Kingdoms of South Africa

The pre-history of Africa contains a far longer period of human habitation than any other area on Earth, thanks to it being the cradle of humankind's evolution. South Africa consists of a series of undulating plateaus which cover much of the region and extend northwards into Central Africa's Angola. The Kalahari desert forms a central depression in the Southern African plateau, while scrubland and grasslands cover much of the region's remainder.

Indigenous natives belong to one of two language families: Khoisan or Bantu. The former were first to be established, having inhabited the region for millennia. They were displaced in many areas by Bantu speakers. Regional archaeological and historical enquiry has been extremely uneven, with Namibia being the least-intensively studied while South Africa is at the opposite end of that scale. Establishing a coherent historical framework of events is an often controversial process with little universal agreement.

The modern Lesotho kingdom is relatively unusual in the fact that it has survived in a little-changed format since the early 1800s, and with the same ruling family despite going through the usual process of colonial occupation and subsequent independence.

It is a landlocked island state in western South Africa, with the union of South Africa nation state surrounding it on all sides (and kwaZulu-Natal forming Lesotho's eastern neighbour within that union), along with highlands which mean that many of the kingdom's villages can be reached only on horseback, by foot, or by light aircraft. The country has a population of a little over two million, Sesotho being their main language along with English.

The founders of this country were a mixture of Sotho (or Basotho) and Tswana people, Bantu-speaking groups which entered the region between about the seventeenth century and nineteenth century. The origins of at least some of their clans could be traced back to the late 1700s, notably the Bakoteli clan which provided the basis for the foundation of the Basuto clan state.

Unlike the nearby Swazi though, more recent Basuto migrations are likely to have been localised. Modern traditions have the Basuto people emerging from the ground at Ntsoana-Tsatsi, a location which contains reeds and a good deal of water. This is believed to be Vrede in the 'Free State Province' of South Africa.

The location still carries this name and some Sotho people are still to be found in the area. Their arrival here is believed to be much earlier, perhaps as far back as the fifth century AD. The Tswana are understood to have emerged as a separate group by about the fourteenth century.

A single Basuto clan state state eventually emerged in the early nineteenth century. Not all Basuto people formed part of the state, with at least one other large group existing under the same name. Those Basuto may have been connected to the Makololo who controlled territory in Barotseland.

The new Basuto state was quickly drawn under British control as the 'Protectorate of Basutoland', largely on a mutually-agreed basis in order to protect it from Boer settlers who wanted the land. That protection was light at first, which meant that the Basuto had to fight alone in the Free State-Basotho War in 1858. Understanding this, Britain renewed and strengthened protections under a stronger protectorate from 1868.

The state gained autonomy from Britain in 1965 as the kingdom of Basutoland. Full independence from Britain followed a year and-a-half later, on 30 October 1966, by which time Basutoland had already become Lesotho (on 4 October 1966). The name roughly translates as the 'country of the Sesotho-speaking people'.

Departing the empire on friendly terms, Lesotho remained within the Commonwealth of Nations, with Chief Leabua Jonathan of the 'Basotho National Party' (founded in 1959) serving as the country's first prime minister.

Resources are scarce and a large proportion of people live below the poverty line - a consequence of the harsh environment of the highland plateau and limited agricultural space in the lowlands. The former British protectorate had been heavily dependent upon South Africa, and modern Lesotho to an extent remains so.

Over many decades, thousands of workers have been forced by the lack of job opportunities to find work in South African mines. The Lesotho 'Highlands Water Project' was completed in the 1990s to export water to South Africa, this being a natural resource which Lesotho certainly does have in plentiful supply. The kingdom's capital is at Maseru, which is also its largest city.

African Kingdoms

South Africa

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