Batlokoa
The Batlokoa or Batlokwa are an ethnic group in South Africa , Lesotho and Botswana .
The Batlokoa trace their ancestry back to the ruler Kgwadi, a son of the ruler Tabane, who lived around 1500. They form different groups, including among the Bapedi in northern South Africa. They speak Sepedi , Sesotho or Setswana , depending on where you live .
Batlokoa in Basutoland and Lesotho
The Batlokoa originally lived north of the Drakensberg . Because of the Mfecane , they fled westwards and settled in the area of the later homeland of QwaQwa in the 1820s . At that time they were led by the regent 'MaNthatisi and then by her son Sekonyela. The Batlakoa harassed the Basotho , so that their chief Moshoeshoe I. moved his seat south to Thaba Bosiu in 1824 . In 1853 the Basotho inflicted a defeat on the Batlakoa in the course of the Seqiti War at Marabeng, so that Sekonyela and his followers fled to the Cape Province . His grandson Lelingoana, however, supported the Basotho in the Gun War (1880–1881). Subsequently, many Batlokoa settled in eastern Basutoland (now Lesotho).
The Batlokoa became one of three Basotho tribes. Their language is like that of all Basotho Sesotho. The other tribes are the Bakoena and the Bataung . The place Tlokoeng in the Mokhotlong district is named after the Batlokoa. It is the seat of the head of the Batlokoa in Lesotho.
Batlokwa in Botswana
More Batlokwa live in southern Botswana. The city of Tlokweng in the south of the country is named after them. In 1890 the head of the Batlokwa, Kgosi Gaborone, founded today's capital Gaborone .
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c d Scott Rosenberg, Richard W. Weisfelder, Michelle Frisbie-Fulton: Historical Dictionary of Lesotho. Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland / Oxford 2004, ISBN 978-0-8108-4871-9 , p. 41.
- ^ Scott Rosenberg, Richard W. Weisfelder, Michelle Frisbie-Fulton: Historical Dictionary of Lesotho. Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland / Oxford 2004, ISBN 978-0-8108-4871-9 , p. 158.