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Landlocked in the centre of South Africa, Lesotho
is one of the few countries in Africa with natural boundaries
created by tribal demands rather than those imposed by colonial
decree. There are few natural resources and population pressures
have decreased the agricultural potential, but the country
has an almost overwhelming natural beauty coupled with welcoming,
generous people. Much of Lesotho is covered by the high Maluti
Mountains, and indeed even the lowlands, where most of Lesotho's
1.5 million people love, only fall to 1,300 m above sea level
- The Highest Lowest Point of any country in the world.
The Maluti are a rugged, wild range, ideal for trekking holidays,
though they inevitably create their own climate, which can
lead to sudden temperature drops, low cloud and thunderstorms.
The visible history goes back at least 30,000 years, with cave
paintings and other Bushman relics found in numerous scattered
sites.
Southern Africa was inhabited by dispersed nomadic
hunters, the San, for many thousands of years, and their artistic
talents have shown us many sides of their way of life, form
dancing, hunting and fishing to scenes from semi-settled family
life. However the San ( known as Bushman by white settlers,
and as Baroa by the Basotho tribes of Bantu origin), were persecuted
from the moment they were seen by outsiders and long ago retreated
to the Kalahari sands, their last refuge.
In the early 19th Century, at the height of
power of Shaka, king of the Zulu, many of his subjugated chiefs
took flight in an attempt to form their own dominions. The
result was a period of terror throughout central southern Africa
known as Difaqane, or "Time of Calamity", and a scattering
of the Sotho-speaking tribes of the highveld. The Maluti mountains
formed a natural defence against marauding invaders, and many
small tribal groups attempted to take refuge in the region.
One such group, led by the enterprising chief Moshesh, selected
a small steep-sided plateau at Butha-Buthe which they successfully
defended for two years before moving to a better fortress at
Thaba Bosiu - "Mountain of the Night". For ten years
Thaba Bosiu proved impregnable to all-comers and the name rapidly
gained fame. Fugitives from Difaqane flocked to the Mountain
at Night and were incorporated into the tribe. By 1830 the
tribe had become a large cohesive unit, newly-proud people
who just a short time before had been skulking in the surrounding
hills and valleys to escape slaughter and famine. They began
to call themselves Basotho, or Sotho people, and to refer to
their small kingdom as Lesotho.
Moshesh, by now known as Moshoeshoe, grew in
stature as his military skill and diplomacy matured, and his
kingdom remained unconquered until shortly before his death,
in 1870. The British were called in to rescue the situation
after the successful Boer invasion of 1868 and the protectorate
of Basutoland was declared soon after.
Multi-party politics took hold in the 1950's
and independence was eventually wrested from the British in
1966. There followed the almost inevitable 20 years, conflict
in-fighting and coups d'etat. When the long-time strongman,
Chief Jonathan, turned towards Marxism and a one-party system
South Africa imposed a full blockade on land-locked Lesotho,
and probable instigated the coup of 1986 that overthrew Jonathan
and re-instated the authority of King Moshoeshoe ll, (great-great-great
grandson of Lesotho's founding father), as Head of State. Since
then the government has remained successful, stable, and popular.
Development is moving ahead apace, particularly that funded
from South Africa, and Lesotho is showing signs of an ability
to exist without outside assistance.
Moshoeshoe ll died in a car accident in January,1996
and has been succeeded by his son Chief Letsie lll.
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Moshoeshoe was born at Menkhoaneng village in
the vicinity of Botha-Bothe in the North of Lesotho. His father,
Mokhachane was the leader of a small junior branch of the Bakoena
tribe. He himself was subordinate of Mpiti, Chief of Sekake
who was his kinsman. Moshoeshoe was born roughly in 1786, but
since the Basotho did not keep strict account of their age
the date is approximate.
The Greatness of the Man can be ascribed to
his sagacity and his diplomacy which grasped the situation
occasioned by the Lifaqane wars. Taking advantage of this situation,
he was able to build the Basotho Nation.
Moshoeshoe chose Thaba-Bosiu because it was
a stronger natural fortress than Botha-Bothe which he had held
before. It was also on the left bank of the Caledon River and
consequently less open to invaders from Natal.
