Lesotho: Rise and consolidation of the Kingdom (1820-1868) (continued)

By this time Moshoeshoe had developed an extensive network of diplomatic and trading relations through the sub-continent that included the AmaSwazi, BaPedi, BaHurutsie and the AmaZulu and later the BaRolong (Eldredge 1993, 26; (Lyle & Murray 1980, 49). The missionaries provided the King with knowledge and expertise to engage in diplomatic dealing with White settlers and the Cape Colonial government (Lesotho Government Undated, Olivier 2005).

Disaffection among the Cape Colonists led to the emigration of Dutch farmers (Boers) into the territory of Moshoeshoe from 1835 onwards. Initially they acknowledged his suzerainty and they were welcomed and were granted transient grazing rights to allow for their movement north and east (Eldredge 1993, 49). By 1837 they had driven Matzilikazi north of the Limpopo and claimed his lands and subjects by right of conquest; as a result their numbers were augmented by new settlers from the Cape (South African History Online Undated; Lyle & Murray 1980, 60). The British annexation of Natal in 1842 not only blocked eastward movement by the Boers but also led to an influx of settlers wishing to escape British rule there (South African History Online Undated, Lyle & Murray 1980, 62-64, 62).

To counter the threat that their growing numbers and superior military technology presented, the King signed treaties with the Governor of the Cape (Olivier 2005, Wikipedia 2006, Institute of Security Studies 2003). This was insufficient to protect the Kingdom and a series of wars with the British and the Boers ensued. In 1845 Moshoeshoe was forced into a treating recognising permanent white settlement rights on his territory (Lesotho Government Undated; Lyle & Murray 1980, 62-64, 64). In 1848 the British annexed the Boer republic as the Orange River Sovereignty and attempted to impose boundary settlements in the region which led to war in 1851, resulting in a crushing defeat of the British and their allies at the hands of the Basotho. When a British punitive expedition failed a settlement was reached in 1853 (Lesotho Government Undated, Murray 1980, 62-64, 70-71).

Finding the Orange River Sovereignty too taxing on their resources the British withdrew in 1854 and the Orange Free State Republic was proclaimed by the Boers; soon initially cordial relations turned sour over boundary disputes and war with the Boers broke out in 1858 which enabled Moshoeshoe to recover some of the land lost in 1845 (Lesotho Government Undated; Eldredge 1993, 51-58). Recognising the precariousness of his situation Moshoeshoe repeatedly applied to the British for protection from the early 1860's onwards (South African History Online Undated). Conflict over land and cattle continued and in 1865 war between the Basotho and the Boers erupted once more, in which the Basotho, weakened by drought and smallpox, fared the worst and in 1866 a treaty was signed which seceded the fertile Caledon Valley to the Boers and accepted the expulsion of the missionaries from the Kingdom (Lyle & Murray 1980, 71; Eldredge 1993, 53, 79).

Belatedly the British heeded Moshoeshoe's pleas for protection and proclaimed the rump state in the mountains a British Protectorate on March 12, 1868; the situation was regularised in a treaty of February 1869 which established the current borders of Lesotho and made the lose of over half the Basotho's arable land permanent (Lyle & Murray 1980, 71; Transformation Resource Centre 2006; Lesotho Government Undated). This left the Basotho with a territory where only 28% of the land was suitable for agriculture and a further 60% suitable only for grazing and this, because of the mountainous terrain, subject to such extreme fluctuations in precipitation and temperature that farming was hazardous and yields unpredictable (Eldredge 1993, 59).

References

ELDREDGE, EA 1993, A South African Kingdom: The pursuit of security in nineteenth-century Lesotho, Cambridge University Press.

INSTITUTE OF SECURITY STUDIES 2003, "Lesotho: History and Politics", [www] http://www.iss.co.za/af/profiles/Lesotho/Politics.html [opens new window] (accessed 23 Oct 2007) (accessed 22 Oct 2007).

LESOTHO GOVERNMENT UNDATED, "History of the Basotho", [www] http://www.lesothoemb-usa.gov.ls/profile.htm [opens new window] (accessed 23 Oct 2007).

LYLE WF &338; MURRAY, C 2000 Transformations on the Highveld: The Tswana and Southern Sotho, David Philip.

OLIVIER J 2005, "Basotho in Lesotho", Sesotho.web.za, [www] http://www.sesotho.web.za/lesotho.htm [opens new window] (accessed 23 Oct 2007).

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WIKIPEDIA 2006, "Basotholand", [www] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basutoland [opens new window] (accessed 23 Oct 2007).