Lesotho Trivia

1. Lesotho had a previous name when it was a protectorate of the UK. What was it?

From Quiz Lesotho, Her Land and Her People

Answer: Basutoland

Various Bantu-speaking peoples settled the area now known as Lesotho long before the Europeans colonized Africa. They called themselves the Basotho and were united under King Moshoeshoe I in 1822 amid exploration by the Dutch and British. When Boers settled in Basotho lands after the British pulled out, the Basotho lost much of their land in a series of wars. King Moshoshoe appealed to Queen Victoria, who made Basutoland a British protectorate. Unfortunately, after Moshoeshoe's death, Britain treated Basutoland like a colony for a decade or so until its protectorate status was restored. Basutoland declared independence from the UK in 1966 and called itself the Kingdom of Lesotho. It remains a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.

From Quiz The Landlocked Kingdom of Lesotho

Answer: Black hat, representing the indigenous Basotho people

Lesotho's new flag has three horizontal stripes: blue on top, white in the middle, and green on the bottom, with the white stripe one-third wider than the others. These stripes represent rain, peace and prosperity, all of which, unfortunately, are not always plentiful in Lesotho. The central stripe bears a black Basotho hat, representing the indigenous people of the country.

From Quiz Lesotho, Her Land and Her People

Answer: People who speak the language of the Sotho

The Sotho and Tswana clans were among the Bantu-speaking people who settled Lesotho and displaced the indigenous hunter-gatherers, the Khoisans, who consist of people formerly known as Bushmen (San) and Hottentots (Khoi). People who live in Lesotho refer to themselves as the Basotho -- or Mosotho in the singular. The majority of the populace are descendants of the Sotho clans, with very few Europeans or Asians, but the majority religion is Christianity. The official languages are Sesotho and English, but Zulu and Xhosa among the working languages.

From Quiz The Kingdom of Lesotho

Answer: Loti

Introduced into circulation in 1980, the Lesotho loti is pegged 1:1 with the South African rand and both currencies are legal tender within the kingdom. A loti is subdivided into 100 lisente. The plural of loti is maloti, and banknotes in circulation are in the denominations are 10, 20, 50, 100 and 200 maloti. The pula is the currency of nearby Botswana.

From Quiz The Landlocked Kingdom of Lesotho

Answer: Enclave

An enclave is a country that is completely surrounded by another country, while an exclave is a piece of a country that is physically separated from the rest of the country. Inclaves and outclaves don't exist! Basutoland (as it was then known) was originally established as a political entity by Great King Moshoeshoe I in 1822. After conflicts with Boer settlers, it gained the status of a British protectorate, although the establishing Treaty of Aliwal in 1869 gave half of its original territory to the Boers. Lesotho's border with South Africa is 909 km (565 mi) long.

From Quiz Lesotho

Answer: Basutoland

From Quiz Lesotho

Answer: 1966

From Quiz Lesotho, Her Land and Her People

Answer: Coastal plain

Lesotho is landlocked and has no coastal plain! The lowlands are formed by the valleys of the Caledon River and the Orange (Senqu) River. The highlands consist of the Drakensberg and Maloti mountain ranges in central Lesotho and contain some peatlands, though not enough to justify extraction for biofuel. The foothills, as the name suggests, are a transitional area between the lowlands and the highlands.

From Quiz The Kingdom of Lesotho

Answer: A crocodile

The Lesotho coat of arms was adopted in 1966 when the country gained independence. The shield shows a crocodile, the symbol of the nation's largest ethnic group, the Sotho. Behind the shield are two crossed weapons, a club and a lance.

From Quiz The Landlocked Kingdom of Lesotho

Answer: Hills and mountains

One of the highest countries in the world, Lesotho is made up of highland plateaus, hills and mountains. More than 80% of the country is over 1,800 m (5,900 ft) above sea level. A savanna is a grassland ecosystem with trees that are too widely separated to form a canopy. The Serengeti in Tanzania, with its abundant wildlife, is a typical savanna. Glaciated landscapes are found in Norway, amongst other places. A steppe is a grassland plain with few or no trees, such as is found is southwest Russia.

From Quiz The Kingdom of Lesotho

Answer: Peace, Rain, Prosperity

The name Lesotho roughly translates into "Those who speak Sesotho". The motto is in that language and translates to mean "Peace, Rain, Prosperity". The country's national anthem, "Lesotho Fatse La Bontata Rona", translates to "Lesotho, Land of My Fathers". "Love, Fatherland, Progress" is the motto of Madagascar.

From Quiz The Landlocked Kingdom of Lesotho

Answer: Temperate

Temperate climates (in the Köppen-Geiger climate classification system) have an average temperature above 10 °C (50 °F) in their warmest months, and a coldest month average between -3 °C (26.6 °F) and 18 °C (64 °F). Lesotho's altitude means it is cooler than might be expected for its latitude, which places it just outside the tropics. Its capital, Maseru, and the surrounding lower parts of the country can reach temperatures as high as 30 °C (86 °F) in summer. Winters are cold, and snow is common in the highlands between May and September. Lesotho's climate is also sometimes referred to as continental.

From Quiz Lesotho

Answer: 909 km

Lesotho is an enclave in South Africa.

