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 Afrikaner pressure from the Orange Free State (see Free State ). After the Afrikaners attacked (1865), he won protectorate status from Britain in 1868, maintaining the autonomy of the 125,000 Sotho. Moshoeshoe is considered the founding father of modern Lesotho .

Moshoeshoe II (b. 2 May 1938, d. 15 Jan. 1996). King of Lesotho 1966–90, 1995–6 Born as Constantine Bereng Seeiso, he was educated in England and returned in 1960 to become paramount chief of the British colony of Basutoland. He became King upon his country's independence, though his claim for a greater role in the day-to-day politics of his country led to his brief expulsion in 1970. Deposed after a military coup in 1990, the hugely popular king was reinstated after the intervention of Mandela and other regional leaders in 1995. He died in a car accident.