Lefatshe la Botswana Republic of Botswana
Flag of Botswana Flag Coat of arms
Motto "Pula" "Rain"
Anthem Fatshe leno la rona Blessed Be This Noble Land
Capital (and largest city)		Gaborone
Official languages		English, Tswana (national)
Demonym		Botswana
Government		Parliamentary republic
-	President	Festus Mogae
Independence		from the United Kingdom
-	Date	30 September 1966
-	Water (%)	2.5
Population
-	2006 estimate	1,639,833 (147th)
GDP (PPP)		2006 estimate
-	Total	$18.72 billion (114th)
-	Per capita	$15,692 (51st)
Gini? (1993)		63 (high)
HDI (2004)		0.570 (medium) (131st)
Currency		Pula (BWP)
Time zone		CAT (UTC+2)
-	Summer (DST)	not observed (UTC+2)
Internet TLD		.bw
Calling code		+267
2

Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana (Tswana: Lefatshe la Botswana), is a landlocked nation in Southern Africa. Citizens of Botswana are Batswana (singular: Motswana), regardless of ethnicity. Formerly the British protectorate of Bechuanaland, Botswana adopted its new name after becoming independent within the Commonwealth on 30 September 1966. It is bordered by South Africa to the south and southeast, Namibia to the west, Zambia to the north, and Zimbabwe to the northeast. The economy, closely tied to South Africa's, is dominated by mining (38 percent), services (44 percent), construction (7 percent), manufacturing (4 percent) and agriculture (2 percent).

History

Main article: History of Botswana

In the late nineteenth century, hostilities broke out between the Tswana inhabitants of Botswana and Ndebele tribes who were migrating into the territory from the Kalahari Desert. Tensions also escalated with the Boer settlers from the Transvaal. After appeals by the Batswana leaders Khama III, Bathoen and Sebele for assistance, the British Government on 31 March 1885 put "Bechuanaland" under its protection. The northern territory remained under direct administration as the Bechuanaland Protectorate and is today's Botswana, while the southern territory became part of the Cape Colony and is now part of the northwest province of South Africa; the majority of Setswana-speaking people today live in South Africa.

When the Union of South Africa was formed in 1910 out of the main British colonies in the region, the Bechuanaland Protectorate, Basutoland (now Lesotho), and Swaziland (the "High Commission Territories") were not included, but provision was made for their later incorporation. However, a vague undertaking was given to consult their inhabitants, and although successive South African governments sought to have the territories transferred, Britain kept delaying, and it never occurred. The election of the National Party government in 1948, which instituted apartheid, and South Africa's withdrawal from the Commonwealth in 1961, ended any prospect of incorporation of the territories into South Africa.

An expansion of British central authority and the evolution of tribal government resulted in the 1920 establishment of two advisory councils representing Africans and Europeans. Proclamations in 1934 regularized tribal rule and powers. A European-African advisory council was formed in 1951, and the 1961 constitution established a consultative legislative council.

In June 1964, Britain accepted proposals for democratic self-government in Botswana. The seat of government was moved from Mafikeng in South Africa, to newly established Gaborone in 1965. The 1965 constitution led to the first general elections and to independence on 30 September 1966. Seretse Khama, a leader in the independence movement and the legitimate claimant to the Ngwato chiefship, was elected as the first president, re-elected twice, and died in office in 1980. The presidency passed to the sitting vice president, Ketumile Masire, who was elected in his own right in 1984 and re-elected in 1989 and 1994. Masire retired from office in 1998. The presidency passed to the sitting vice president, Festus Mogae, who was elected in his own right in 1999 and re-elected in 2004.

On July 14, 2007, Mogae announced that his term of office will come to an end in 2008, at which point he will be succeeded by Vice President Seretse Ian Khama.

Geography and environment

Main article: Geography of Botswana

Summary

Botswana is predominantly flat, tending toward gently rolling tableland. The Kalahari Desert is located in the southwest of the country. The Limpopo River Basin is the major landform of all of southern Africa, including Botswana.