From Quiz The Kingdom of Lesotho

Answer: Camptowns

Lesotho is divided into ten districts: Berea, Butha-Buthe, Leribe, Mafeteng, Maseru, Mohale's Hoek, Mokhotlong, Qacha's Nek, Quthing and Thaba-Tseka. The capital of each district is called a camptown. The districts are subdivided further into eighty constituencies and 129 community councils.

From Quiz The Landlocked Kingdom of Lesotho

Answer: Orange and Makhaleng Rivers

The most notable geographic fact about Lesotho, apart from its status as an enclave, is that it is the only independent state in the world that lies entirely above 1,000 metres (3,200 ft) in elevation. Its lowest point, where the Makhaleng River joins the Orange River on the southwestern border, is the highest point of lowest elevation for any country. The Makhaleng River valley forms part of the approach to a number of important mountain passes, including the beautifully-named God Help Me Pass and the Gates of Paradise Pass.

From Quiz Lesotho

Answer: Mostly highland with plateaus, hills and mountains

From Quiz The Kingdom of Lesotho

Answer: The world's highest low point

Lesotho is the only independent nation in the world that is entirely over 1,000 meters above sea level. Indeed, the lowest point in Lesotho is at 1,400 meters (4,593 feet), which is the highest low point of any country. Rwanda has the second-highest low point, at a mere 950 meters (3,117 feet). The country with the highest low point outside of Africa is Andorra, at 840 meters. Mongolia has the highest low point in Asia and Bolivia (at a mere 90 meters) the highest in the Americas.

From Quiz The Landlocked Kingdom of Lesotho

Answer: Thabana Ntlenyana

The peak of Thabana Ntlenyana is the highest point in the country, at 3,482 m (11 424 ft) above sea level, as well as being the highest mountain in southern Africa. Thabana Ntlenyana, whose name means "Beautiful little mountain" in Sesotho, is situated on the ridge of the Drakensberg mountains near Sani Pass in Lesotho's east. The second highest point in Lesotho is nearby Njesuthi, at 3446 m (11 306 ft). Maseru is the capital city of Lesotho, located on the Caledon River, bordering South Africa, in the country's northwest. Mohale's Hoek is a town near the lowest point of Lesotho, in the southwest.

From Quiz Lesotho

Answer: Periodic droughts

From Quiz Lesotho

Answer: AIDS

From Quiz The Kingdom of Lesotho

Answer: Diamonds

The Letseng Diamond Mine in the Maloti Mountains in the far northeast of Lesotho is the world's highest diamond mine at 3,100 meters. Although it does not produce a great number of stones, it is famous for its quality, and particularly for producing relatively huge stones. Its average dollar/carat is higher than any other diamond mine in the world -- the world average is approximately $81/carat, but in just six months in 2007 the Letseng mine averaged $1,894/carat. It has produced numerous famous stones: the Lesotho Promise is a 603-carat white diamond (the largest find of the 21st Century at the time), the Lesotho Brown, a 601-carat stone found in 1967, the Letseng Legacy, a 493-carat stone found in 2007 that sold for more than $10 million.

From Quiz The Landlocked Kingdom of Lesotho

Answer: Water

Water is the most important resource for Lesotho, with the Lesotho Highlands Water Project producing the electricity needs for Lesotho, as well as allowing for the export of water to South Africa. When completed, this project is expected to produce approximately 20% of Lesotho's Gross Domestic Product. Diamonds from the Letseng diamond mine form the major mineral resource of Lesotho; it produces very few diamonds, but they are of excellent quality. Deposits of coal, galena, quartz, agate and uranium were not considered commercially viable at the start of the 21st century.

From Quiz Lesotho

Answer: 4 October

From Quiz Lesotho, Her Land and Her People

Answer: Dinosaur

Have you heard of the Lesothosaurus? Paleontologist Peter Galton named the herbivorous bipedal reptile in 1978 for the country in which it was discovered. Two specimens were found curled up together; perhaps they were hibernating underground to escape the heat. Like Tyrannosaurus, the hind limbs were much longer than the forelimbs. It was about 3 ft (1 m) long, and it had grooved teeth, a short, pointed snout, and possibly a beak. Lesotho has the highest concentration of dinosaur footprints in the world. You may view them at Morija, Leribe, and Quiteng. Other dinosaurs found in Lesotho include Massospondylus and Heterodontosaurus. Many fossils were discovered by missionaries exploring the area during the 19th century.

From Quiz The Kingdom of Lesotho

Answer: Maloti

Located on the Lesotho/South Africa border in the extreme northwest of the country, Maseru is home to around a quarter of a million people. It was established as the capital when the region became the British Protectorate of Basutoland in 1869. The city sits in the foothills of the Maloti Mountains at an elevation of 1,600 meters (5,200 feet) above sea level. Of the alternatives, the Drakensberg mountains are in the northeast of Lesotho, Thabana Ntlenyana is the country's highest mountain peak at 3,482 meters, and the Makhaleng is is one of Lesotho's major rivers.

From Quiz Lesotho

Answer: 10

These ten are: Berea, Butha-Buthe, Leribe, Mafeteng, Maseru, Mohales Hoek, Mokhotlong, Qacha's Nek, Quthing and Thaba-Tseka.

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