Basotho kingdom · 1824-1870

Moshoeshoe and the mountain kingdom

In a time of war, Moshoeshoe gathered refugees on a flat-topped mountain and built the Basotho nation. Students follow a leader who used diplomacy as much as force, and see how his kingdom became today's Lesotho.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
45 minutes
Ages
11–14
On the map
3 steps, AD 1880 to AD 2000
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

In a time of war, Moshoeshoe gathered refugees on a flat-topped mountain and built the Basotho nation. Students follow a leader who used diplomacy as much as force, and see how his kingdom became today's Lesotho.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Locate Thaba Bosiu, the Caledon river and today's Lesotho.
  • Describe how Moshoeshoe built a nation by welcoming refugees, lending cattle and making alliances.
  • Explain why Moshoeshoe asked for British protection in 1868 and what it meant for the Basotho.
2

Explore the map

12 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1880

A mountain refuge

Open the map in 1880 and find Basutoland in the high mountains. Which states surround it?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1880

Lost farmland

Zoom to the Caledon river on Basutoland's western border. The Basotho lost the fertile plains west of this river in wars with the Orange Free State in the 1860s.

Open this view on the map
c

AD 2000

A country today

Move the slider to 2000. What is the country called now, and what is unusual about its borders?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

14 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Moshoeshoe chose a flat-topped mountain as his fortress. Why was Thaba Bosiu so hard to capture?
  2. He welcomed refugees from many different peoples. How can welcoming outsiders make a nation stronger?
  3. Moshoeshoe sometimes sent tribute to more powerful kings instead of fighting them. Is that weakness or wisdom?
  4. In 1868 he asked Britain for protection to avoid losing more land to the Boers. What did he gain, and what did he risk?
  5. Lesotho survived colonial rule as a separate country. Why do you think it survived when many neighboring kingdoms did not?
4

Game round

9 min

No Basotho ruler is in Rule History. Play one round as Abraham Lincoln, who led his country through war in the same decade that Moshoeshoe was defending his. Compare: what tools did each use to hold a nation together?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.