Conflicts & Resolutions · War

Free State–Basotho Wars

1858–1868 · 19th century

The Free State–Basotho Wars were a series of wars between the Orange Free State and the Basotho kingdom of Moshoeshoe I, fought in 1858 and from 1865 to 1868 over the fertile lands west of the Caledon River. The Boers took much Basotho farmland, and Moshoeshoe sought British protection; Basutoland became a British protectorate in 1868, the origin of modern Lesotho.

Free State–Basotho Wars
Image: Bensusan Museum anon · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Battles and settlements

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Free State–Basotho Wars. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/free-state-basotho-wars
MLA
“Free State–Basotho Wars.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/free-state-basotho-wars. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Free State–Basotho Wars.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/free-state-basotho-wars.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Free State–Basotho Wars’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/free-state-basotho-wars (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