Sotho people

The Sotho (ˈsuːtuː) or Basotho (bæˈsuːtuː), also known as the Southern Sotho, are a Sotho-Tswana ethnic group native to Southern Africa; they are mainly situated in Lesotho and South Africa's Free-State province. The ancestors of the Sotho people are believed to have originated in the north of Southern Africa and migrated south in the fifth century CE. The Sotho people have split into different clans over time as a result of the Mfecane (a series of wars and migrations that took place in the 19th century) and colonialism. The British and the Boers (Dutch descendants) divided Sotho land amongst themselves in the late 19th century. Lesotho was created by the settlers in the 1869 Convention of Aliwal North following the conflict over land between Moshoeshoe I, the king of the Sotho. The Southern Sotho of Lesotho's identity emerged from the creation of Lesotho after the Boers defeated Moshoeshoe I in the Third Basotho War in 1868. Most Southern Sotho today live in Vaal (South of Gauteng, South Africa), Lesotho, or the Free State. Some of the Southern Basothos who were not part of Moshoeshoe's kingdom when he united are living in Vaal, and some are found in parts of KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape. In modern times, the Sotho continue to make significant contributions to South African and Lesotho societies. The Basotho nation is a mixture of Bantu-speaking clans that mixed with San people who already lived in Southern Africa when Bantu-speaking people arrived in southern Africa. Bantu-speaking people had settled in what is now South Africa by about 500 CE. Separation from the Batswana is assumed to have taken place by the 14th century. Some Basotho people split from the Nguni while others got assimilated into building the Nguni nation. By at least the 17th century CE, a series of Basotho kingdoms covered the southern portion of the plateau (Free State Province and parts of Gauteng). Basotho society was highly decentralized, and organized on the basis of kraals, or extended clans, each of which was ruled by a chief.