Basotho | |
|---|---|
 | |
 Basotho horsemen | |
| Total population | |
| c.7,254,315 (2023 est.) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 South Africa | 5,103,205 |
 Lesotho | 2,130,110 |
 Botswana | 11,000 |
 Eswatini | 6,000 |
 Namibia | 4,000 |
| Languages | |
| Sesotho IsiXhosa,IsiZulu,English,Afrikaans | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity,Modimo | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Pedi people,Tswana people andLozi people,San people,Phuthi people,Thembu people | |
| Sotho | |
|---|---|
| Person | Mosotho |
| People | Basotho |
| Language | Sesotho |
| Country | Lesotho |
TheSotho (/ˈsuːtuː/), also known as theBasotho (/bæˈsuːtuː/), are aSotho-Tswana ethnic group indigenous toSouthern Africa. They primarily inhabit the regions ofLesotho,South Africa,Botswana andNamibia.
The ancestors of the Sotho people are believed to have originated from Northeast Africa, and migrated south in the fifth century AD. The Sotho people have split into different clans over time as a result of theMfecane (a series of wars and migrations that took place in the 19th century)[1] andcolonialism. There are 3 types of Basotho,Northern Sotho,Southern Sotho,Tswana people.
TheBritish and theBoers (Dutch descendants) divided Sotho land amongst themselves in the late 19th century. Lesotho was created by the settlers in the 1869 Convention of Aliwal North following the conflict over land withMoshoeshoe I, the king of the Southern Sothos.
The Southern Sotho of Lesotho's identity emerged from the creation of Lesotho by the British after the Boers defeated Moshoeshoe I in theThird Basotho War in 1868 and he asked the British for protection. Some of the Southern Sotho speakers who were not part of Moshoeshoe's kingdom when he united some of their tribesmen are living inGauteng, while some are found in the west ofKwaZulu-Natal, the north of theEastern Cape and most of theFree State province.
In modern times, the Sotho continue to make significant contributions to South African and Lesotho societies.
The Basotho nation is a mixture ofBantu-speaking clans that mixed withSan people who already lived in Southern Africa when they arrived there.Bantu-speaking people had settled in what is now South Africa by about1500 CE.[2][3] Separation from theBatswana is assumed to have taken place by the 14th century. Some Basotho people split from theNguni while others got assimilated into building the Nguni nation. By the 16th century, Iron-working was well established in Basotho communities alongside theirNguni neighbours. Basotho were mostly independent and relatively isolated up until this point in which they occasionally traded with the regions north of their homeland with external links that are described as "Sporadic and Marginal".[4] By at least the 17th century a series of Basotho kingdoms covered the southern portion of the African plateau (nowadaysFree State Province and parts ofGauteng), andNorth West. Basotho society was highly decentralized, and organized on the basis ofkraals, or extended clans, each of which was ruled by its own chief.[5] Chiefdoms were united into looseconfederations.[5]
In the 1820s, refugees from theZulu expansion underShaka[6] came into contact with the Basotho people residing on thehighveld. In 1823, pressure caused one group of Basotho, theKololo, to migrate north. They moved past theOkavango Swamp and across theZambezi intoBarotseland, (which is now part ofZambia,Angola,Zimbabwe,Botswana, andNamibia).[7] In 1845, the Kololo conquered Barotseland.[8]
At about the same time, theBoers began to encroach upon Basotho territory.[9] After theCape Colony was ceded to Britain at the conclusion of theNapoleonic Wars, many farmers opted to leave the former Dutch colony in theGreat Trek. They moved inland, where they eventually established independent polities.[9][10]
At the time of these developments,Moshoeshoe I skillfully and systematically unified a loose confederacy of Basotho clans and Nguni tribes that had settled there into what would become a modern state of Lesotho in the southern highveld.[10] Universally praised as a skilled diplomat and strategist, he molded the disparate refugee groups escaping theDifaqane into a cohesive nation.[11] His leadership allowed smaller Basotho clans who neighboured him to seek his protection allowing the small nation to survive the obstacles that destroyed other indigenous South African kingdoms during the 19th century, such as the ZuluMfecane, the inward expansion of thevoortrekkers and the plans of theColonial Office.[12]
In 1822, Moshoeshoe established the capital atButha-Buthe, an easily defensible mountain in the northern Drakensberg mountain range, thus laying the foundations of the eventual Kingdom of Lesotho.[11] His capital was later moved toThaba Bosiu.[11]
To deal with the encroachingvoortrekker groups, Moshoeshoe encouraged French missionary activity in his kingdom.[13]Missionaries sent by theParis Evangelical Missionary Society provided the King with foreign affairs counsel and helped to facilitate the purchase of modern weapons.[13]
Aside from acting as state ministers, missionaries (primarily Casalis and Arbousset) played a vital role in delineating Sesothoorthography and printing Sesotho language materials between 1837 and 1855.[14] The first Sesotho translation of the Bible appeared in 1878.[15]
In 1868, after losing the western lowlands to the Boers during theFree State–Basotho Wars, Moshoeshoe successfully appealed toQueen Victoria to proclaimBasutoland (modernLesotho) aprotectorate of Britain. Accordingly, the British administration was established inMaseru, the site of Lesotho's current capital.[9] Local chieftains retained power over internal affairs, while Britain was responsible for foreign affairs and the defense of the protectorate.[16]
In 1869, the British sponsored a process to demarcate the borders of Basutoland.[9] While many clans had territory within Basutoland, large numbers of Sesotho speakers resided in areas allocated to theOrange Free State, the sovereignvoortrekker republic that bordered the Basotho kingdom. King Moshoeshoe died two years later in 1870, after the end of war, and was buried at the summit of Thaba Bosiu.
