Editing History of South Africa (section)

====Wars with the Basotho====
[[File:King Moshoeshoe of the Basotho with his ministers.jpg|thumb|King Moshoeshoe with his advisors]]
From the 1830s onwards, numbers of white settlers from the Cape Colony crossed the Orange River and started arriving in the fertile southern part of territory known as the Lower Caledon Valley, which was occupied by Basotho cattle herders under the authority of the Basotho founding monarch [[Moshoeshoe I]]. In 1845, a treaty was signed between the British colonists and Moshoeshoe, which recognised white settlement in the area. No firm boundaries were drawn between the area of white settlement and Moshoeshoe's kingdom, which led to border clashes. Moshoeshoe was under the impression he was loaning grazing land to the settlers in accordance with African precepts of occupation rather than ownership, while the settlers believed they had been granted permanent land rights. Afrikaner settlers in particular were loath to live under Moshoesoe's authority and among Africans.<ref>David B Coplan, ''Unconquered Territory: Narrating the Caledon Valley'', Journal of African Cultural Studies, Vol 13, No 2, December 2000, p.192</ref>

The British, who at that time controlled the area between the Orange and Vaal Rivers called the [[Orange River Sovereignty]],  decided a discernible boundary was necessary and proclaimed a line named the Warden Line, dividing the area between British and Basotho territories. This led to conflict between the Basotho and the British, who were defeated by Moshoeshoe's warriors at the battle of Viervoet in 1851.

As punishment to the Basotho, the governor and commander-in-chief of the Cape Colony, George Cathcart, deployed troops to the Mohokare River; Moshoeshoe was ordered to pay a fine. When he did not pay the fine in full, a battle broke out on the Berea Plateau in 1852, where the British suffered heavy losses. In 1854, the British handed over the territory to the Boers through the signing of the [[Sand River Convention]]. This territory and others in the region then became the Republic of the Orange Free State.<ref>Information department, Government of Lesotho, [https://web.archive.org/web/20061107030932/http://www.lesotho.gov.ls/about/default.php ''About Lesotho'']. Accessed 1 May 2015</ref>

A succession of wars followed from 1858 to 1868 between the Basotho kingdom and the Boer republic of [[Orange Free State]].<ref>Roger B Beck, ''History of South Africa'', Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut 2000, p.74 {{ISBN|0-313-30730-X}}</ref> In the battles that followed, the Orange Free State tried unsuccessfully to capture Moshoeshoe's mountain stronghold at [[Thaba Bosiu]], while the [[Lesotho|Sotho]] conducted raids in Free State territories. Both sides adopted scorched-earth tactics, with large swathes of pasturage and cropland being destroyed.<ref>George McCall Theal, ''History of South Africa'', Vol IV, "War with the Basuto", London: Allen & Unwin, 1919, p. 225-79</ref> Faced with starvation, Moshoeshoe signed a peace treaty on 15 October 1858, though crucial boundary issues remained unresolved.<ref name="Beck 2000, p. 74">Beck 2000, p. 74</ref> War broke out again in 1865. After an unsuccessful appeal for aid from the British Empire, Moshoeshoe signed the 1866 treaty of Thaba Bosiu, with the Basotho ceding substantial territory to the Orange Free State. On 12 March 1868, the British parliament declared the Basotho Kingdom a British protectorate and part of the British Empire. Open hostilities ceased between the Orange Free State and the Basotho.<ref>James S Olson, Robert S Shadle (eds.) ''Historical Dictionary of the British Empire'', Greenwood Press: Westport, Connecticut 1996, p.118 {{ISBN|0-313-27917-9}}</ref> The country was subsequently named [[Basutoland]] and is presently named [[Lesotho]].