
Lobatse	t	29,689	26,052	19,034	11,936	42	Lobatse
Ngamiland	d	75,070	57,811	68,063	47,723	86,400	Maun
Ngwaketse	d	171,652	128,989	104,182	70,558	26,467	Kanye
North-East	d	49,399	43,354	36,636	25,806	5,120	Masunga
Okavango	d	49,642	36,723			22,730	Orapa
Orapa	t	9,151	8,827	5,229	1,209	17	Orapa
Selebi-Phikwe	t	49,849	39,772	29,469	4,940	50	Selebi-Phikwe
South-East	d	60,623	43,584	30,648	20,090	1,780	Ramotswa
Sowa	t	2,879	2,228			159	Sowa
Totals		1,680,863	1,326,796	941,027	574,094	577,336
Tp: d = district, t = town council Dates are census dates

1. 2001: According to Wikipedia (source [9]), Chobe and Ngamiland merged in 2001 to form North-West, and split again in 2006. Note that the Wikipedia article makes those statements in different places. I'm not sure they can be relied on. Confirming the merge, in 2003, ISO 3166-2 replaced the codes for Chobe (formerly CH) and Ngamiland (NG) with a single code for North-West. Likewise, in 2006, GEC replaced the codes for Chobe (BC02) and Ngamiland (BC07) with a single code for North-West. Source [3] also confirms the merge. The result is shown here.

District	HASC	GEC	Pop-2011	Pop-2001	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Capital
Central	BW.CE	BC01	638,604	563,260	147,730	57,039	Serowe
Ghanzi	BW.GH	BC03	43,355	33,170	117,910	45,525	Ghanzi
Kgalagadi	BW.KG	BC04	50,492	42,049	106,940	41,290	Tshabong
Kgatleng	BW.KL	BC05	91,660	73,507	7,960	3,073	Mochudi
Kweneng	BW.KW	BC06	304,549	230,335	35,890	13,857	Molepolole
North-East	BW.NE	BC08	159,225	132,422	5,120	1,977	Francistown
North-West	BW.NW	BC11	175,631	142,970	129,930	50,166	Maun
South-East	BW.SE	BC09	345,613	276,319	1,780	687	Gaborone
Southern	BW.SO	BC10	215,775	186,831	28,470	10,992	Kanye
9 districts			2,024,904	1,680,863	581,730	224,606
HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. If periods are replaced by hyphens, these are the same as the district codes from ISO standard 3166-2. GEC: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4. Pop-2011: 2011-08-09 census. Pop-2001: 2001-08-17 census.

1. 2006: More recent government sources show Chobe and North-West as separate districts, confirming Wikipedia's information about a split. Those sources also show town and city councils as separate entities on the district level. Changing to that view is tantamount to saying that Selibe Phikwe and Sowa Town split from Central, Francistown split from North-East, Chobe split from North-West, Gaborone and Lobatse split from South-East, and Jwaneng split from Southern.

Other names of subdivisions: 

1. Central: Ngwato (Setswana)
2. Ghanzi: Gantsi, Ghantsi (variant)
3. North-East: Bokone-Botlhaba (Setswana)
4. North-West: Bokone-Bophirima (Setswana)
5. Selibe Phikwe: Selebi-Phikwe (variant)
6. South-East: Borwa-Botlhaba (Setswana)
7. Southern: Borwa, Ngwakets, Ngwaketse (Setswana)

The first full release of ISO 3166-2 listed alternate names for three of the districts. Newsletter No. I-5 has dropped those alternate names entirely. They were probably dropped because the maintenance agency discovered that the so-called alternate names were not really synonymous with the specified districts. They were subsets or supersets. These are the alternate names that were dropped.

1. Central: Serowe-Palapye
2. Ngamiland: North-West
3. Southern: Ngwaketse

Sources: 

1. [1] Samatar, Abdi Ismail. An African Miracle: State and Class Leadership and Colonial Legacy in Botswana Development. Heinemann, Portsmouth, NH, 1999.
2. [2] Maylam, Paul. Rhodes, the Tswana, and the British: Colonialism, Collaboration, and Conflict in the Bechuanaland Protectorate, 1885-1899. Greenwood Press, Westport, CT, 1980.
3. [3] Botswana Country Brief , International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) (retrieved 2003-09-07).
4. [4] Parsons, Neil. Brief History of Botswana  (retrieved 2004-08-18).
5. [5] Demographic Yearbook , 7th Ed. Statistical Office of the United Nations, New York, 1955 (retrieved 2011-08-20).
6. [6] Encyclopædia Britannica, 15th Edition, Chicago, 1984.
7. [7] 2001 census report from Central Statistics Office (http://www.cso.gov.bw/html/census/census_2k.html, dead link, retrieved 2004-08-18).
8. [8] Alphabetical Index of Districts , 2011 Botswana Population and Housing Census. Central Statistics Office (retrieved 2014-02-01).
9. [9] Districts of Botswana , Wikipedia (retrieved 2014-09-29).