Moshweshwe biography sample
Home / Biography Templates & Examples / Moshweshwe biography sample
Mohlomi, whose renown had spread all over southern Africa, taught him that the practice of virtue and discipline was the first prerequisite for the successful governance of men. After a Basotho defeat in 1868, Moshoeshoe asked the British for protection. His name was allegedly changed from Lepoqo after a successful raid in which he had sheared the beards of his victims – the word ‘Moshoeshoe’ represented the sound of the shearing.
In 1820 Moshoeshoe succeeded his father, Mokhacane, as the chief of the Bamokoteli.
In the cold Highveld he was able to defeat mounted Griqua and Korana raiders with his own mounted cavalry and expanded his control into the Caledon valley.
In 1833 he welcomed missionaries of the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society (though he never became a Christian himself), and he used them to cultivate good diplomatic relationships with British politicians in Cape Town.
He was the archbishop of Basotholand from 1952. He was forced to give up most of his earlier gains at the Treaty of Thaba Bosiu in 1866, and during 1867 he faced complete defeat.
History of Moshweshwe
Makatise (written in Southern Sotho). Forms part of the van Warmelo Collection housed at the University of Pretoria.
Moshweshwe I
also known asMoshoeshoe, Lepoqo
monarch
Moshweshwe was a South African king and founder of the Basotho nation.
From 1836 he came into contact with the Voortrekkers who settled in what is today known as the Free State, and then reached several territorial agreements with the British, who had taken over possession of the Free State territory in 1848. During the next 10 years, Moshoeshoe was able to inflict further defeats on the Boers, who were disorganized in their efforts to unite and repel the Sotho.
Moshoeshoe led his people south to the nearly impregnable stronghold of Thaba Bosiu (“Mountain at Night”) in the western Maloti Mountains, where his following expanded to other African peoples attracted by the protection he was able to provide. His first settlement was at Butha Buthe, but he later built his stronghold at Thaba Bosiu (Mountain of the Night).
Another great-great-grandson, Moshoeshoe II, became the king of Lesotho after independence.
King Moshoeshoe or Moshesh of the Basotho people of Lesotho. The rival Boer and Sotho groups fought for control of the fertile farming lands of the Caledon valley, with the British arbitrating by drawing boundary lines that at first favoured but then disadvantaged the Sotho.
In 1848, when the British annexed the Orange River Sovereignty to the east of Moshoeshoe’s stronghold, he found himself exposed to direct Anglo-Boer invasion.
Moshweshwe Day is a national holiday in Lesotho celebrated every year on 11 March to commemorate the day of Moshweshwe's death.
Connections
- Father:
- Mokhachane
King Moshoeshoe I
Also known as Moshesh, Mosheshwe or Mshweshwe.
From his capital at Thaba Bosiu , he warded off attacks from many enemies, including Shaka’s Zulus and Mzilikazi’s Ndebele.
In 1833 he encouraged missionaries from the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society to come to his kingdom, and so brought the Basotho in contact with Christianity.
Moshweshwe was given the name Lepoqo (disasters) because of the misfortunes in which he was born. Moshoeshoe died in 1870 and a year later Basotholand was integrated with the Cape Colony. Moshoeshoe continued to fight against encroachment on Sotho lands, and in the following year he defeated and absorbed the Tlokwa, local African rivals.
Wanting to avoid the time and expense required to defeat the Sotho, the British gave the Boers of the Orange River Sovereignty (renamed the Orange Free State) independence at the Bloemfontein Convention of 1854.