The Kingdom of Lesotho Trivia Quiz

Answer: Albania

Lesotho is ranked as the 141st largest country in the world, just one place behind Belgium, which is less than 100 sq miles larger. In U.S. terms, both Lesotho and Belgium would fit between 42nd-largest state Maryland and 43rd-largest Hawaii. Denmark and Slovakia are both around one-and-a-half times the size of Lesotho, but Albania, with an area of only 11,100 sq miles, is the one that is smaller.

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.

Answer: Maputo

Teyateyaneng is a town of 75,000 inhabitants located near the northwestern border with South Africa. It is the capital of the Berea district. Founded in 1876, Hlotse is a an important market town near the northern border and the capital of the Leribe district. Mafeteng is a town of 60,000 located near the western border about fifty miles south of the capital, Maseru. It is the capital of the district of the same name.

The odd one out is Maputo, which is the capital of nearby Mozambique.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Answer: Orange River

The Orange River, South Africa's longest river, rises in the Drakensberg Mountains of Lesotho before traveling west through South Africa to drain into the Atlantic Ocean. The river is a major source of hydroelectric power in both Lesotho and South Africa.

Of the alternatives, the Limpopo, the second largest African river draining into the Indian Ocean, has its sources in Botswana and South Africa. The Zambezi, Africa's fourth-longest river, rises in Zambia and empties into the Indian Ocean in Mozambique. The Okavango has its source in Angola before flowing into Botswana.

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.

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.