A South African Kingdom: The Pursuit of Security in Nineteenth-Century Lesotho

by Elizabeth A. Eldredge

• ISBN13: 9780521523042
• ISBN10: 0521523044
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-06-30
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The Basotho kingdom emerged and consolidated in the dramatic and dangerous environment of nineteenth-century South Africa. Elizabeth Eldredge explores its transition from chiefdom to kingdom to the British colony of Basutoland. She provides a rich description of local agriculture and craft industries, including an analysis of the roles of women in production and politics. Emphasizing the resourcefulness of the Basotho, the book describes how they united in their struggle to sustain their society and economy in the face of political and environmental threats.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	x
List of tables	xi
Acknowledgements	xii
List of abbreviations	xiii
Note on orthography and terminology	xiv
Introduction	1	(17)
Settlement and trade patterns before 1830	18	(10)
Political consolidation and the rise of Moshoeshoe in the 1820s	28	(14)
The land of the BaSotho: the geographic extent of Moshoeshoe's authority, 1824--1864	42	(5)
The European intrusion and the competition for land, 1834--1868	47	(11)
Food and politics: feasts and famines	58	(24)
The rise and decline of craft specialization	82	(19)
The allocation of labor, 1830--1910	101	(16)
The local exchange of goods and services, 1830--1910	117	(9)
Women, reproduction, and production	126	(21)
The BaSotho and the rise of the regional European market, 1830--1910	147	(20)
The colonial imposition and the failure of the local economy, 1871--1910	167	(15)
Economy, politics, migrant labor, and gender	182	(13)
In pursuit of security	195	(7)
Appendix Note on oral sources	202	(6)
Notes	208	(26)
Bibliography	234	(11)
Index	245