Before 1969, the city was known as Gaberones. Gaberones replaced Mafeking as the capital of the Bechuanaland Protectorate in 1965. Mafeking was outside the Bechuanaland Protectorate. It was in an area of South Africa. When the Protectorate became independent, Botswana needed a capital city that was inside the country. It had been thought that Lobatse would be the capital. It was later decided that they would create a new capital next to Gaberones, a small colonial administrative settlement.