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157-708: In southern Africa, rocks of the Karoo Supergroup cover almost two thirds of the present land surface, making part of the 75% of sediments or sedimentary rocks covering the earth including all of Lesotho , almost the whole of Free State , and large parts of the Eastern Cape , Northern Cape , Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal Provinces of South Africa . Karoo supergroup outcrops are also found in Namibia , Eswatini , Zambia , Zimbabwe and Malawi , as well as on other continents that were part of Gondwana . The basins in which it

314-553: A British protectorate in 1868. In 1869, the British signed a treaty at Aliwal North with the Boers that defined the boundaries of Basutoland. This treaty reduced Moshoeshoe's kingdom to half its previous size by ceding the western territories. Then, the British transferred functions from Moshoeshoe's capital in Thaba Bosiu to a police camp on the northwest border, Maseru , until eventually

471-717: A cephalopod and some echinoids are also found in the north. During the Ecca period the Falklands Plateau collided and then fused with Southern Africa, forming a vast range of mountains to the south of the Cape Fold Belt. This new mountain range was comparable in size to the Himalayas . The northern slopes of these mountains generally dipped steeply into the Karoo Sea which was at its deepest at this point. The earthquakes that accompanied

628-688: A coalition government in the National Assembly , the lower house of parliament. The upper house of parliament, the Senate , is composed of 22 principal chiefs whose membership is hereditary, and 11 appointees of the king, acting on the advice of the prime minister. The constitution provides for an independent judicial system, made up of the High Court, the Court of Appeal, Magistrate's Courts, and traditional courts that exist predominantly in rural areas. All but one of

785-537: A prosauropod dinosaur. More examples of these eggs have since been found in the Golden Gate Highlands National Park , situated on the Clarens Formation rocks. Other fossils found in the park include those of advanced cynodontia (canine toothed animals), small thecodontia (animals with teeth set firmly in the jaw), bird-like and crocodile-like dinosaurs. About 182 million years ago

942-657: A retroarc foreland basin called the "main Karoo " Basin. This basin was formed by the subduction and orogenesis along the southern border of what eventually became Southern Africa, in southern Gondwana. Its sediments attain a maximum cumulative thickness of 12 km, with the overlying basaltic lavas (the Drakensberg Group) at least 1.4 km thick. Fossils include plants (both macro-fossils and pollen ), rare insects and fish , common and diverse tetrapods (mostly therapsid reptiles, temnospondyl amphibians, and in

1099-520: A 601-carat (120.2 g) diamond ( Lesotho Brown ) was discovered in the mountains by a Mosotho woman. In August 2006, a 603-carat (120.6 g) white diamond, the Lesotho Promise , was discovered at the Letšeng-la-Terae mine. Another 478-carat (95.6 g) diamond was discovered at the same location in 2008. Lesotho has progressed in moving from a predominantly subsistence-oriented economy to

1256-618: A South African flag over the Royal Palace. By the time the SADC forces withdrew in May 1999, much of the capital of Maseru "lay in ruins", and the southern provincial capital towns of Mafeteng and Mohale's Hoek had lost over a third of their commercial real estate . An Interim Political Authority (IPA), charged with reviewing the electoral structure in the country, was created in December 1998. IPA devised

1413-414: A capital known as a camptown . The districts are subdivided into 80 constituencies , which consist of 129 local community councils . Lesotho covers 30,355 km (11,720 sq mi). It is the only independent state in the world that lies entirely above 1,000 metres (3,281 ft) in elevation. Its lowest point of 1,400 metres (4,593 ft) is thus the highest lowest point of any country in

1570-618: A drop in the price of diamonds and a drop in SACU revenues due to the economic slowdown in the South African economy contributed to the crisis. A reduction in worker remittances due to the "weakening" of the South African economy, contraction of the mining sector, and related job losses in South Africa contributed to Lesotho's GDP growth slowing to 0.9% in 2009. The official currency is the loti (plural: maloti) which can be used interchangeably with

1727-539: A government statement, Moshoeshoe had set out at 1 am to visit his cattle at Matsieng and was returning to Maseru through the Maluti Mountains when his car left the road. In 1997, the ruling BCP split over leadership disputes. Prime Minister Ntsu Mokhehle formed a new party, the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD), and was followed by a majority of members of parliament , which enabled him to form

