Sotho people

The Basotho (Sotho-Tswana) people Lesotho, South Africa, Botswana and Namibia, tracing ancestors from Northeast Africa southward in the fifth century. Splitting into clans through the Mfecane wars and colonialism, they made mountain Lesotho under Moshoeshoe I, who gathered the Southern Sotho against Zulu, Boer and British pressure until Britain's protection in 1868 and the 1869 Convention of Aliwal North drew the borders. The Basotho blanket, the mokorotlo conical hat, maize beer and the pitso assembly order highland life; migrant labour built Johannesburg while herdboys mind the mountain cattle. British and Boers divided the land in the late 19th century, but Maseru ministries, mine pensions and initiation lodges keep the mountain kingdom's people one nation in two states. Lesotho's mountain villages still honour Moshoeshoe I as founder. Southern Sotho dialects differ across Lesotho, Botswana and Namibia. Aliwal North's 1869 convention line still marks the border. Fifth-century migration songs still open Basotho ceremonies. Mfecane veterans' descendants still farm the same valleys.