biography
| name: |
Moshoeshoe
|
| |
also spelled Mshweshwe
|
pronunciation:
[moshweshwe]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (c.1796–1870)
|
| biography:
| African statesman, the founder of the modern state of Lesotho, born in N Basutoland. The chief of a Sotho clan, he moved to a mountain stronghold during the period of warfare and migrations caused by the rise of Shaka's Zulu kingdom. Through a blend of warfare and diplomacy, he created and defended a kingdom in the face of pressure from the Boer republic of the Orange Free State. Basutoland was annexed to the Cape Colony, but in 1884 became a British protectorate, and in 1964 an independent nation state. |
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