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Travel to Lesotho — Unbiased reviews and
great deals from TripAdvisorLesotho
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Kingdom of Lesotho
Sovereign: King Letsie III (1996)
Prime Minister: Pakalitha Mosisili
(1998)
Current government officials
Total area: 11,718 sq mi (30,350 sq km)
Population (2008 est.): 2,128,180
(growth rate: 0.1%); birth rate: 24.4/1000; infant mortality rate:
78.5/1000; life expectancy: 40.1; density per sq km: 70
Capital and largest city (2003 est.):
Maseru 173,700
Monetary unit: Maluti
Languages:
English, Sesotho (both official); Zulu,
Xhosa
Ethnicity/race:
Sotho 99.7%, Europeans, Asians, and other
0.3%
Religions:
Christian 80%, indigenous beliefs 20%
National Holiday:
Independence Day, October 4
Literacy rate: 85% (2003 est.)
Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2007
est.): $3.092 billion; per capita $1,300. Real growth rate:
4.9%. Inflation: 8%. Unemployment: 45% (2002).
Arable land: 11%. Agriculture: corn, wheat, pulses,
sorghum, barley; livestock. Labor force: 838,000 (2000); 86%
of resident population engaged in subsistence agriculture; roughly
35% of the active male wage earners work in South Africa; industry
and services 14%. Industries: food, beverages, textiles,
apparel assembly, handicrafts, construction, tourism. Natural
resources: water, agricultural and grazing land, diamonds, sand,
clay, building stone. Exports: $602.8 million f.o.b. (2005
est.): manufactures 75% (clothing, footwear, road vehicles), wool
and mohair, food and live animals (2000). Imports: $1.166
billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): food; building materials, vehicles,
machinery, medicines, petroleum products (2000). Major trading
partners: U.S., Canada, UK, Hong Kong, China, India, South
Korea, Germany (2004).
Member of Commonwealth of Nations
Communications: Telephones: main lines
in use: 22,200 (2000); mobile cellular: 21,600 (2000). Radio
broadcast stations: AM 1, FM 2, shortwave 1 (1998).
Radios: n.a. (2002). Television broadcast stations: 1
(2000). Televisions: n.a. Internet Service Providers
(ISPs): 1 (2000). Internet users: 5,000 (2002).
Transportation: Railways: total: 2.6 km;
note: owned by, operated by, and included in the statistics of South
Africa (1995). Highways: total: 5,940 km; paved: 1,087 km;
unpaved: 4,853 km (1999). Ports and harbors: none.
Airports: 28 (2002).
International disputes: none.
Major sources and definitions
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Geography
Mountainous Lesotho, the size of Maryland, is
surrounded by the Republic of South Africa.
Government
Parliamentary constitutional monarchy.
History
Lesotho (formerly Basutoland) was constituted a
native state under British protection by a treaty signed with the native
chief Moshoeshoe in 1843. It was annexed to Cape Colony in 1871, but in
1884 it was restored to direct control by the Crown. The colony of
Basutoland became the independent nation of Lesotho on Oct. 4, 1966, with
King Moshoeshoe II as sovereign.
In the 1970 elections, Ntsu Mokhehle, head of
the Basutoland Congress Party, claimed a victory, but Prime Minister
Leabua Jonathan declared a state of emergency, suspended the constitution,
and arrested Mokhehle. King Moshoeshoe II was briefly exiled, but he
returned after a compromise with Jonathan: the new constitution would name
him head of state but forbid his participation in politics.
After the king refused to approve the
replacement in Feb. 1990 of individuals dismissed by Justin Metsino
Lekhanya, the chairman of the military council, the latter stripped the
king of his executive power. Then in early March, Lekhanya sent the king
into exile. In November, the king was dethroned, and his son was sworn in
as King Letsie III.
Lekhanya was himself forced to resign in April
1991, and Col. Ramaema became the new chairman in May. In Jan. 1995, the
crown reverted to the father of Letsie III, Moshoeshoe II. Letsie again
became crown prince. In 1996, however, King Moshoeshoe died in an
automobile accident, and Letsie again assumed the throne.
In fall 1998, hundreds of demonstrators
protested for weeks in front of the king's palace, claiming voting fraud
in the May elections that put Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili in power.
They demanded that the government step down and hold new elections. Troops
from South Africa and Botswana entered the country to stop the riots and
put down an army mutiny. In 2002, Mosisili was reelected under a revised
political system that gave opposition parties a larger role in
parliament.
Lesotho faces one of the highest rates of HIV
infection in the world.
See also Encyclopedia: Lesotho.
U.S. State Dept. Country Notes:
Lesotho
Information Please® Database, © 2008 Pearson
Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
More on Lesotho from Infoplease:
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- Lesotho - Map of Lesotho & articles on flags, geography, history, statistics, disasters current events, and international relations.
- Lesotho: Bibliography - Bibliography See J. D. Omer-Cooper, Zulu Aftermath: A Nineteenth Century Revolution in Bantu Africa ...
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