The mountain is flat-topped and it is situated
in the valley of the Phuthiatsana river. It is about fifteen
miles east of the junction of this river with Mohakare or Caledon
that divides Lesotho from the Free State. It rises about 350
ft. from the surrounding valley and its summit is surrounded
by a belt of perpendicular cliffs some 40 ft. high on the average.
The summit has an area of about 4 square miles.
To get on the summit, one has to ascend one of the six passes,
namely Khubelu or the Red Pass which is also known as Wepener’s
Pass, so named on account of the death of Louw Wepener, the
Free State Commandant who was killed by the Basotho in 1865.
There is alos Ramaseli Pass named after Moshoeshoe’s warrior
who guarded it. Maebeng Pass, Mokhachane and Makara and Rahebe
are respectively other passes leading to the summit.
The name of Thaba Bosiu means the "Mountain
of the Night". It was in July, 1824 when Moshoeshoe and
his people took occupation of the mountain which his brother
Mohale had reconnoitred.
He name the mountain Thaba Bosiu - Mountain
at Night - because he and his people arrived there in the evening
and the essential protective work took him until late at night.
Many years later the news to intimidate his enemies was spread
that at night time, the mountain grew larger than usual.
There were at least eight good springs of fresh
water on the mountain and when Moshoeshoe and his followers,
with their cattle, first moved to Thaba Bosiu, they occupied
the summit where they were safe from attack and where there
was plenty of pasture and water for the cattle. Gradually as
more and more refugees from the ravaging Zulu hordes flocked
to Moshoeshoe for protection, villages sprang up around the
foot of the hill and in 1828 there were over 3,000 people living
on the mountain and in the twenty-two villages around its flanks.
Eleven years later Backhouse reported that there were 1,500
inhabitants on the top of the mountain alone. Moshoeshoe’s
own village was situated between the Khubelu and Ramaseli passes:
that of his father, Mokhachane, was located on the western
buttress: and None’s settlement guarded the southern buttress;
whilst the other villages were grouped around the north and
west flanks.
On the 28th June, 1833, three French
Protestant Missionaries - Eugene Cassalis, Thomas Arbouset
and Constant Gosselin - arrived at Thaba Bosiu at the invitation
of King Moshoeshoe.
In 1838, they completed building a mission house
and a chapel, and Casalis stationed at Thaba Bosiu to take
charge of the mission. King Moshoeshoe has a fruitful mutual
relationship with the missionaries. For example, Casalis practically
became the King’s secretary and acted as interpreter in all
dealings with white people. By 1840, the Paris Evangelical
Mission Society had nine stations in Moshoeshoe’s country at
which they taught religion and literacy. As a result, Lesotho
today has the highest literacy rate in Africa. The missionaries
also introduced new crop plants such as wheat and peaches which
have become important in the country’s agriculture.
There is very little trace of Moshoeshoe’s first
village for by 1939 he had already begun to build rectangular
stone houses after the European style. In 1837 ex-private David
F. Webber, a deserter from the 72nd Seaforth Highlanders,
eventually reached Thaba Bosiu, where he was given a shelter
and in 1841 Moshoeshoe obtained a pardon for him from the Army
authorities. Webber was a good mason and carpenter and in 1839
he commenced to build a rectangular stone house for Moshoeshoe.
It was in European style and the Chief had intimated that he
had only provided accommodation in it for one wife. There is
no record of the builder who assisted Webber, but there is
the name R. Murphie and the date 1839 engraved on a nearby
rock face. This is well cut by a person accustomed to using
stone-dressing tools and it is very possible that Murphie co-operated
with Webber in the capacity of stone dresser.
This house was situated very near the top of
the Khubelu Pass, just beyond and to the right of the main
entrance to the settlement. The entrance itself is marked by
three stones, although in the time of Moshoeshoe there were
only two sets 15 ft. apart. Here visitors were required to
halt and wait until their arrival had been announced to Moshoeshoe
and permission had been given for them to proceed. It was also
the custom for each visitor, as a mark of respect to the chief,
to add a stone to a pile on the left hand side of the entrance
and the broken remnants of this cairn still remain.
The house whose walls still remain was built
much later by Ntlama or Mothunts’ana, a relative of Moshoeshoe.
It consisted of a bedroom and a sitting room and a door made
of wood and the windows were large and had glass panes. The
King lived in this house though he continued to sleep in his
traditional hut. In this rectangular thatched house he kept
furniture which included a set of tea-cups which he had from
Paris at Maison des Missions. In addition he kept his blue
military suit, green military jacket and trousers and other
European clothes and various untensils.
