iso 4217 (13. 732)

Introduced on this day in 1976 to replace the South Africa rand, which had been used as the legal currency since the republic gained independence from the UK in 1966, the Botswana pula (symbolised by P) is from the Setswana word for rain, a very precious commodity in the Kalahari desert, meaning by extension fortune and blessings. Unpegged from the rand and the US dollar to a floating currency, the pula adopted a fixed exchange rate regime with a basket of funds that reflected its regional trading relationships. The sub-unit, thebe (meaning shield) is represented in various denominations of coinage (also one, two and five pula coins, with the lower value bill demonetised in 2014) and bear the motto ipelegeng, meaning to carry one’s own weight, to be self-sufficient. The ten pula note currently in circulation (according to the central bank) depicts the country’s fifth president, not quite aligned with the up-to-date political situation, Mokgweetsi Eric Keabetswe Masisi, who served in high office from 2018 to 2024 and has been succeeded by His Excellency Duma Gideon Boko, leader of the Motswana opposition party Umbrella for Democratic Change—the former demonym is the singular case with Batswana being the plural, collective form for the people of the “Land of the Tswana.” The pula is also used widely in Zimbabwe following the hyperinflation of its dollar.

terra cognito (11. 424)

We are directed to consider the rather outstanding and preternatural cartographic abilities of another competitive prodigy in the player with the handle Rainbolt who ranks in the top tier of Geoguessr challenges, where one is presented with a random image from Google Street View and tries to surmise its location, dropping a pin on the globe to where one thinks it might be. Even if our featured contestant were not playing on hard-mode, only allowing the image to flash on the screen for a few seconds without time for study or applying a pixelated filter, there is at first a suspect element—like it’s a gimmick or trick, in the ability to distinguish a seemingly rather nondescript dirt road from another and zero-in on its coordinates in America, India, Botswana or Australia, but like the limited success we’ve had in national or regional versions of the game, especially in city-settings and found urban landmarks to hone in on, context clues emerge on deeper inspection for this champion and spectators. Rainbolt has profited from this success and is using their recognised talent to travel the world and explore those places previously only visited virtually and share some of the hidden markers of vernacular architecture, vegetation and signage that helps pin-point a place. Though internet fame tends to pigeon-hole one’s reputation like so much monotony of holiday snapshots, strangers have approached Rainbolt with old family photographs, hoping to identify where they were taken, and often mysteries were solved—making this game seem important and serving to expand one’s horizons rather than making the world a flatter place. More at the link up top.

pride of lions or queens and toms

As first seen on The Queen is not Amused, researchers have found lionesses in Botswana that have evolved to express more traits, like the mane, colouring and roar, of their male counterparts—perhaps to better protect their families from potential abusive mates or perhaps to sneak up on prey, since it is the females that do the lion’s share of the hunting and a lithe gazelle might not be so quick to react to a marauding but outwardly loutish lion.

The term evolution is put out there but it is more environmental influences in utero that is producing masculine cubs, so maybe cultivation is a better word. Nature is forever springing surprises and animal sexuality has been shown to be successively as varied and nuanced as our own, and many populations—under duress—have willed themselves gender-reassignments in order to continue the species. Who knew, however, that gender roles and those mantles of authority were just as variable and not well understood—even for creatures that we would not count as liberated? We’re not so clever as we’d like to believe—confident that a rooster would never allow a hen to crow at the sunrise, and I wonder if we’ll ever be compelled to drop gendered naming-conventions, as masters and husbanders, like lioness, nag, jack and jenny.