Editing History of Lesotho (section)

==Early modern history==
There were several severe disruptions to the Basotho people in the early 19th century.  One view states that the first of these were marauding [[Zulu people|Zulu]] clans, displaced from Zululand as part of the Lifaqane (or [[Mfecane]]), wrought havoc on the Basotho peoples they encountered as they moved first west and then north.  The second that no sooner than the Zulu has passed to the north than the first [[Voortrekkers]] arrived, some of whom obtained hospitality during their difficult trek north. Early Voortrekker accounts describe how the lands surrounding the mountain retreat of the Basotho had been burnt and destroyed, in effect leaving a vacuum that subsequent Voortrekkers began to occupy.<ref name="diplomacy.edu"/>

However, this interpretation of history for the entire southern region of Africa is a matter of dispute. One attempt at refutation came by Norman Etherington in ''The Great Treks:  The Transformation of Southern Africa, 1815-1854'' (Longman, 2001).  Etherington argues that no such thing as the Mfecane occurred, the Zulu were no more marauding than any other group in the region, and the land the Voortrekkers saw as empty was not settled by either Zulu or Basotho because those people did not value open lowland plains as pasture.<ref>{{Citation|last=WRIGHT|first=JOHN|title=Beyond the Concept of the 'Zulu Explosion'|work=Mfecane Aftermath|year=1995|pages=107–121|publisher=Wits University Press|doi=10.18772/21995012521.13|isbn=978-1-86814-699-4}}</ref>