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Thaba Bosiu was never conquered by Invaders.
The various invaders, namely the Ngwane, the Korannas, the
British and the Boers failed in their attempt to overcome the
Basotho in their respective raids on various occasions.
In 1828, shortly after the arrival of Moshoeshoe
at Thaba Bosiu, Matiwane, Chief of AmaNgwane, who since the
beginning of that year had dominated the Inhabitants of the
Caledon Valley, tried to conquer the Basotho under Moshoeshoe.
In a great battle that was fought at Thaba Bosiu,
Matiwane’s regiments were routed and the AmaNgwane ceased to
be a threat to Moshoeshoe.
Since 1831 coloured raiders had been making
forays into the Caledon Valley.
The raiders repeatedly attacked Moshoeshoe’s
subjects very close to Thaba Bosiu. Sometimes they got clear
away with Basotho women, children and cattle, but they were
driven away although they were armed with fire-arms and fought
on horseback.
In 1831, the Ndebele of Mzilikazi who had created
a military state on the Zulu model north of the Vaal, invaded
Lesotho. On their arrival at Thaba Bosiu, they began to scale
the mountain at Rafutho’s Pass, but the Basotho hurled boulders,
stones and javelins down on them from behind their walled fortifications.
According to tradition, as the Ndebele withdrew Moshoeshoe
delivered some fat oxen with the message that he thought hunger
had brouht them to this country. As a consequence, Mzilikazi
did not launch another attack in the Caledon Valley.
Thaba Bosiu’s renown as a citadel was, therefore,
established by the repulse of the formidable Ndebele army.
Moshoeshoe had emerged triumphant from African
invaders only to be threatened by invaders from the British
Colony of the Cape of Good Hope.
In 1852, the Cape Governor, Sir George Cathcart,
invaded Moshoeshoe because he had been convinced by the Boers
that the Basotho had stolen their cattle. In a battle which
was fought on the Berea plateau and later on the plain some
three miles west of Thaba Bosiu, Cathcart on his way to the
fortress was attacked by 5,000 mounted Basotho armed with muskets
and spears and battle-axes. The British had to withdraw. The
time for diplomacy had come.
By 1854, the British had given independence
to the Boers and they established their Republic, named the
Orange Free State. As the country originally occupied by the
Basotho had been handed over to the Boers, there was bound
to be war between Moshoeshoe’s people and immigrants. The area
between the Orange and the Caledon was claimed by the Boers
and here Basotho villages and Boer farmers were interspersed.
The most serious was with the Free State started
in 1865. The Free State commando were more than before determined
to destroy the Basotho people. Thaba Bosiu withstood the last
attack during Moshoeshoe’s life time, and with the death of
Louw Wepener, the most ruthless of the Boer Commandants, the
Free State joined the long succession of people whose leaders
failed to storm the mountain. These were Matiwane in 1828,
the Korannas in 1831, Mzilikazi’s army in 1831, Sir George
Cathcart in 1852, Boshof who was President of the Free State
in 1858.
To-day Thaba Bosiu is the most venerated site
in Lesotho, for it is not only the mountain where the Basotho
Nation was founded, but it is also the burial place of Moshoeshoe
and of the leading Chiefs of Lesotho, the "Sons of Moshoeshoe".
It was the custom until recently for chiefs to visit the summit
early in the morning before going to an important meeting and
runners would drive special oxen through the night to await
the chief’s arrival on the hill.
Thaba Bosiu to-day is a national monument having
been so declared by Lesotho Government in 1967. Ruins of the
buildings are still standing.
In times of national catastrophes and psychological
stress, the people look upon the mountain as a source of inspiration
and guidance which since the times of the Great King sustained
their spirit in their upward struggle for freedom and political
Independence.
In 1870, the Great King died on the 11th
March on the Mountain upon which he had lived since his youth.
Just two years before, on the 12th March 1868, Lesotho
had been declared British Territory and the Bastotho British
subjects through Moshoeshoe’s request to the Cape Governor
Sir Philip Wodehouse. Four years later in 1872 Lesotho was
annexed to the Cape Colony.
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Thaba-Bosiu
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King Moshoeshoe ll |
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