1884-1918 History of Southern Africa Lesotho
since 1966






South African Stamp overprinted Basutoland .



History of the Basutoland Protectorate, 1918-1966



In 1932 to 1934 Basutoland suffered through a drought crisis. As Basutoland did not have many plantations, it was only indirectly affected by the Great Depression. The Pim Report of 1934 criticized abuses by an increasing number of native chiefs, pointed out the necessity of soil conservation, criticized the British policy of non-interference. In 1938 the Native Administration and Native Courts Proclamation was to address that problem. The native chiefs were placed under the supervision of the High Commissioner; 1340 chief courts were replaced by 122 magistral courts.
Basutoland remained under the administration of the High Commissioner for Basutoland, Bechuanaland and Swaziland. The monarchy was left intact; authority, however, lay with the High Commissioner. In 1946 a national treasury was established.
In 1966, the country was released into independence. It took on the name LESOTHO.






EXTERNAL
FILES 		History of Lesotho from Guide to Lesotho, and from Infoplease
DOCUMENTS Flag of the High Commissioner for Basutoland, Bechuanaland and Swaziland, from FOTW
REFERENCE Chapter 28 : Medicine Murder in Basutoland, pp.568-584, in : John Gunther, Inside Africa, NY : Harper & Bros. (1953) 1955 [G]
Zdenek Cervenka et al., Botswana - Lesotho - Swaziland, Bonn : Deutsche Afrika-Gesellschaft, 1974, in German
Article : British South African Protectorates, in : Britannica Book of the Year 1944 p.130, 1945 p.128, 1946 pp.150-151, 1947 p.153, 1948 p.142, 1949 pp.125-126, 1950 p.130, 1951 pp.125-126, 1952 p.124 [G]
Article : British South African Territories, in : Britannica Book of the Year 1953 pp.124-125, 1954 p.125, 1955 p.184, 1956 p.123, 1957 p.183, 1958 p.121, 1959 p.122, 1960 p.123, 1961 p.122, 1962 pp.109-110, 1963 p.224 [G]
Article : Commonwealth of Nations, in : Britannica Book of the Year 1964 pp.268-269 [G]
Article : Colonies and Other Dependencies, in : Britannica Book of the Year 1965 p.252, 1966 p.203 [G]
Article : Basutoland, in : Statesman's Yearbook 1919 pp.198-200, 1924 pp.207-209, 1925 pp.211-213, 1926 pp.215-217, 1928 pp.213-215, 1929 pp.214-216, 1932 pp.217-219, 1937 pp.237-239, 1943 pp.229-231 [G]
Article : Basutoland, in : Americana Annual 1927 p.93, 1928 p.83, 1930 p.98, 1931 p.101, 1932 p.99, 1933 p.90, 1934 p.105, 1935 p.92, 1936 p.83, 1937 p.70, 1938 p.75, 1939 p.80, 1940 p.75, 1943 p.93, 1944 p.86, 1945 p.87, 1946 p.94, 1947 pp.73-74, 1957 p.83 [G]
Article : British South African Territories : Basutoland, in : Americana Annual 1961 p.97, 1962 pp.95-96, 1963 pp.103-104, 1964 pp.103-104 [G]
Article : Commonwealth of Nations, in : Americana Annual 1965 pp.183-185 [G]



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted in 2001, last revised on August 27th 2007

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