Moshesh: King of the Basutos

Moshesh: King of the Basutos

King Moshoeshoe I (c. 1786-1870), often called Moshesh by 19th century European writers, was the founder of the nation of Lesotho.

Lesotho is a landlocked country in southern Africa that is completely surrounded by South Africa. Its capital is Maseru, and it is mainly inhabited by people of Sotho ethnicity.

The Sotho are one of the major ethno-linguistic groups living in South Africa and neighbouring countries. In the 19th century, they were called â€œBasutosâ€™ by Europeans. This name comes from the word â€œBasothoâ€ which is the plural of â€œSotho personâ€ in the Sotho (Sesotho) language.

Most of the people living in South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, and Botswana speak 2 main branches of Bantu languages. One branch are the Sotho-Tswana languages that were historically spoken in the central plateau of South Africa. The other are the Nguni languages, that were historically spoken in KwaZulu-Natal (western South Africa) and the coastal areas of the western Cape.

The Sotho-Tswana languages are subdivided into the Tswana languages, which are spoken further west, and the Sotho languages, spoken to the east.

Moshoeshoe was the son of a minor Sotho chief who unified Sotho, Tswana, and Nguni-speaking groups to form a powerful Sotho state that became the country of Lesotho.

The formation of Lesotho was a result of the â€œmfecaneâ€™ (also known as the difaqane or lifaqane), a period of warfare and upheaval in southern Africa. The wars of conquest of people the Zulu kings Shaka and Dingane, and the Ndebele king Mzilikazi, created an atmosphere of insecurity in southern Africa. During this time Moshoeshoe built up a kingdom in the mountainous region of the central plateau. His mountain fortresses, Butha Buthe, and, later, Thaba Bosiu, provided security in a time where raids and warfare were common. As a result, different groups put themselves under Moshoeshoeâ€™s rule, and his kingdom grew.

Unlike some other 19th century southern African rulers, like Shaka, Dingane, and Mzilikazi, Moshoeshoe was not an autocrat. His kingdom was more of a confederacy than a centralized autocracy, like the Zulu Empire, for example. Moshoeshoe was willing to fight wars when necessary. His people adopted the use of horses and firearms, and his fortress of Thaba Bosiu was impregnable. Moshoeshoe fought a series of wars against the Ndebele, the Coloured Griquas, the British, and the Afrikaners (Boers) of Orange Free State.

But he was also a shrewd diplomatic operator when necessary. When his kingdom was almost destroyed by Afrikaner attacks, Moshoeshoe placed his kingdom under British protection. He died soon afterward, but this move ensured that Lesotho (known as Basutoland by the British) would survive and eventually become an independent country.

The author of this biography of Moshoeshoe was John Widdicombe (1839-1927), an English missionary born in Devonshire. Widdicombe moved to South Africa in the 1860s, and began to work as a missionary in Lesotho in the 1870s, soon after Moshoeshoeâ€™s death.
Country USA
Binding Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate 2016-03-15
Format Kindle eBook

Country	USA
Binding	Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate	2016-03-15
Format	Kindle eBook

Moshesh: King of the Basutos

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