Shoshong

Shoshong is a town in the Central District of Botswana, just north of the Tropic of Capricorn, that once served as the chief settlement of the eastern Bamangwato and grew into a major trade-route meeting point visited by early explorers including David Livingstone. Under King Sekgoma I its population reportedly reached 20,000 to 30,000 by 1885, but severe water shortages in 1888 and 1889 led King Khama III to relocate most residents to Palapye and later Serowe, leaving the town with about 800 people by 1911; it recorded a population of 8,887 at the 2022 census.