Kanye, Botswana

Kanye is a village in southern Botswana, about 83 kilometers southwest of the capital Gaborone, and the administrative centre of the Southern District. It was established in the 1790s by Makaba, paramount chief of the Ngwaketse people, and is the traditional capital of the Ngwaketse tribe and the longest continuously occupied tribal capital in the country. The 2022 census recorded 48,028 residents, making it the ninth largest village in Botswana, and by the 1860s it had been rebuilt and was prospering as a trading centre for ivory, animal skins and ostrich feathers. Today significant manganese deposits at nearby Kgwakgwe Hill, valued at more than three billion US dollars, are expected to bring new mining operations by 2026, and the village sits on hills that form a natural barrier against the sands of the Kalahari.