Lesotho

Where the name comes from

Lesotho means “land of the Basotho”, the Sesotho-speaking people; the origin of Sotho is uncertain.

First people

San hunter-gatherers lived here first and left rock paintings in the mountains.¹

Known for

Lesotho is known as the Kingdom in the Sky: all of it lies above 1,000 metres, the highest low point of any country.²

Outside contact

In the 1820s and 1830s, Moshoeshoe I brought communities together in a mountain kingdom, setting up his stronghold in 1824; after wars with Boer settlers, he won British protection in 1868, and Britain ruled directly from 1884.^3,4

The modern country

It became independent Lesotho in 1966, entirely surrounded by South Africa.³