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Sub Saharan Africa
Lesotho |
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Country information
HISTORY
The kingdom was founded by an exceptional 19th century leader confronting Boer encroachment onto Basotho grazing lands from one direction, and violent population upheavals precipitated by the military rise of Shaka Zulu in Natal from another. Moshoeshoe, then a minor chief, initially led his people to a mountain refuge where they established a new settlement; subsequently he established a policy of affording haven to refugees willing to help with defence. In 1824 he shifted his headquarters to a more easily defensible hilltop called Thaba-Bosiu. From the 1830s onwards, Moshoeshoe I began to welcome Christian missionaries into his newly established kingdom as potential allies. Under Moshoeshoe I the Basotho - who had adopted horses and guns from their erstwhile opponents - inflicted some sharp defeats on their European enemies. But in 1868 the king felt obliged to seek British protection from Boer encroachments.
The Kingdom of Lesotho (previously the Basutoland Protectorate) became independent on 4 October 1966 as a constitutional monarchy with a Parliament elected by universal suffrage. The Prime Minister at independence was Chief Jonathan of the Basotho National Party (BNP). At the first post-independence elections in 1970, Chief Jonathan, anticipating defeat by the opposition Basutoland Congress Party (BCP), declared a state of emergency and suspended the constitution. He was overthrown in a military coup in 1986. A Military Council ruled Lesotho until a General Election was again held in March 1993, when all seats were won by the BCP. However against the background of unrest in the armed forces the constitution was suspended and parliament dissolved for several months in the next year.
King Moshoeshoe II, who had been dethroned by the Military Council in 1990, returned to the throne from exile in the UK in January 1995. A year later he was killed in a car accident. On the advice of the College of Chiefs, King Letsie, who had reigned during his father’s exile, succeeded him.