More detail

At 231,788 mi² (600,370 km²), Botswana is the world's 45th-largest country (after Ukraine). It is comparable in size to Madagascar, and is slightly smaller than the state of Texas in the Southern United States.

Botswana is dominated by the Kalahari Desert, which covers up to 70% of the land surface of the country. The Okavango Delta, the world's largest inland delta, is in the northwest. The Makgadikgadi Pan, a large salt pan lies in the north.

Botswana has diverse areas of wildlife habitat, including the Okavango Delta, the Kalahari Desert, grassland and savanna, where many antelope -- as well as other mammals and birds -- are found.

Politics and government

Main article: Politics of Botswana

The politics of Botswana takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Botswana is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Parliament of Botswana. Since independence the party system has been dominated by the Botswana Democratic Party. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. The country holds elections every five years to elect both local and central government representatives. The president serves a two year term of office of five years, after which the vice president automatically succeeds him.

Districts and sub-districts

Main articles: Districts of Botswana and Sub-districts of Botswana

Botswana is divided into nine districts:

1. Central 2. Ghanzi 3. Kgalagadi 4. Kgatleng 5. Kweneng

6. North-East 7. North-West 8. South-East 9. Southern

These districts are subdivided into a total twenty-eight subdistricts.

Main population centres (in descending order)

Cities

• Gaborone
• Francistown

Towns and villages

Molepolole Selebi-Phikwe Maun

Serowe Kanye Mahalapye

Mochudi Mogoditshane Lobatse

Palapye Tlokweng Ramotswa

Thamaga Moshupa Tonota

Jwaneng Orapa Letlhakane Tutume

Defence

Main article: Botswana Defence Force

At the time of independence Botswana had no armed forces, it was only after attacks from the Rhodesian army that Botswana formed a Botswana Defence Force (BDF) in self-defence in 1977. The president is commander in chief and a defence council is appointed by the president. The BDF now has approximately 12,000 members.

The BDF is a capable and well-disciplined military force. Following positive political changes in South Africa and the region, the BDF's missions have increasingly focused on anti-poaching activities, disaster-preparedness, and foreign peacekeeping. The United States has been the largest single foreign contributor to the development of the BDF, and a large segment of its officer corps has received U.S. training. It is considered an apolitical and professional institution.

Foreign relations

Main article: Foreign relations of Botswana

Botswana puts a premium on economic and political integration in Southern Africa. It seeks to make SADC a working vehicle for economic development, and promotes efforts to make the region self-policing in terms of preventative diplomacy, conflict resolution, and good governance. It has welcomed post-apartheid South Africa as a partner in these efforts. Botswana joins the African consensus on most major international matters and is a member of international organisations such as the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations and the African Union (AU). Botswana is also a member of the International Criminal Court with a Bilateral Immunity Agreement of protection for the US-military (as covered under Article 98).

Economy

Main article: Economy of Botswana

For over 30 years, Botswana had the fastest growing economy in the world. Since independence, Botswana has had one of the fastest growth rates in per capita income in the world.^[1] Botswana has transformed itself from one of the poorest countries in the world to an upper-middle-income country with a per capita GDP of $15,692 in 2006.^[2] Economic growth averaged over 9% per year from 1966 to 1999. The government has maintained a sound fiscal policy, despite consecutive budget deficits in 2002 and 2003, and a negligible level of foreign debt. It earned the highest sovereign credit rating in Africa and has stockpiled foreign exchange reserves (over $7 billion in 2005/2006) amounting to almost two and a half years of current imports. Botswana's impressive economic record has been built on the foundation of wisely using revenue generated from diamond mining to fuel economic development through prudent fiscal policies and a cautious foreign policy. Debswana, the only diamond mining company operating in Botswana, is 50% owned by the government and generates about half of all government revenues. In 2007, significant quantities of uranium were discovered, and mining is projected to begin by 2010. Several international mining corporations have prospected in Botswana for diamonds, gold, uranium, copper, and even oil, many coming back with positive results.

