Sotho people

The Basotho nation is a mixture of Bantu-speaking clans that mixed with San people who already lived in Southern Africa when they arrived there. Bantu-speaking people had settled in what is now South Africa by about 500 CE.[2][3] Separation from the Batswana is assumed to have taken place by the 14th century. Some Basotho people split from the Nguni while others got assimilated into building the Nguni nation. By at least the 17th century CE, a series of Basotho kingdoms covered the southern portion of the African plateau (nowadays Free State Province and parts of Gauteng), North West and Limpopo. Basotho society was highly decentralized, and organized on the basis of kraals, or extended clans, each of which was ruled by its own chief.[4] Chiefdoms were united into loose confederations.[4]

19th century Sotho warrior (top) and King Moshoeshoe (bottom).

In the 1820s, refugees from the Zulu expansion under Shaka[5] came into contact with the Basotho people residing on the highveld. In 1823, pressure caused one group of Basotho, the Kololo, to migrate north. They moved past the Okavango Swamp and across the Zambezi into Barotseland, which is now part of Zambia.[6] In 1845, the Kololo conquered Barotseland.[7]

At about the same time, the Boers began to encroach upon Basotho territory.[8] After the Cape Colony was ceded to Britain at the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars, farmers who opted to leave the former Dutch colony were called the voortrekkers ("the great trek") and moved inland, where they eventually established independent polities.[8][9]

At the time of these developments, Moshoeshoe I gained control of the Basotho kingdoms of the southern highveld.[9] Universally praised as a skilled diplomat and strategist, he molded the disparate refugee groups escaping the Difaqane into a cohesive nation.[10] His leadership allowed his small nation to survive the obstacles that destroyed other indigenous South African kingdoms during the 19th century, such as the Zulu Mfecane, the inward expansion of the voortrekkers and the plans of the Colonial Office.[11]

In 1822, Moshoeshoe established the capital at Butha-Buthe, an easily defensible mountain in the northern Drakensberg mountain range, thus laying the foundations of the eventual Kingdom of Lesotho.[10] His capital was later moved to Thaba Bosiu.[10]

To deal with the encroaching voortrekker groups, Moshoeshoe encouraged French missionary activity in his kingdom.[12] Missionaries sent by the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society provided the King with foreign affairs counsel and helped to facilitate the purchase of modern weapons.[12]

Aside from acting as state ministers, missionaries (primarily Casalis and Arbousset) played a vital role in delineating Sesotho orthography and printing Sesotho language materials between 1837 and 1855.[13] The first Sesotho translation of the Bible appeared in 1878.[14]

In 1868, after losing the western lowlands to the Boers during the Free State–Basotho Wars, Moshoeshoe successfully appealed to Queen Victoria to proclaim Basutoland (modern Lesotho) a protectorate of Britain. Accordingly, the British administration was established in Maseru, the site of Lesotho's current capital.[8] Local chieftains retained power over internal affairs, while Britain was responsible for foreign affairs and the defense of the protectorate.[15]

In 1869, the British sponsored a process to demarcate the borders of Basutoland.[8] While many clans had territory within Basutoland, large numbers of Sesotho speakers resided in areas allocated to the Orange Free State, the sovereign voortrekker republic that bordered the Basotho kingdom. King Moshoeshoe died two years in 1870, after the end of war, and was buried at the summit of Thaba Bosiu.

A Mosotho man wearing a Modianyeoe

Britain's protection ensured that repeated attempts by the Orange Free State, and later the Republic of South Africa, to absorb part or all of Basutoland were unsuccessful.[3] In 1966, Basutoland gained its independence from Britain, becoming the Kingdom of Lesotho.

Sesotho is widely spoken throughout the subcontinent due to internal migration. To enter the cash economy, Lesotho men often migrated to large cities in South Africa to find employment in the mining industry.[16] Migrant workers from the Free State and Lesotho thus helped spread Sesotho to the urban areas of South Africa. It is generally agreed that migrant work harmed the family life of most Sesotho speakers because adults (primarily men) were required to leave their families behind in impoverished communities while they were employed in distant cities.[16]

Attempts by the apartheid government to force Sesotho speakers to relocate to designated homelands had little effect on their settlement patterns. Large numbers of workers continued to leave the traditional areas of Black settlement.[3] Women gravitated towards employment as agricultural or domestic workers while men typically found employment in the mining sector.[3]

In terms of religion, the central role that Christian missionaries played in helping Moshoeshoe I secure his kingdom helped to ensure widespread Basotho conversion to Christianity. Today, the bulk of Sesotho speakers practice a form of Christianity that blends elements of traditional Christian dogma with local, pre-Western beliefs. Modimo ("God") is viewed as a supreme being who cannot be approached by mortals. Ancestors are seen as intercessors between Modimo and the living, and their favor must be cultivated through worship and reverence.[17] Officially, the majority of Lesotho's population is Catholic.[18]

