About Lesotho
Lesotho, a high-altitude, landlocked kingdom encircled by South Africa, is crisscrossed by a network of rivers and mountain ranges including the 3,482m-high peak of Thabana Ntlenyana. On the Thaba Bosiu plateau, near Lesotho’s capital, Maseru, are ruins dating from the 19th-century reign of King Moshoeshoe I. Thaba Bosiu overlooks iconic Mount Qiloane, an enduring symbol of the nation’s Basotho people.
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A Brief History
Lesotho was originally inhabited by local tribes of hunter-gatherers called the Khoisan. Later came the Bantu tribes and eventually the Sotho-Tswana peoples. In 1822 King Moshoeshoe I united the land under one rule for the first time. Lesotho (formerly Basutoland) was constituted as a native state under British protection by a treaty signed with the native chief Moshoeshoe in 1843.
