Today roughly every third diamond on the US$6 billion world market comes from Botswana.
With the bulk of its population belonging to one tribe, the Tswana, the country has been spared the ethnic divisions of some of its neighbors.
Its small army spends much of its time tracking game poachers, and its leaders have been able to concentrate on transforming the country from a destitute backwater with only a few dozen kilometers of paved road to one of the fastest growing economies in the world.
Shimmering office buildings and malls dominate Gaborone, a sleepy village turned capital in the scrubby plains on the fringes of the Kalahari Desert.
Average incomes have risen from US$80 a year to more than US$3,700 a year. The education and health care systems have become the envy of the developing world.
The government jointly owns Debswana, the company that controls and mines the diamonds here, with the international diamond giant De Beers, and analysts say Botswana receives more than 75 percent of the profits.
Despite its good governance and democratic tradition, the government has been harshly criticized for trying to hinder press freedom with new legislation seeking tighter government control over the media, including the power to decide which newspapers can legally operate.
On the business side, Mogae has been trying to attract investors, stressing Botswana's company-friendly low taxes and minimal regulations, and US officials have been trying to encourage international businesses to use it as a regional base.
Unity Dow, Botswana's first female high court judge, credits the country's success to its culture of openness and transparency.
In the traditional court system anyone can make his case, even against the chief, she said.
"We have a history of confronting our leaders ... its part of our culture," she said.
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