The Southern Basotho's heartland is the Free State province in South Africa and neighboring Lesotho.[19] Both of these largely rural areas have widespread poverty and underdevelopment.[20] Many Sesotho speakers live in conditions of economic hardship, but people with access to land and steady employment may enjoy a higher standard of living.[20] Landowners often participate in subsistence or small-scale commercial farming ventures.[18] However, overgrazing and land mismanagement are growing problems.[18]

Many Basotho who live in rural areas wear clothing that suits their lifestyles. For instance, boys who herd cattle in the rural Free State and Lesotho wear the Basotho blanket and large rain boots (gumboots) as protection from the wet mountain terrain. Herd boys also often wear woolen balaclavas or caps year-round to protect their faces from cold temperatures and dusty winds.

Basotho women usually wear skirts and long dresses in bright colors and patterns, as well as the traditional blankets around the waist. On special occasions like wedding celebrations, they wear the Seshoeshoe, a traditional Basotho dress. The local traditional dresses are made using colored cloth and ribbon accents bordering each layer. Sotho women often purchase this material and have it designed in a style similar to West and East African dresses.

Women often wrap a long print cloth or a small blanket around their waist, either as a skirt or as a second garment over it. This is commonly known as a wrap, and it can be used to carry infants on their backs.[30]

Special clothing is worn for special events like initiation rites and traditional healing ceremonies.

For a Lebollo la basadi, or girl's initiation ceremony, girls wear a beaded waist wrap called a thethana that covers the waist, particularly the crotch area and part of the buttocks. They also wear gray blankets and goatskin skirts. These garments are worn by young girls and women, particularly virgins.

For a Lebollo la banna, or a boy's initiation ceremony, boys wear a loincloth called a tshea as well as colorful blankets. These traditional outfits are often combined with more modern items, like sunglasses.

Traditional Sotho healers wear the bandolier, which consists of strips and strings made of leather, sinew, or beads that form a cross on the chest. The bandolier often has pouches of potions attached to it for specific rituals or physical/spiritual protection. It is believed that the San people adopted this bandolier attire for healers during times when the Basotho and the San traded and developed ties through trade, marriage, and friendship. The San people's use of the bandolier can be seen in their rock paintings that date to the 1700s.[31][32]

• Sotho Cultural Clothing
• 
  Brown shoeshoe
• 
  Seana Marena woollen tribal blanket traditionally
• 
  Mokorotlo is a type of straw hat
• 
  Basotho women during Mokhibo
• 
  Blue shoeshoe

Queen 'Masenate Mohato Seeiso

• Moshoeshoe I, Founder of the Basotho nation
• Moshoeshoe II, King of Lesotho
• Letsie III, Reigning King of the Basotho
• Queen 'Masenate Mohato Seeiso, Queen Consort of Lesotho
• Pakalitha Mosisili former Prime Minister of Lesotho
• Epainette Mbeki a South African anti-apartheid activist and mother of former South African President Thabo Mbeki,
• Tom Thabane former Prime Minister of Lesotho
• Ntsu Mokhehle former Prime Minister of Lesotho
• Leabua Jonathan former Prime Minister of Lesotho
• Mosiuoa Lekota is a South African anti-apartheid activist, Member of Parliament. And the current President of the COPE
• Hlaudi Motsoeneng a South African radio personality and broadcast executive

• Steve Kekana a South African musician
• Joshua Pulumo Mohapeloa is a music composer
• Lira a South African singer
• Yvonne Chaka Chaka a South African singer
• Michael Mosoeu Moerane, choral music composer
• Mpho Koaho is a Canadian-born actor of Sotho ancestry
• Terry Pheto a South African actress
• Sankomota a Lesotho jazz band
• Thebe Magugu a South African fashion designer
• Kamo Mphela a South African dancer
• Fana Mokoena a South African actor and Member of Parliament for Economic Freedom Fighters
• Kabelo Mabalane is a South African musician and one third of the Kwaito group Tkzee
• Tsepo Tshola is a former lead singer of Sankomota jazz band. He was also a gospel artist.

• Khotso Mokoena athlete (Long jump)
• Steve Lekoelea former football player for Orlando Pirates
• Aaron Mokoena former football player for Jomo Cosmos, Blackburn Rovers, and Portsmouth FC
• Thabo Mooki former football player for Kaizer Chiefs and Bafana Bafana
• Abia Nale former football player for Kaizer Chiefs
• Lebohang Mokoena football player for Moroka Swallows
• Jacob Lekgetho
• Lehlohonolo Seema retired footballer and coach of Chippa United
• Kamohelo Mokotjo a Football player
• Lebohang Maboe is Football player for Mamelodi Sundowns