Lesotho: Early British protectorate (1868-1913) (continued)
Under the conditions of peace established by Moshoeshoe the population of the Kingdom expanded rapidly particularly due to an influx of refugees in the 1860s and further immigration in the 1870s and 1880s, as Table 1 shows (Eldredge 1993, 62-65). Thus in 40 years (1845-1894/5) the population increased more than fourfold and in the next ten years by nearly 40% or just under 4% a year.
Table 1: Basotholand population growth
| Year | Population | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1845 | 50 000-60 000 | Estimate British Commandant Gideon Joubert |
| 1855 | 80 000 | Observers' estimate |
| 1865 | 180 000 | Observers' estimate |
| 1873 | 200 000 | Observers' estimate |
| 1891 | 218 902 | Annual Colonial Report |
| 1894/5 | 250 000 | Annual Colonial Report |
| 1904 | 347 731 | Official census |
| 1911 | 428 000 | Official census |
Table sources
Eldredge 1993, 62-65 and Lye & Murray 1980, 82.
The concentration of the Basotho population on only part of the land, along with migration and natural population increase, rapidly led to human demands on the environment outstripping its ability to recover. Despite careful management of the land the expanding population and the bringing of ever more marginal areas into cultivation took their toll (Eldredge 1993, 60-61, 63-65, 72-73). Thin mountainous soils, denuded of vegetation for fuel and exhausted from over use in food production were rapidly eroded by the rapid waters of the steep slopes (Eldredge 1993, 60). As early as 1877 massive dongas in the landscape were described by a missionary, by the 1890s trees had disappeared from all but the most remote mountain areas and those planted by missionaries and colonial administrators (Eldredge 1993, 60). Only in 1902 did the British government begin a programme to control erosion (Lye &$38; Murray 1980, 82).
In the 1880s Lesotho grain exports went into decline, for the wars and droughts of 1881-1886 disrupted market supply. When it resumed new grain sources had been found and much market share was lost; the opening of the Cape to Kimberley railway in 1866 further undermined the Kingdom's competitiveness (Eldredge 1980, 82). Large game was depleted by 1900 (Eldredge 1993, 66). The combination of population growth and agricultural decline meant that by 1902 Basotholand was no longer self-sufficient in food, being forced to import food for the first time in 1903, and the Basotho became increasingly dependent on wage labour on the mines, and the attendant migrant labour system for survival (Eldredge 1993, 3, 81). In 1886-8, already, 6 000 Basotho were employed by Chamber of Mines affiliates (Lye & Murray 1980; 82).
King Letsie I died in 1991 and was succeeded by his son Lerotholi (1891-1905) and this was the occasion for further instability as his brother Masupha rebelled in an effort to enforce his claim to the throne (Lye & Murray 1980; 82). During Lerotholi's reign the South Africa War (1899-1902) broke out; Basotholand adopted a stance of neutrality, but the economy benefited briefly from the sale of horses to the British forces (Lesotho Government Undated; Eldredge 1993, 81).
By this time the population had expanded beyond the practicalities of the annual national pitso and these gatherings were rent with strife wrought by conflicts between chiefs over ever scarcer land, so that achieving consensus on important issues became nigh impossible (Lesotho Government Undated; Eldredge 1993, 65). It became rather a platform for the King to announce policy rather than to consult; instead an advisory National Council, composed of chiefs in the main, was proposed by the Resident Commissioner, and was implemented by the King in 1903, being put into effect in 1908 (Lesotho Government Undated; (Lye & Murray 1980, 82). This proved unsatisfactory to mission educated intellectuals who formed the Progressive Association in 1907 to agitate for more representative and democratic structures, followed by the creation of the Commoners' League which championed rather for a revitalisation and democratisation of traditional chiefdom structures (Lesotho Government Undated).
Of great concern to the Basotho at this point was the mooting of the incorporation of the Protectorates of Basotholand, Swaziland and Bechuanaland, into the Union of South Africa that came into being in 1910 and, despite vigorous Basotho opposition, remained a possibility until as late as 1959 (Columbia Encyclopedia 2007; Wikipedia 2006). In the meanwhile Basotholand was transferred to the jurisdiction of the British High Commissioner in South Africa in 1910 and a Basotholand Council was introduced to defend the Basotho interests in the event of incorporation into the Union of South Africa. This Council consisted of 100 members, 94 of whom were appointed by the King (Columbia Encyclopedia 2007; Lye & Murray 1980, 82-83; Encyclopedia of the Nations 2005). King Lerotholi died in 1905 and was succeeded by the less able Letsie II who in turn died in 1913 (Lesotho Government Undated).
References
COLUMBIA ELECTRONIC ENCYCLOPEDIA 2007, "Lesotho History", 6th ed, Infoplease/Columbia University Press [www] http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/world/A0859249.html [opens new window] (accessed 23 Oct 2007).
ELDREDGE, EA 1993, A South African Kingdom: The pursuit of security in nineteenth-century Lesotho, Cambridge University Press.
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE NATIONS 2005, "Lesotho History", Thomson Gale, [www] http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Africa/Lesotho-HISTORY.html [opens new window] (accessed 23 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).
LYE WF &338; MURRAY, C 2000 Transformations on the Highveld: The Tswana and Southern Sotho, David Philip.
WIKIPEDIA 2006, "Basotholand", [www] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basutoland [opens new window] (accessed 23 Oct 2007).