However, economic development spending was cut by 10% in 2002-2003 as a result of recurring budget deficits and rising expenditure on healthcare services. Botswana has been hit very hard by the AIDS epidemic; the average life expectancy in Botswana at birth has declined from 64 years in 1990 to 50.6 years in 2007. Botswana residents, along with those of neighbouring Swaziland and Zimbabwe, have some of the shortest average lifespans in the world. Approximately one in three Batswana has HIV, giving Botswana the second highest HIV infection rate in the world after Swaziland. [1] The government recognizes that HIV/AIDS will affect the economy and is trying to combat the epidemic, including free Antiretroviral drug treatment and a nation-wide Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission program. Some of Botswana's budget deficits can be traced to relatively high military expenditures (about 4% of GDP in 2004, according to the CIA World Factbook), which some critics contend is unnecessary given the low likelihood of international conflict (though the Botswana government also makes use of these troops for multilateral operations and assistance efforts).

Trade

Botswana is part of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) with South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, and Namibia. The World Bank reports that in 2001 (the most recent year for which World Bank data are available), the SACU had a weighted average common external tariff rate of 3.6 percent. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, "There are very few tariff or non-tariff barriers to trade with Botswana, apart from restrictions on licensing for some business operations, which are reserved for [Botswana] companies." Based on the revised trade factor methodology, Botswana's trade policy score is unchanged.^[3] The main export of Botswana is diamonds. Jwaneng, in Botswana, is the world's largest and richest diamond mine thus the demand of diamonds from Botswana is fairly high. The mine was discovered when termites looking for water brought grains of diamond to the surface. If the great demand of diamonds were to go into rapid decline, then the economy of Botswana would suffer greatly as they are highly dependent on this export. The diamond mine in Jwaneng provides many jobs for the unemployed in Botswana as people are needed to physically extract the diamonds, and to build the roads needed for their transport, for example. A source of foreign exchange is also introduced to the economy and it offers a potential basis for industrial development, and thus stimulates improvements within Botswana's infrastructure.

Private sector development and foreign investment

Botswana seeks to further diversify its economy away from minerals, which account for a third of GDP, down from nearly half of GDP in the early 1990s. Foreign investment and management are welcomed in Botswana. Botswana abolished foreign exchange controls in 1999, has a low corporate tax rate (15%), no prohibitions on foreign ownership of companies, and a moderate inflation rate (7.6% November 2004). The Government of Botswana is currently considering additional policies to enhance competitiveness, including a new Foreign Direct Investment Strategy, Competition Policy, Privatisation Master Plan, and National Export Development Strategy.

With its proven record of good economic governance, Botswana was ranked as Africa's least corrupt country by Transparency International in 2004, ahead of many European and Asian countries. The World Economic Forum rates Botswana as one of the two most economically competitive nations in Africa. In 2004 Botswana was once again assigned "A" grade credit ratings by Moody's and Standard & Poor's. This ranks Botswana as by far the best credit risk in Africa and puts it on par with or above many countries in central Europe, East Asia, and Latin America.

U.S. investment in Botswana remains at relatively low levels, but continues to grow. Major U.S. corporations, such as H.J. Heinz and AON Corporation, are present through direct investments, while others, such as Kentucky Fried Chicken and RE/MAX, are present via franchise. The sovereign credit ratings by Moody's and Standard & Poor's clearly indicate that, despite continued challenges such as small market size, landlocked location, and cumbersome bureaucratic processes, Botswana remains one of the best investment opportunities in the developing world. Botswana has a 90-member American Business Council that accepts membership from American-affiliated companies.

Due to its history and geography, Botswana has long had deep ties to the economy of South Africa. The Southern Africa Customs Union (SACU), comprising Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, and South Africa, dates from 1910, and is the world’s oldest customs union. Namibia joined in 1990. Under this arrangement, South Africa has collected levies from customs, sales, and excise duties for all five members, sharing out proceeds based on each country's portion of imports. The exact formula for sharing revenues and the decision-making authority over duties — held exclusively by the Government of South Africa — became increasingly controversial, and the members renegotiated the arrangement in 2001. The new structure has now been formally ratified and a SACU Secretariat has been established in Windhoek, Namibia. Following South Africa's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), Botswana also joined; many of the SACU duties are thus declining, making products from outside the area more competitive in Botswana. Currently the SACU countries and the U.S. are negotiating a free trade agreement. Botswana is currently also negotiating a free trade agreement with Mercosur and an Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union as part of SADC.

