Basotho

The Basotho (Sotho-speaking people) have lived in southern Africa since around the 15th century. They are made up of three main tribes or clans, Bakoena, Bataung and Batlokwa. The Basotho nation (modern Lesotho) emerged from the genius diplomacy of Moshoeshoe I who gathered together disparate clans of the sotho origin that had dispersed across southern Africa in the early nineteenth century. Many Basotho people today live in South Africa, as a result of their ancestors moving there to work as migrant labourers, particularly in the gold mines.

References

• Number of Sotho speakers in South Africa
• Population of Lesotho (almost entirely Basotho)