Materials on the history of the Basuto tribe of Basutoland (Sotho, or Lesotho, southern Africa). Part one is an introductory chapter; part two is titled: "The war of 1865 between the Free State and Basutoland, with the events that led to it.".

Lesotho is rather different from most other African countries. For starters, it is a kingdom, which preserves a traditional hierarchy and customs, and its population consists of one fairly homogenous ethnic group, although admittedly there are differences and occasional rifts within it. Then, it is a landlocked country, completely surrounded by South Africa on which is depends heavily. Economically, it has not been doing particularly well, this partly because the country is so poorly endowed by nature, and its people often eke out a living abroad. Politically, there have been ups and downs, the downs fortunately lying in the past, with Lesotho doing somewhat better since the latest elections. Socially and culturally, as hinted, it is quite unique and this can be gathered from reading the book. This second edition of Historical Dictionary of Lesotho covers the full scope of Lesotho’s ancient, colonial, and independence eras. It gives greater emphasis to the more recent period and brings the book fully up-to-date. This is done through a chronology, an introductory essay, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 400 cross-referenced entries on civil society, key events, leaders, governmental, international, religious, and other private organizations, policies, political movements and parties, economic elements, and many other areas that have shaped the country’s trajectory. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Lesotho.

Historical Dictionary of Lesotho, Third Edition contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has more than 500 cross-referenced entries on important personalities as well as aspects of the country's politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture.

British influence on what was to become the British Empire and French influence on French speaking Africa have been extensively explored so far, but few books focus on French missions in Britain’s sphere of influence. The French missionary Eugène Casalis represents a perhaps unique experience of a man taking part in the nation-building process in an African country, Lesotho, which belonged to London’s ‘reserve’. Casalis was to become the King’s special advisor and is still hailed today as one of the few men who built the country. Based on the research of a dozen African and European academics who convened in Morija in 2012 to commemorate the bicentenary of that great Protestant humanist and to analyse “Missionary Work in Africa in Eugene Casalis’s Time and Beyond”, this book will provide fresh and stimulating material for readers interested in colonial and post-colonial studies, missions and religion, and cultural and historical exchanges between the Southern part of the African continent and Great Britain.

David Frédéric Ellenberger (1835-1919) was a Swiss French Protestant missionary who left for Basutoland (present-day Lesotho) in 1860 as a member of the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society. Ellenberger spent more than 45 years collecting the oral traditions of the Basotho (also known as Sotho) people. His method was to gather "all the information which it was still possible to obtain from intelligent old men concerning the tribes, their origin, their manners, their form of government, their beliefs, the genealogy of the chiefs, etc." His objective was to preserve, for the Basotho, their historical memory, which he saw as being lost through contact with Westerners and other Africans. Ellenberger kept his notes in French, and this English edition of his work, published in 1912, was written by his son-in-law, J.C. MacGregor, a British colonial administrator. The book includes genealogies going back to 1450, a history of the Basotho people from their origins to 1833 (when the missionaries arrived), and an account of the rise of Moshoeshoe I (circa 1786-1870), the founder and first paramount chief of the Sotho people. The appendix includes chapters on religion, hunting, witchcraft, law and social order, and Basotho character and manners. A Sesotho version of Ellenberger's history, Histori ea Basotho, was published in 1917.