Botswana's currency, the pula, is fully convertible and is valued against a basket of currencies heavily weighted toward the South African Rand. Profits and direct investment can be repatriated without restriction from Botswana. The Botswana Government eliminated all exchange controls in 1999. The Central Bank devalued the Pula by 7.5% in February 2004 in a bid to maintain export competitiveness against the real appreciation of the Pula. There was a further 12% devalution in May 2005 and the policy of a "crawling peg" was adopted.

Most (70%) of Botswana's electricity is imported from South Africa's Eskom. 80% of domestic production is concentrated in one plant, Morupule Power Station near Palapye.^[4]

Gaborone is host to the headquarters of the fourteen-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC), a successor to the Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC, established in 1980), which focused its efforts on freeing regional economic development from dependence on apartheid South Africa. SADC embraced the newly democratic South Africa as a member in 1994 and has a broad mandate to encourage growth, development, and economic integration in Southern Africa. SADC's Trade Protocol, which was launched on September 1, 2000, calls for the elimination of all tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade by 2008 among the 11 signatory countries. If successful, it will give Botswana companies free access to the far larger regional market. SADC's failure to distance itself from the Mugabe government in Zimbabwe has diminished the number of opportunities for cooperation between the U.S. and SADC.

Botswana is in the process or formulating an Action Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour, which is expected to be adopted in the period 2006-2007.

Tourism

Tourism plays a large role in the Botswana economy. A number of national parks and game reserves, with their abundant wildlife and wetlands, are a top draw for tourists. The wildlife, including lions, brown hyenas, cheetahs, leopards, wild dogs and antelope, were described in great detail in the best-selling book "Cry of the Kalahari" by Mark and Delia Owens.

The main safari destinations for tourism are Moremi Game Reserve in the Okavango Delta, and Chobe National Park. Botswana is also participating in community based natural resource management projects by trying to involve villagers in tourism. One example is the village of Khwai and its Khwai Development Trust.

Botswana was the location for the 1980 movie The Gods Must Be Crazy.

Culture

Main article: Culture of Botswana

Visual arts

In the northern part of Botswana, women in the villages of Etsha and Gumare are noted for their skill at crafting baskets from Mokola Palm and local dyes. The baskets are generally woven into three types: large, lidded baskets used for storage, large, open baskets for carrying objects on the head or for winnowing threshed grain, and smaller plates for winnowing pounded grain. The artistry of these baskets is being steadily enhanced through color use and improved designs as they are increasingly produced for commercial use.

Other notable artistic communities include Thamaga Pottery and Oodi Weavers, both located in the southeastern part of Botswana.

The oldest paintings from both Botswana and South Africa depict hunting, animal and human figures, and were made by the Khoisan (Kung San!/Bushmen) over twenty thousand years ago within the Kalahari desert.

Literature

Bessie Head is a well-known Botswana writer. She fled the apartheid regime in South Africa to live in and write about Botswana. She lived there from 1964 (when it was still the Bechuanaland Protectorate) until her death at the age of 49 in 1986. She lived in Serowe, and her most famous books, When Rain Clouds Gather, Maru, and A Question of Power are set there.

Botswana forms the setting for a series of popular mystery novels by Alexander McCall Smith. Their protagonist, Precious Ramotswe, lives in Gaborone. The first novel in the series, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, appeared in 1998 in the UK (and 2001 in the US). The light-hearted books are appreciated for their human interest and local colour.

Norman Rush, who served as a Peace Corps director in Botswana from 1978 to 1983, uses the country as the setting of all of his published books, which generally focus on the expatriate community.