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1884-465: A lower middle-income economy through exporting natural resources and manufacturing goods. The exporting sectors have brought "higher and more secure" incomes to a portion of the population. The global economic crisis caused Lesotho to suffer a loss of textile exports and jobs due to the economic slowdown in the United States, one of their export destinations. Reduced diamond mining and exports, including

2041-678: A major earthquake , originating from movement of the northern end of the Worcester Fault. Another major (inactive) fault runs for 300 km along the southern edge of the Swartberg Mountains. The Swartberg Mountains were uplifted along this fault, to such an extent that in the Oudtshoorn region the rocks that form the base of the Cape Supergroup are exposed. These are locally known as the "Cango Group", but are probably continuous with

2198-462: A maximum thickness of 2000 m, was laid down. These sandstones are very hard, and erosion resistant. They therefore form the bulk of mountains and steep cliffs and rugged crags of the Cape Fold Belt, including the upper 600 m of the 1 km high Table Mountain , below which Cape Town is situated. It contains no fossils. The Peninsula formation can be traced from 300 km north of Cape Town (i.e. about 50 km north of Vanrhynsdorp on

2355-421: A maximum width of about 50 km (mostly only 15–30 km wide). Almost all of these ranges consist of hard erosion resistant Peninsula Group rocks. The valleys tend to be floored by Bokkeveld Group mudstones. A remarkable feature of these ranges is that the 1500 m high mountains (from base to crest) are cut through by very narrow, almost vertically walled defiles , not much more than 50–70 m wide at

2512-692: A mixed general legal system which resulted from the interaction between the Roman-Dutch civil law and the English common law . Its general law operates independently. Lesotho applies the common law , which refers to unwritten law or law from non-statutory sources, and excludes customary law . Decisions from South African courts are only persuasive, and courts refer to them in formulating their decisions. Decisions from some jurisdictions can be cited for their persuasive value. Magistrates' court decisions do not become precedent since these are lower courts. They are bound by

2669-407: A monotonous sequence of shales and mudstones , with some interbedded lenticular sandstones . The Beaufort Group is rich in reptilian, and to a lesser extent, amphibian remains. There is a plethora of both herbivorous and carnivorous reptile fossils. The Beaufort rocks are internationally famous for its rich record of therapsid synapsids (mammal-like reptiles), which mark an intermediary stage in

2826-626: A mountain range of immense proportions to the south of the former rift valley. The folded Cape Supergroup formed the northern foothills of this towering mountain range. The weight of the Falkland-Cape Supergroup mountains caused the continental crust of Southern Africa to sag, forming a retroarc foreland system, into which the Karoo Supergroup was deposited. Eventually much of the Cape Supergroup became buried under these Karoo deposits, only to re-emerge as mountains when upliftment of

2983-549: A new government. Pakalitha Mosisili succeeded Mokhehle as party leader and LCD won the general elections in 1998. Opposition protests "intensified", culminating in a demonstration outside the royal palace in August 1998. While the Botswana Defence Force troops were welcomed, tensions with South African National Defence Force troops resulted in fighting. Incidences of rioting "intensified" when South African troops hoisted

3140-443: A proportional electoral system to ensure that the opposition would be represented in the National Assembly . The new system retained the existing 80 elected Assembly seats, and added 40 seats to be filled on a proportional basis. Elections were held under this new system in May 2002, and LCD won, gaining 54% of the vote. There are irregularities and threats of violence from Major General Lekhanya. Nine opposition parties hold all 40 of

3297-536: A road cutting between Durban and Pietermaritzburg , particularly at the Marian Hill Toll Plaza. Most of the group has been deeply eroded by numerous rivers creating the ragged plateaus and scarps of the Durban-Pietermaritzburg region. With the widening and deepening of the rift valley, the entire southern portion of what was to become South Africa, as far as a line extending from Calvinia in

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3454-723: A seed bank of plants from the Malibamat'so River area. Three terrestrial ecoregions lie within Lesotho's boundaries: Drakensberg alti-montane grasslands and woodlands , Drakensberg montane grasslands , and Highveld grasslands . The economy of Lesotho is based on agriculture, livestock, manufacturing and mining, and depends on inflows of workers' remittances and receipts from the Southern African Customs Union (SACU). The majority of households subsist on farming. The formal sector employment consists mainly of female workers in

