Lesotho is a small country with more history

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2.  Lesotho is a small land-locked mountainous country
completely surrounded by the republic of south Africa. It has a
total area of 30 350 square kilometers .
 Lesotho is the mountain region covers 18037 square
kilometers and characterized by bare rock outcrop of the
Maloti range and deep river valley, with elevations of 2000
meters and above
 Lesotho is the foothills region covers 4529 square kilometers
and lies at elevations from 1800 meters to 2000 meters
between the lowlands and Maloti mountains.
 The lowland regions covers 5094 square kilometers and is
situated along the western border and consists of a narrow
belt of land with elevation of 1800 meters or less and width
between 10 and 65 kilometers .

3.  The name Lesotho translates roughly into the
land of the people who speaks Sotho.
 A narrative of Lesotho is called a Mosotho and
the people are called Basotho .
 Modern Lesotho emerged in the 1800s under
King Moshoeshoe 1of the Mokoteli. He is
considered to be the father of the Lesotho’s
history.
 Lesotho was formerly called Basuland, until it
reached independence from the Untied Kingdom
in 1966.

4. KING MOSHOESHOE 1
 Moshoeshoe was born about 1786 at Mekhoaneng
in the Leribe district of northern Lesotho.
 He was the first son of Mokhachane, a minor
Mokoena chief.
 As a young man, he was taught by Mohlomi, a
famous chief and the healer.
 Moshoeshoe’s real name as a young man was
Lepoqo. After initiation, he was given the name of
Letlama.

5. MOHLOMI
 Mohlomi was a well respected chief and
traditional doctor.
 Mohlomi taught Moshoeshoe that it was
important to respect people and have
them respect you.
 Mohlomi advised Moshoeshoe to ignore
the traditional doctors who advised ritual
killings and told him that he should never
kill people accused of witchcraft.
 Mohlomi gave Moshoeshoe an earring to
symbolized good governance and
chieftainship.

6. MOSHOESHOE MOVED TO BUTHA-
BOTHE
 Moshoeshoe started his own village with his
initiation colleagues. Smaller people and less
powerful chiefs, such as Makara, the Bafokeng
chief , joined Moshoeshoe and supported him
because he was powerful , fair and a good
warrior.
 As the number of people under him increased ,
Moshoeshoe realized that he needed to find a
secure place for his people to live.
 When he was about 34 old , he and his followers
moved to mountain fortress of Butha-Buthe.

7. LIFAQANE WARS
 Soon after Moshoeshoe and his people settled at Butha-Butha, the
Lifaqane Wars began in Nguniland, these began to harass and
plunder the plunder the peace Sotho-Tswana communities that
they came into contract with.
 One such group, the Batlokoa of Regent Queen ‘Manthatisi, in turn
attacked Moshoeshoe at Butha-Buthe.
 The Batlokoa could not dislodge Moshoeshoe and his people, but
the attack made it clear to Moshoeshoe that he and his people
were not at Butha-Bosiu and that they needed a stronger fortress.
 Moshoeshoe decided that his people were not safe at Butha-Bothe
 The Lifaqane wars had displaced many small group of people, and
these groups often attacked the fortress.

8. CANNIBALS ON THE WAY TO THABA-
BOSIU
 There were many cannnibals at this time. Because of drought, war
and famine these people were forced to eat other people or starve.
 Cannibals caught and ate Moshoeshoe’s grandfather, peete, on the
way to Thaba-Bosiu.
 Moshoeshoe did not kill them because he considered them his
grandfather’s grave.
 He therefore gave them fields and animals that many of them stopped
being cannibals and joined Basotho nation.

9. MOSHOESHOE MOVED TO THABA-
BOSIU
 Because of drought Moshoeshoe’s people
also did not have enough to eat. He sent
his brother to explore other places and
they decided on Thaba-Bosiu.
 Thaba-Bosiu was high ,easy to defend
and had enough fertile land and grazing to
supply food for the people.

10. MOSHOESHOE BUILDS A STRONG
NATION
 A system of mafisa was introduced . Moshoeshoe loaned cattle to
people who did not own any. When the cattle had produced male and
female offspring, the original cattle were return to Moshoeshoe.
 The offspring belonged to the new owner. This helped to take care of
poor and also attracted other groups to join Moshoeshoe’s people.
 A system of matsema was introduced. All people would work on a
communal field which could produce enough food for everyone in the
events of disaster or war. Everyone worked in this field knowing that it
was for the good of the nation. After harvest, anyone who was short of
food could go to Moshoeshoe and be given food from the stores.

11. THE ENCROACHMENT OF BOERS
 The first Boers who came to live on Basotho land said that
they were not going to stay forever and that they would not
build permanent houses.
 They said they knew that the land belonged to Moshoeshoe.
However, as more and more Boers arrived, they started
saying that they had bought the land . By 1845, more than
300 Boers families were living on Basotho land.
 The Boers marked out their farms and put up fences. Some
of Basotho farmers were forced to work for the Boers and to
pay tribute for living on the farm.
 Because of this Basotho farmers moved away and settled in
the more hilly regions.

12. CONCLUSION
This is a small sampling of Lesotho history,
there is much more about Lesotho history, in
learning more about the history of Lesotho,
there are many excellent sources available such
as the book of A Way Ahead with Social studies,
The Making of the Kingdom of Lesotho by B.R
Welensky and History of Basotho by S.C
Mokhosi.

13. REFERENCES
Silase at el. (2001) Way Ahead with Social studies. Maseru. Longman Lesotho. 139 Pages.
Aquastat.2005. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Country Profile Lesotho.
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