Britain's protection ensured that repeated attempts by theOrange Free State, and later theRepublic of South Africa, to absorb part or all of Basutoland were unsuccessful.[3] In 1966, Basutoland gained its independence from Britain, becoming theKingdom of Lesotho.
Sesotho is widely spoken throughout the subcontinent due tointernal migration. To enter the cash economy, Lesotho men often migrated to large cities in South Africa to find employment in themining industry.[17] 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.[17]
Attempts by theapartheid government to force Sesotho speakers to relocate to designatedhomelands 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.[18] Officially, the majority of Lesotho's population is Catholic.[19]The Southern Basotho's heartland is the Free State province in South Africa and neighboring Lesotho.[20] Both of these largely rural areas have widespread poverty and underdevelopment.[21] 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.[21] Landowners often participate in subsistence or small-scale commercial farming ventures.[19] However,overgrazing and land mismanagement are growing problems.[19]
The allure of urban areas has not diminished, and internal migration continues today for manyblack people born in Lesotho and other Basotho heartlands.[22] Generally, employment patterns among the Basotho follow the same patterns as broader South African society. Historical factors cause unemployment among the Basotho and otherBlack South Africans to remain high.[21]
Percent of Sesotho speakers across South Africa:[23]
The language of the Basotho is referred to asSesotho,[24] less commonly known asSesotho sa borwa.[25] Some texts may refer to Sesotho as "Southern Sotho" to differentiate it fromNorthern Sotho, also called Sepedi.
Sesotho is the first language of 1.5 million people inLesotho, or 85% of the population.[19] It is one of the two official languages in Lesotho, the other being English.[19] Lesotho enjoys one of Africa's highest literacy rates, with 59% of the adult population being literate, chiefly in Sesotho.[26]
Sesotho is one of theeleven official languages of South Africa.[24] According to the 2011South African National Census of 2011, almost 4 million people speak Sesotho as theirfirst language, including 62% ofFree State inhabitants.[27] Approximately 13.1% of the residents ofGauteng speak Sesotho as their first language.[23] In theNorth West Province, 5% of the population speaks Sesotho as a first language, with a concentration of speakers in the Maboloka region.[27] Three percent ofMpumalanga's people speak Sesotho as their first language, with many speakers living in the Standerton area.[27] Two percent of the residents of theEastern Cape speak Sesotho as a first language, though they are located mostly in the northern part of the province.[27]
Aside from Lesotho and South Africa, 60,000 people speakSilozi (a close relative of Sesotho) inZambia.[28] Additionally, a few Sesotho speakers reside inBotswana,Eswatini and theCaprivi Strip ofNamibia.[28] No official statistics onsecond language usage are available, but one conservative estimate of the number of people who speak Sesotho as a second (or later) language is 5.9 million.[28][29]
Sesotho is used in a range of educational settings, both as a subject of study and as a medium of instruction.[26] It is used in its spoken and written forms in all spheres of education, frompreschool to doctoral studies.[26] However, the number of technical materials (e.g., in the fields of commerce, information technology, law, science, and math) in the language is still relatively small.[26]
Sesotho has developed a sizable media presence since the end ofapartheid.Lesedi FM is a 24-hour Sesotho radio station run by theSouth African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), broadcasting solely in Sesotho. There are other regional radio stations throughout Lesotho and the Free State.[26] Half-hour Sesotho news bulletins are broadcast daily on the SABC free-to-air channelSABC 2. Independent TV broadcastereTV also features a daily half-hour Sesotho bulletin. Both SABC and the eTV group produce a range of programs that feature some Sesotho dialogue.
In Lesotho, the Lesotho National Broadcasting Service broadcasts to South Africa via satellite pay-TV provider,DStv.
Most newspapers inLesotho are written inSesotho or both Sesotho and English. There are no fully fledged South African newspapers in Sesotho except for regional newsletters inQwaQwa,Fouriesburg,Ficksburg, and possibly other Free State towns.[26]
Currently, the mainstream South African magazineBona[30] includes Sesotho content.[26] Since the codification of Sesotho orthography, literary works have been produced in Sesotho. Notable Sesotho-language literature includesThomas Mofolo's epicChaka, which has been translated into several languages, including English and German.[31]
The Basotho have a unique traditional attire. This includes themokorotlo, a conical hat with a decorated knob at the top that is worn differently for men and women. TheBasotho blanket is often worn over the shoulders or waist and protects the wearer against the cold. Although many Sotho people wear westernized clothing, often traditional garments are worn over them.
Many Basotho who live in rural areas wear clothing that suits their lifestyles. For instance, boys who herd cattle in the ruralFree State and Lesotho wear the Basotho blanket and large rain boots (gumboots) as protection from the wet mountain terrain.Herd boys also often wear woolenbalaclavas 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 theseshweshwe, 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 awrap, and it can be used to carry infants on their backs.[32]
Special clothing is worn for special events like initiation rites and traditional healing ceremonies.
For aLebollo la basadi, or girl's initiation ceremony, girls wear a beaded waist wrap called athethana 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 aLebollo la banna, or a boy's initiation ceremony, boys wear a loincloth called atshea 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 theSan 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.[33][34]