Unity Dow (born 1959) is a judge, human rights activist, and writer from Botswana. She came from a rural background that tended toward traditional values of the African kind. Her mother could not read English, and in most cases decision-making was done by men. She went on to become a lawyer with much of her education being undertaken in the West. Her Western education earned her a mixture of respect and suspicion.

As a lawyer she earned acclaim mostly for her stances on women's rights. She was the plaintiff in a case that allowed the children of women by foreign nationals to be considered Batswana. The tradition and law prior to this stated nationality only descended from the father. She later became Botswana's first female High Court judge.

As a novelist she has published three books. These books often concern the issues surrounding the struggle between Western and traditional values. They also involve her interest in gender issues and her nation's poverty.

A book by the British author and historian Susan Williams, Colour Bar: The Triumph of Seretse Khama and His Nation, tells the story of the marriage and struggles of Sir Seretse Khama and Lady Ruth Williams Khama.

Holidays

Date	English name	Local name
1 January	New Year's Day	Ngwaga o mosha
2 January	Public Holiday
varies[5]	Good Friday	Labotlhano yo o molemo
	Easter Monday	Paseka
varies[6]	Ascension Day	Tlhatlogo ya morena
1 July	Sir Seretse Khama Day
19 July	President's Day
20 July	Public Holiday
30 September	Independence Day	Boipuso
25 December	Christmas	Keresemose
26 December/27 December	Boxing Day
The first Monday after Christmas is also a Public Holiday.

Education

Main article: Education in Botswana

Botswana has made great strides in educational development since independence in 1966. At that time there were very few graduates in the country and only a very small percentage of the population attended secondary school.

With the discovery of diamonds and the increase in government revenue that this brought, there was a huge increase in educational provision in the country. All students were guaranteed ten years of basic education, leading to a Junior Certificate qualification. Approximately half of the school population attends a further two years of secondary schooling leading to the award of the Botswana General Certificate of Education (BGCSE). After leaving school, students can attend one of the six technical colleges in the country, or take vocational training courses in teaching or nursing. The best students enter the University of Botswana in Gaborone, a modern, well-resourced campus with a student population of over ten thousand.

The quantitative gains have not always been matched by qualitative ones. Primary schools in particular still lack resources, and the teachers are less well paid than their secondary school colleagues. The Government of Botswana hopes that by investing a large part of national income in education, the country will become less dependent on diamonds for its economic survival, and less dependent on expatriates for its skilled workers.

In January 2006, Botswana announced the reintroduction of school fees after two decades of free state education^[7] though the government still provides full scholarships with living expenses to any Botswana citizen in university, either at the University of Botswana or if the student wishes to pursue an education in any field not offered locally, such as medicine, they are provided with a full scholarship to study abroad. The government offers free scholarships to capable candidates into pursue science and technology related courses, upon the graduates taking local position. The rest of the scholarships are offered as loans with variability on the expected repayment, that depends on the nature of the course pursued.

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Botswana

Botswana, like many nations in southern Africa, suffers from a high AIDS infection rate, which was estimated by some to be as 38.8% for the sexually active population in 2002. Estimates in 2007 have tended to be around 17 percent. In 2003, the government began a comprehensive program involving free or cheap generic anti-retroviral drugs as well as an information campaign designed to stop the spread of the virus.

Notes and references

See also

• List of Botswana-related topics
• Communications in Botswana
• Transport in Botswana
• Music of Botswana

External links

Overviews

• BBC News - Country Profile: Botswana
• CIA World Factbook entry on [https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/.html Botswana]
• World Bank Country Brief: Botswana

Directories

• Open Directory Project - Botswana directory category
• Stanford University - Africa South of the Sahara: Botswana directory category
• The Index on Africa - Botswana directory category
• Botswana Map
• http://www.sas.upenn.edu/African_Studies/Country_Specific/Botswana.html University of Pennsylvania - African Studies Center: Botswana] directory category
• Yahoo! - Botswana directory category
• Encyclopedia of the Nations : Botswana

