History of Southern Africa 1868-1884







History of the Basuto Kingdom



The Basuto Kingdom was established by King MOSHOESHOE (ruler since 1831) , who reorganized remnants of Sesotho-speaking tribes dispersed by raids of the Zulu and Matabele. Moshoeshoe is regarded the founder of a nation with a common language, religion, common social institutions, a judicial court, a council and a powerful army. He selected MASERU, an easily defensible mountaintop natural fortress his capital.
In 1842, Moshoeshoe I. invited French missionaries from the Paris Evangelical Fraternity; they established a station at Morija. In that year, Moshoeshoe I. for the first time applied to the Cape Colony administration for a treaty of protection, which was not granted. A first treaty, though not of protection, was signed in 1843. Soon they came in contact, and often in conflict with Boers settling the Orange river area. In 1854, the sale of alcoholic beverages was forbidden by law. From 1854 to 1859, Basutoland for the first time was a British protectorate. An 1859 law forbade the permanent settlement of Europeans in Basutoland. In 1864 a land conflict between the Orange Free State and Basutoland over territory broke out; the Cape Colony administration refused to side with Basutoland. The Boer-Basuto War (1864-1866) was terminated by the Treaty of Thaba Bosia, in which the Basuto ceded the disputed land; at Boer insistance, the French missionaries were expelled. In 1867, the Basuto again took up arms against the Boers. In 1868, Basutoland was proclaimed a British PROTECTORATE.






EXTERNAL
FILES 		History of Lesotho from Guide to Lesotho, and from Infoplease
Introduction to Sesotho, from South African Languages
Armed Conflict Events Data : Anglo-Basuto War 1852; Anglo-Basuto War 1857; Basuto-Boer War 1865-1868 from OnWar.com
DOCUMENTS Moshweshewe : Letter to Sir Georghe Grey, 1858 (Establishment of Basutoland), from Modern History Sourcebook
REFERENCE Zdenek Cervenka et al., Botswana - Lesotho - Swaziland, Bonn : Deutsche Afrika-Gesellschaft, 1974, in German



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted in 2001, last revised on November 7th 2004

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