Issue Commemorates Maseru’s Centenary

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32164, 6 December 1969, Page 24

Issue Commemorates Maseru’s Centenary

Any reference to national capitals usually summons thoughts of large and historic cities with populations running into millions. But in the new nations of Africa the picture can be very different Maseru, the capital of Lesotho (formerly known as Basutoland), didn’t even exist a century ago—and even now its population is only about 8000.

Lesotho is a geographical curiosity—a remote and mountainous enclave of 11,716 square miles entirely surrounded by the South African republic. For many years the Basutos sought protection from the British authorities in South Africa against the incursions of the Boers from the Orange Free State. In 1868 Britain agreed to look after Basuto interests, and on March 11, 1869, at the request of the great Basuto chief Moshesh, Commandant James H. Bowker established * a police camp at Maseru—“the place of red sandstone.” This spot on the banks of the River Caledon, proved ideal. Soon the first permanent buildings arose—on the site of the present-day officers’ mess of the Lesotho police—and' Bowker laid out a small village still known to this day as The Camp. No-one could have guessed that from these humble beginnings would grow tbe capital of an independent nation. This did not come about until 1966, seven years after the establishment of a