Lesotho

Officially known as the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, LESOTHO is a landlocked and extremely mountainous country in Southern Africa. Like only San Marino and Vatican City, Lesotho is an enclave surrounded completely by one country (South Africa). Interestingly, Lesotho is the southernmost landlocked nation in the world, and some sources say the highest concentration of dinosaur footprints are here! Other nearby southern African countries include Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe. This kingdom is known for having the most-elevated lowest point in the world. 4,600 feet is the lowest elevation in the entire country. Lesotho Loti is the nation's currency, and its ISO 4217 currency code is LSL. 1 Loti is divided into 100 Lisente (singular word: Sente). Originally founded by the local hero King Moshoeshoe in the 1800s, Basutoland achieved independence from the United Kingdom on October 4th, 1966 and soon changed its national name to Lesotho.

● ● ● ● ●  People and Places  ● ● ● ● ●  Lesotho's political history since independence fluctuated between fledgling democracy and authoritarian militarism. In recent years, the constitutional monarchy strived to build on its democratic functions but with several setbacks — including riots and coup d'états, one of which is mentioned in the "Prime Minister's Dilemma" section below. Now let us focus on the positive; a sort of tradition for Lesotho is that newly elected prime ministers may receive a copy of the Constitution as a symbolic peaceful transfer of power. For example, Moeketsi Majoro was sworn into office on Wednesday, May 20th, 2020 and received a constitutional copy from predecessor Prime Minister Tom Thabane. The national capital of Lesotho is Maseru, which has at least 200,000 residents. Other cities include Hlotse (Leribe), Mafeteng (population: over 60,000), Maputsoe (Maputsoa) near Ficksburg, Mohale's Hoek, Moyeni (Quthing), Pitseng, and Teyateyaneng; smaller communities include Bokong, Butha-Buthe, Foso, Libono, Mokhotlong, Patlong, Qacha's Nek, Rafolatsane, and Thaba-Tseka. In regards to administrative divisions, Lesotho is divided into ten districts. A map and information of Lesotho's districts are featured in this GeoFact of the Day post (↗).

Interesting places to see and visit throughout the country include the Afriski Mountain Resort, Maletsunyane Falls, Maloti Mountains, Sani Pass, Gates of Paradise Pass, Thaba-Bosiu National Monument, Sehlabathebe National Park, Liphofung Caves, Ha Kome Cave Houses, Basotho Hat Shop (Maseru), Morija Museum & Archives, Lesotho Sun Casino, and several locations for dinosaur footprints. Lesotho's official languages are English and Sesotho (Southern Sotho). Other major languages for written and spoken communication include Phuthi (Sephuthi), Xhosa, and Zulu. About 90% of the Basotho people are Christians, followed by indigenous believers and Bahá'í Faith worshippers.

● ● ● ● ●  Land Features  ● ● ● ● ●  Lesotho's rugged terrain and high elevation is thanks to the Drakensberg mountain range along the southeast border and the lower Maloti range in the northwest. The highest point in Lesotho, Thabana Ntlenyana, is the highest peak in Southern Africa as well. Commonly called the Senqu River in Lesotho, the Orange River winds its way for about 528.43 kilometers and 328.35 miles through southern and eastern Lesotho. The map below shows the river's twisty path from one end of the country to another, cutting through steep-cliff valleys all the way from its source in the northeast to the Lesotho-South Africa border in the southwest. Another major river — Caledon, also locally known as Mohokare — forms along the northwestern and northern border. Lesotho is home to two of southern Africa's largest hydroelectric dams: Katse and Mohale. Both located in north-central Lesotho, these dams transport water to South Africa and generate electricity for most of Lesotho. Other dams (see the second map below) include Mashai, Matsoku, Ntoahae, and Tsoelike.





● ● ● ● ●  The Prime Minister's Dilemma, 2014-15  ● ● ● ● ●  Touted for hosting one of Africa's few democratic elections in 2012, Lesotho's citizens elected Tom Thabane to be their prime minister and leader of a coalition government with three main parties, unseating 14-year prime minister Pakalitha Mosisili. The relatively stable political period Lesotho enjoyed took an unstable turn in Lesotho's winter (Northern Hemisphere's summer) in the year 2014. Thabane suspended parliament in June 2014 to be cautious of a potential coup d'état from the Lesotho Congress for Democracy party, led by Mothetjoa Metsing. In August, Thabane fled to South Africa for safety, fearing a deadly coup d'état from military leaders as well as a military takeover of important police buildings. After mediation of the kerfuffle made possible by the Southern African Development Community intergovernmental organization, Thabane and King Letsie III dissolved the parliament in December and announced a new election date on February 28th, 2015. Mosisili became prime minister once again after earning less than 1% more votes than Thabane.

This post was comprehensively updated with more info on August 10th, 2017.