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Sotho people
Sign in to saveAlso known as Basuto, Souto, Suthu, Suto, Basutos
Basotho (Southern Sotho) - ethnic group in Southern Africa
Key facts
- South africa
- 5,103,205
- Lesotho
- 2,130,110
- Botswana
- 11,000
- Eswatini
- 6,000
- Namibia
- 4,000
via Wikipedia infobox
~18 min read
Encyclopedic overview
The Sotho (/ˈsuːtuː/), also known as the Basotho (/bæˈsuːtuː/), are a Sotho-Tswana ethnic group indigenous to Southern Africa. They primarily inhabit the regions of Lesotho, South Africa, Botswana and Namibia.
The ancestors of the Sotho people are believed to have originated from Northeast Africa, and migrated south in the fifth century AD. The Sotho people have split into different clans over time as a result of the Mfecane (a series of wars and migrations that took place in the 19th century) and colonialism.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Sotho people” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.