LESOTHO TRIBES

Season 2 Episode 21

Lesotho is inhabited by a majority of Sotho people who were the early inhabitants of the country until the Bushmen also migrated there.

We’d look at the major inhabitants of the Kingdom of Lesotho in today’s episode of Learn Africa.

MAJOR ETHNIC GROUPS IN LESOTHO

• Sotho
• Nguni
• San
  

SOTHO 

The Sotho tribe of Lesotho is the largest ethnic group in Lesotho consisting of above 95% of the total population of the country. The Sotho ethnic group  are part of the Bantu ethnic group that can be found in South Africa. 

The Sotho or Basotho tribe was established through the efforts of King Moshoeshoe I who brought together different clans from different parts of South Africa.

The native language of the Sotho people is Sesotho.

NGUNI

The Nugni ethnic tribe is a sub ethnic group of the Basotho tribe found in South Africa. The Nguni ethnic group consists of Phuti, Hlubi, Swati, Ndebele, Xhosa and Zulu.

The Nguni ethnic group speaks the Nguni language as the main native language.

SAN

Just as they can be found in Namibia, the San tribe are found in Lesotho. They were majorly hunter-gatherers in past times although this has changed with time as most of them have diversified into other fields like growing crops, livestock rearing, and other domestic jobs.

The major native language of the San tribe is Khoisan.

Written and edited by Ebenezer Oladokun