People / group

Sotho people

Also known as Southern Sotho, Basotho, Basuto

The Basotho are a Bantu-speaking people of southern Africa who speak Sesotho, living mainly in Lesotho and in South Africa's Free State and Gauteng provinces. The Basotho nation was formed in the 1820s and 1830s by Moshoeshoe I, who gathered refugees from the wars of the period around his mountain stronghold of Thaba Bosiu.

Sotho people
Image: See File history below for details. · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 2 profiles

Cape ColonyMilitaryOrange Free StateFoundation, Military, Governance, Impact, Summary

Mentioned in 9 state histories

Mpondomise KingdomSwazi KingdomBatlokwa ChiefdomBasotho KingdomThaba NchuRepublic of WinburgKololo KingdomOrange River SovereigntyBasutoland

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Sotho people. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/sotho-people
MLA
“Sotho people.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/sotho-people. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Sotho people.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/sotho-people.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Sotho people’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/sotho-people (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