Mma Besi

Mma-Besi (1846-1889) was the mohumagadi (queen or queen mother) of the BaNgwato of the Bechuanaland Protectorate, now Botswana, and the first wife of king Khama III. She was baptized Elizabeta in 1862, taking the name in honor of Elizabeth Moffat, daughter of Robert Moffat. She was married that same year in what was the first Christian marriage held in Shoshong. Her first child, a daughter, was called Besi, and so she became Mma-Besi due to a tradition of taking the name "mother of" one's firstborn. Her one son who lived, Sekgoma, became king when Khama III died in 1923 but died himself soon after. She herself died at age 44, likely of malaria due to Khama III moving the capital to the Tswapong Hills, an unhealthy place.