Botswana

Full name: The Republic of Botswana

Population: 2 million (UN, 2011)

Capital: Gaborone

Area: 581,730 sq km (224,607 sq miles)

Major languages: English (official), Setswana

Major religions: Christianity, indigenous beliefs

Life expectancy: 54 years (men), 51 years (women) (UN)

Monetary unit: 1 Pula = 100 thebe

Main exports: Diamonds, copper, nickel, beef

GNI per capita: US $6,790 (World Bank, 2010)

Internet domain: .bw

International dialling code: +267

Botswana, one of Africa's most stable countries, is the continent's longest continuous multi-party democracy. It is relatively free of corruption and has a good human rights record.

It is also the world's largest producer of diamonds and the trade has transformed it into a middle-income nation.

Botswana protects some of Africa's largest areas of wilderness. It is sparsely populated, because it is so dry. The Kalahari desert, home to a dwindling band of Bushman hunter-gatherers, makes up much of the territory and most areas are too arid to sustain any agriculture other than cattle.

The advocacy group Survival International says Bushmen have been forced from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve since the discovery of diamonds there in the 1980s. And although they won a legal battle to go back in 2006, Survival says the government has been hindering their return.

''Unless they can return to their ancestral lands, their unique societies and way of life will be destroyed, and many of them will die,'' says Survival, which has urged a boycott of Botswanan diamonds.

In the late 1800s Britain formed the protectorate of Bechuanaland, preventing territorial encroachment of Boers from the Transvaal or German expansion from South West Africa. In 1966 Bechuanaland became independent as Botswana.

Botswana was a haven for refugees and anti-apartheid activists from South Africa in the 1970s and 1980s, but had to tread carefully because of its economic dependence on the white-ruled neighbour, and because of South Africa's military might.

More recently, the country has seen an influx of illegal immigrants seeking respite from the economic crisis in neighbouring Zimbabwe.

Botswana, which once had the world's highest rate of HIV-Aids infection, has one of Africa's most-advanced treatment programmes. Anti-retroviral drugs are readily available.

However, the UN says more than one in three adults in Botswana are infected with HIV or have developed Aids. The disease has orphaned many thousands of children and has dramatically cut life expectancy.

Botswana is trying to reduce its economic dependence on diamonds.

The government has moved to boost local business and employment by encouraging more value to be added to diamonds locally.

It launched its own diamond trading company - Diamond Trading Company of Botswana - in a joint venture with diamond giant De Beers.

"What we are embarking on is nothing less than one of the largest transfers of skills and commercial activity to Africa ever seen," said De Beers chairman Nicky Oppenheimer. "The diamond industry's centre of gravity is shifting and tonight we see it shifting here."

Safari-based tourism - tightly-controlled and often upmarket - is an important source of income.

information provided by www.bbcnews.co.uk