The fortunes of the southern Tswana (principally the Tlhaping and Tlharo) rose after the Difaqane. As in many other societies discussed in this section, this was due to the acquisition of firearms and missionary support. Firearms presented increased hunting opportunities and of course greater defensive capacity; missionaries brought economic innovation, such as in irrigation and ploughing. The main beneficiaries of this economic revolution were the traditional elites. This situation came to an end in the late 1860s with the discovery of diamonds. The southern Tswana were among the very first to experience the pressure of colonial advance, after the discovery of diamonds in 1867. In 1876–1878 some Tlhaping and Tlharo chiefdoms mounted resistance to colonial occupation. This mis-termed Griqua Rebellion was crushed, and the African population subjected to the demands of the colonial authorities in the form of increased taxation and a locations policy that confined them to areas with large concentrations of Africans, usually under the control of approved traditional leadership.
The Rolong to the north faced a different set of difficulties. In 1841 Moroko’s son Tawana had trekked from Thaba Nchu back to their homeland near the Molopo River. However, the Boers in the Transvaal prevented their settlement. They wanted to expand their border westwards into irrigable lands near present-day Mafikeng. Their ambitions were strengthened by internal rivalry between the Tshidi under chief Montshiwa on the one hand and, on the other, Rapulana and Ratlou factions of the Rolong. The ‘freebooters’, or mercenaries, who wanted Montshiwa’s land, enlisted the support of his African rivals to advance their claim. Montshiwa, who succeeded Tawana, had to seek sanctuary among the Ngwaketse in present-day Botswana until 1851. Low-intensity conflict continued over the next three decades, depending on the ebb and flow of political events in South Africa.
