Kgosi Linchwe I

Kgosi Linchwe I was born in 1856 and assumed the paramount leadership of the Bakgatla ba Kgafela in 1875 in Mochudi. Facing severe drought, rinderpest epidemics, and Boer colonial expansion from the Transvaal Republic, Linchwe was an astutely pragmatic and militarily formidable commander.

During the Anglo-Boer War (1899–1902), when Boer forces shelled Mochudi, Linchwe mobilized his armed age-regiments (mephato), routing Boer commandos at the Battle of Derdepoort and defending the borders of Bechuanaland. He oversaw the introduction of Dutch Reformed schooling, built the historic Mochudi National School in 1923, and preserved communal water rights.