‘Khama & Co.’ and the Jousse Trouble, 1910–1916

Abstract

‘Khama & Co.’ was the attempt of an African monarch in colonial east-central Botswana to make his state's internal economy self-reliant through participation in commerce. The company was founded in 1910, and flourished, but the ‘Jousse Trouble’ in 1916 obliged the British imperial administration to dictate its closure. Pressures came from commercial interests well established elsewhere in southern Africa, which wished to subordinate African enterprise to white supremacy, and maybe to incorporate the Bechuanaland Protectorate within Southern Rhodesia or the Union of South Africa.