The northern part, the Bechuanaland Protectorate, had an area of , and a population of 120,776. It comprised an area occupied by the three main Tswana peoples: the Bamangwato, the Bakwena and the Bangwaketse, together with a number of minor tribes like the Bamalete and the Bakhatla. Also living in the Protectorate were the descendants of the original inhabitants of the area, such as Bushmen and Makalaka, who had been dispossessed by the Tswana peoples in the course of their migration south.