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Lesotho
Lesotho , officially Kingdom of Lesotho, kingdom (2005 est. pop. 1,867,000), 11,720 sq mi (30,355 sq km), S Africa. It is an enclave within the Republic of South Africa. Maseru is the capital and largest city.
Land and People
The Drakensberg range occupies the eastern part of the country...
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Drakensberg Range
Drakensberg Range , South Africa and Lesotho, extending 700 mi (1,127 km) NE-SW in KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho, Free State, Limpopo, and Mpumalanga. The Zulu name of the range is Ukhahlamba [barrier of spears]. Thabana-Ntlenyana (11,425 ft/3,482 m), in Lesotho, is the highest point in the range and in S ...
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Joseph Leabua Jonathan
Joseph Leabua Jonathan , 1914-87, prime minister of Lesotho (1965-86). He founded (1959) and led the Basutoland National party working for separate independence from Great Britain (rather than, as had originally been planned, becoming part of the Union of South Africa). He became prime minister (196...
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Orange River
Orange River chief river of S Africa, c.1,300 mi (2,090 km) long, rising in the Maluti Mts., N Lesotho. It flows SW through Lesotho, then meanders northwest and west through central South Africa, forming the SW boundary of Free State and part of the South Africa-Namibia line before entering the Atl...
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Moshoeshoe
Moshoeshoe or Moshweshwe , c.1786-1870, Sotho king. A remarkable leader, he was a superior military tactician and was able to unite several small groups into the Sotho nation. By the mid-1820s he ruled approximately 25,000 citizens. He permitted Christian missions and sought British aid against ...
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Transkei
Transkei , former black "homeland" and nominal republic, E South Africa. Transkei was bounded by the Great Kei River on the south, by the Indian Ocean on the east, by Natal on the north, and by Lesotho on the northwest. The capital and main city was Umtata.
Part of the Drakensberg Range was...
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Bantu languages
Bantu languages group of African languages forming a subdivision of the Benue-Niger division of the Niger-Congo branch of the Niger-Kordofanian language family (see African languages ). Bantu contains hundreds of languages that are spoken by 120 million Africans in the Congo Basin, Angola, the Rep...
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Commonwealth of Nations
Commonwealth of Nations voluntary association of Great Britain and its dependencies, certain former British dependencies that are now sovereign states and their dependencies, and the associated states (states with full internal government but whose external relations are governed by Britain). At it...
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KwaZulu-Natal
KwaZulu-Natal , province (1995 est. pop. 8,713,000), 33,578 sq mi (86,967 sq km), E South Africa, on the Indian Ocean. Formerly Natal province, in the constitution of 1994 it was renamed KwaZulu-Natal.
Land and People
The province has two capitals, Pietermaritzburg and Ulundi ; the larg...
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South Africa
South Africa Afrikaans Suid-Afrika, officially Republic of South Africa, republic (2005 est. pop. 44,344,000), 471,442 sq mi (1,221,037 sq km), S Africa. It borders on the Atlantic Ocean in the west, on Namibia in the northwest, on Botswana and Zimbabwe in the north, on Mozambique and Swaziland i...
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