Moshoeshoe I.

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Moshoeshoe I.

Moshoeshoe I. [ moˈ∫wɛ∫wɛ ] (* around 1790 in Menkhoaneng, today Lesotho ; † March 11, 1870 ; born as Lepoqo , later Moshoeshoe ) was the founding father and head ( Sesotho morena e moholo, English Paramount Chief ) of the people the Basotho , who today mainly lives in Lesotho.

Life

Moshoeshoe was named Lepoqo after birth. His father was the morena Mokhachane, his mother Kholu came from the Bafokeng . Shortly after his initiation , he stole the cattle of a neighboring morena. From then on he called himself Moshoeshoe, onomatopoeic for the noise when shaving, with which Moshoeshoe allegorically described his stealing of cattle. In 1810 he married Mabela, the daughter of Morena of Bafokeng. From then on it was called 'MaMohato. Their first son, Letsie , was born in 1811, their second son Molapo in 1814 , and Masopha around 1821. From his grandfather Peete, the violent Moshoeshoe was introduced to the influential Morena Mohlomi (around 1720-1816), who encouraged the young Moshoeshoe to rule with devotion, to make just decisions and to seek peace. He also advised him to choose his wives to increase his influence.

Like Mohlomi, Moshoeshoe was a member of the Bakoena , a tribe of the southern Sotho . The tribes of the southern Sotho were forced into what is now Lesotho by the war of expansion of the Zulu in the early 19th century . Moshoeshoe succeeded in forming the Basotho people from a few tribes around 1820. He had to defend himself against other tribes such as the Batlokoa and the Hlubi . Therefore, he first moved his headquarters to a mountain near Butha-Buthe in the north of the country, in 1824 to Thaba Bosiu (German: "Mountain at Night") near today's capital Maseru . Thanks to his courage and his will for peace, he was able to defend his tribal area against the Zulu and the Boer property claims . From 1833 missionaries of the Société des missions évangéliques de Paris helped him , who had founded one of the first missions in the area in Thaba Bosiu, in particular Eugène Casalis , who actually served Moshoeshoe as foreign minister. By the late 1830s, Moshoeshoe owned large herds of cattle and had nearly 200 wives.

In 1843, Moshoeshoe and the British George Thomas Napier signed the Napier Treaty ("Napier Treaty"), which confirmed the Basotho ownership on the western border, far west of today's Lesotho border, with only minor loss of land. Moshoeshoe was recognized for the first time as the leader of the Basotho by the European powers in the region. In 1858 the country was attacked by Boers in the Senekal War and again in 1865 and 1867 in the Seqiti War and occupied except for the fortress Thaba Bosiu, so that Moshoeshoe asked the British to act as a protective power. On March 12, 1868, the area was declared a British colony of Basutoland with the approval of Moshoeshoe . Moshoeshoe remained chief and was thus able to escape the control of the Boer republics in what is now South Africa . He abdicated on January 18, 1870, handed over the office to his son Letsie and died shortly afterwards.

aftermath

Moshoeshoes I grave on the Thaba Bosiu

Moshoeshoe is considered the wise and honest father of the nation and is still revered in Lesotho today. The day of his death, March 11th, is celebrated as a holiday, Moshoeshoe's Day . Until 1993, March 12th was Moshoeshoe's Day, the day Basutoland was annexed to the United Kingdom. The Maseru airport called Moshoeshoe I. International Airport.

His great-great-grandson Moshoeshoe II , first king of Lesotho, named himself after his ancestor. Since then the addition "I." has been used for this.

See also

literature

  • Scott Rosenberg, Richard W. Weisfelder, Michelle Frisbie-Fulton: Historical Dictionary of Lesotho. Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland / Oxford 2004, ISBN 978-0-8108-4871-9 , pp. 281-286.

documentary

  • Max du Preez : The Renaissance King: Morena Moshoeshoe (1786–1870) , South Africa 2004.

Web links

Commons : Moshoeshoe I  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ David Ambrose : The Guide to Lesotho . Winchester Press, Johannesburg / Maseru 1976, ISBN 0-620-02190-X , p. 73
  2. ^ A b c 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. 281.
  3. ^ Scott Rosenberg, Richard W. Weisfelder, Michelle Frisbie-Fulton: Historical Dictionary of Lesotho. Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland / Oxford 2004, ISBN 978-0-8108-4871-9 , pp. 262-263.
  4. ↑ David Ambrose: The Guide to Lesotho . Winchester Press, Johannesburg / Maseru 1976, ISBN 0-620-02190-X , p. 71
  5. ↑ a b Scott Rosenberg, Richard W. Weis fields Michelle Frisbie-Fulton: Historical Dictionary of Lesotho. Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland / Oxford 2004, ISBN 978-0-8108-4871-9 , p. 283.
  6. ^ 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. 284.
personal data
SURNAME Moshoeshoe I.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lepoqo (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Head and founding father of the Basotho people
DATE OF BIRTH 18th century
PLACE OF BIRTH Menkhoaneng, Basutoland
DATE OF DEATH March 11, 1870