Gagoangwe (circa 1845–1924) was the mohumagadi (meaning queen or queen-mother) of the Mmanaana Kgatla and later the BaNgwaketse, subgroups of the BaTswana in what is now Botswana.[1][2] When she was young, she put out the eye of a servant, and her father allowed the servant to put out one of her eyes in return.[2] Therefore she was known as the "one-eyed Queen".[3] She married Kgosi Pulane, but in 1875 she eloped with and Bathoen I, who was heir to the leadership of the BaNgwaketse.[2] In 1890 she married Bathoen I in a Christian marriage ceremony.[4] She was a Christian and impacted Bathoen I's support of the London Missionary Society.[2] In 1910 Bathoen I died and Gagoangwe's older son became the king, but he was killed by his own brother in 1916.[2] Following this, Gagoangwe had her murderous son assassinated, and obtained control of the regency herself in 1923.[2] She worked on the development projects of the son who had been murdered, and secured the regency for her daughter Ntebogang Ratshosa before her own death.[2]

References

  1. ^ Fred Morton; Jeff Ramsay; Part Themba Mgadla (23 April 2008). Historical Dictionary of Botswana. Scarecrow Press. pp. 123–. ISBN 978-0-8108-6404-7.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr.; Professor Emmanuel Akyeampong; Mr. Steven J. Niven (2 February 2012). Dictionary of African Biography. OUP USA. pp. 407–. ISBN 978-0-19-538207-5.
  3. ^ Kathleen Sheldon (4 March 2016). Historical Dictionary of Women in Sub-Saharan Africa. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 111–. ISBN 978-1-4422-6293-5.
  4. ^ Edwin Lloyd (1895). Three Great African Chiefs (Khâmé, Sebelé and Bathoeng). T. F. Unwin. pp. 165–.
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