Happy Independence Day Lesotho
Formerly Basutoland, the Kingdom of Lesotho was formally granted its independence
from Great Britain on October 4 1966. Lesotho was inhabited by hunter-gatherers, called the San Bushmen
and had been a British colony since the 1860s.
In the 1820s, Moshoeshoe I, unified various Sotho groups who had fled the marauding Zulus into a single territory named Basutoland. In the 1830s, white settlers called Afrikaners, or Boers, began to encroach on Moshoeshoe’s territory. Numerous border skirmishes ensued as the Basotho fought the settlers. Having lost a great portion of his territory, Moshoeshoe asked Queen Victoria for help. She agreed to establish British protectorate over Basutoland in 1858….
Did you know that Diamonds and water are Lesotho’s main export earners?…. ‘Lesotho Promise‘ is the world’s 15th largest diamond.
Source! Lesotho History
