Lesotho

The struggle

Moshoeshoe I built the Basotho nation in the mountains during the upheavals of the early nineteenth century and sought British protection in 1868 to survive Boer expansion. Basutoland was administered separately from South Africa, which repeatedly sought to absorb it. It became the independent Kingdom of Lesotho on 4 October 1966, entirely surrounded by apartheid South Africa.

Key people

• Moshoeshoe I

  1786–1870

  Founder of the Basotho nation

• Moshoeshoe II

  1938–1996

  King at independence

• Ntsu Mokhehle

  1918–1999

  Led the Basutoland Congress Party