Geographic locale

•  • [ e] Countries of Southern Africa Angola Botswana Lesotho Madagascar Malawi Mauritius Mozambique Namibia South Africa Swaziland Zambia Zimbabwe  •  • [ e] Countries of Africa Sovereign states Algeria Angola Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Comoros Cte d'Ivoire Djibouti Egypt1 Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Ethiopia Gabon The Gambia Ghana Guinea-Bissau Guinea Kenya Lesotho Liberia Libya Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania Mauritius Morocco Mozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria Rwanda Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Somalia South Africa Sudan Swaziland So Tom and Prncipe Tanzania Togo Tunisia Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe Dependencies

International membership

•  • [ e] Southern African Development Community (SADC) Angola Botswana Democratic Republic of the Congo Lesotho Madagascar Malawi Mauritius Mozambique Namibia Seychelles South Africa Swaziland Tanzania Zambia Zimbabwe  •  • [ e] African Union (AU) Algeria Angola Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Comoros Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Cte d'Ivoire Djibouti Egypt Eritrea Ethiopia Equatorial Guinea Gabon The Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Kenya Lesotho Liberia Libya Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania Mauritius Mozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria Rwanda Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic So Tom and Prncipe Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Somalia South Africa Sudan Swaziland Tanzania Togo Tunisia Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe  •  • [ e] Niger-Congo-speaking nations  •  • [ e] Kordofanian  Sudan  •  • [ e] Mande  Gambia  Guinea  Guinea-Bissau  Mali  Mauritania  Senegal  Sierra Leone  Liberia  Cte d'Ivoire  Nigeria  Burkina Faso  Benin  Togo  •  • [ e] Atlantic-Congo Atlantic  Benin  Burkina Faso  Cameroon  CAR Ijoid  Nigeria  Chad  Cte d'Ivoire  Gambia  Guinea Dogon  Mali  Guinea-Bissau  Liberia  Mali  Mauritania  Niger  Senegal  Sierra Leone  Sudan  Togo  •  • [ e] Volta-Congo Senufo  Benin  Cte d'Ivoire  Mali Gur  Benin  Burkina Faso  Cte d'Ivoire  Ghana  Mali  Nigeria  Togo Adamawa-Ubangi  Cameroon  CAR  Chad  Nigeria Kru  Burkina Faso  Cte d'Ivoire  Liberia Kwa  Benin  Cte d'Ivoire  Ghana  Nigeria  Togo  •  • [ e] Benue-Congo Bantu  Angola  Botswana  Burundi  Cameroon  DRC Yoruba and Igbo  Nigeria  Rep. of the Congo  Equatorial Guinea  Gabon  Kenya  Nigeria  Malawi  Mozambique  Namibia  Rwanda  Somalia  South Africa  Swaziland  Tanzania  Uganda  Zambia  Zimbabwe CAR = Central African Republic    DRC = Democratic Republic of the Congo  •  • [ e] Commonwealth of Nations Sovereign states Antigua and Barbuda Australia Bahamas Bangladesh Barbados Belize Botswana Brunei Cameroon Canada Cyprus Dominica Fiji The Gambia Ghana Grenada Guyana India Jamaica Kenya Kiribati Lesotho Malawi Malaysia Maldives Malta Mauritius Mozambique Namibia Nauru New Zealand Nigeria Pakistan Papua New Guinea St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Solomon Islands South Africa Sri Lanka Swaziland Tanzania Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tuvalu Uganda United Kingdom Vanuatu Zambia Dependencies Australia Ashmore and Cartier Islands Australian Antarctic Territory Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Coral Sea Islands Heard Island and McDonald Islands Norfolk Island India Andaman and Nicobar Islands Lakshadweep New Zealand Cook Islands Niue Ross Dependency Tokelau United Kingdom Akrotiri and Dhekelia Anguilla Bermuda British Antarctic Territory British Indian Ocean Territory British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Falkland Islands Gibraltar Guernsey Isle of Man Jersey Montserrat Pitcairn Islands St. Helena (including Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha) South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Turks and Caicos Islands