3611-500: A setback in 2008 as the result of the world recession and rebounded in 2010 and 2011. The export of diamonds reached US$ 230 million in 2010–2011. In 1957, a South African adventurer, colonel Jack Scott, accompanied by Keith Whitelock, set out prospecting for diamonds. They found their diamond mine at 3,100 m elevation, on top of the Maluti Mountains in northeastern Lesotho, some 70 km from Mokhotlong at Letšeng. In 1967,

3768-595: A son of Mokhachane, a minor chief of the Bakoteli lineage, formed his own clan and became a chief around 1804. Between 1820 and 1823, he and his followers settled at the Butha-Buthe Mountain, joining with former adversaries in resistance against the Lifaqane associated with the reign of Shaka Zulu from 1818 to 1828. Further evolution of the state emerged from conflicts between British and Dutch colonists leaving

3925-506: A thin layer (on average only about 60 m thick ) in the Peninsula Formation rocks of the more inland mountains to the west of a line between Swellendam and Calvinia . These diamictite rocks are composed of finely ground mud, containing a jumble of faceted pebbles. They can easily be recognized at a distance as this formation readily erodes into fertile, gently sloping, green swaths in a landscape where this contrasts starkly with

4082-462: A third of which is capped by the Drakensberg lavas). The magma welled up through long crack-like fissures, with occasional spatter cones, but typical volcanoes were rare. Each surface lava flow was between 10 and 20 meters thick. These flows piled up in rapid succession over 2 million years, to form a single continuous 1 to 1.6 km thick lava layer. However, not all of the magma reached

4239-635: A treaty with the British Governor of the Cape Colony, Sir George Thomas Napier , that annexed the Orange River Sovereignty where Boers had settled. These outraged Boers were suppressed in a skirmish in 1848. In 1851, a British force was defeated by the Basotho army at the city of Kolonyama. After repelling another British attack in 1852, Moshoeshoe sent an appeal to the British commander that settled

4396-539: A variety of brachiopods , as well as trilobites , molluscs , echinoderms (including starfish , crinoids , and the extinct blastoids and cystoids ), foraminifera and fish with jaws ( placoderms ). The upper layers of the Bokkeveld Group become increasingly more sandy, grading into the sandstone of the Witteberg Group , named for the range of mountains to the south of Matjiesfontein and Laingsburg in

4553-403: A variety of different ways drought in Lesotho has led to the need for humanitarian assistance. Some hygiene practices that result from "a lack of clean water" can cause cases of typhoid and diarrhea . Lack of available water indirectly leads to an "increased risk" for women and girls who collect water for household consumption as they must spend more time and travel longer distances while running

4710-473: A warrant of arrest for the murder of his wife in 2020, the South African finance minister suggested a confederation between Lesotho, Eswatini, and South Africa as a solution. His successor, Moeketsi Majoro , held office from 2020 to 2022 until he similarly resigned after a vote of "no-confidence" in Parliament for misconduct with the military and improperly handling COVID-19 . While prime minister Sam Matekane

4867-755: Is a member of the United Nations , the Non-Aligned Movement , the Commonwealth of Nations , the African Union , and the Southern African Development Community . According to 2023 V-Dem Democracy indices , Lesotho is ranked 64th electoral democracy worldwide and 7th electoral democracy in Africa . Basutoland emerged as a single polity under King Moshoeshoe I in 1822. Moshoeshoe,

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5024-538: Is active in the United Nations (UN), the African Union (AU), the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), the Commonwealth , and other international organisations. Lesotho has maintained ties with the United Kingdom (Wales in particular), Germany, the United States, and other Western states . It broke relations with China and re-established relations with Taiwan in 1990, and later restored ties with China. It recognises

5181-532: Is attested to by the fact that the 1 km high Table Mountain on the Cape Peninsula is a syncline mountain , meaning that it formed part of the bottom of a valley when the Cape Supergroup was initially folded. The anticline , or highest elevation of the fold between Table Mountain and the Hottentots-Holland Mountains (1.2 to 1.6 km elevation), on the opposite side of the isthmus connecting

5338-647: Is charged with the protection of national security. Established in modern form by the National Security Services Act of 1998, its chief officer is designated Director General , and appointed and dismissed by the Prime Minister. LNSS is an intelligence service, part of the Ministry of Defence and National Security, and reporting directly to the Government. The Constitution of Lesotho came into force after

5495-522: Is not a microstate . Lesotho lies between latitudes 28° and 31°S , and longitudes 27° and 30°E . About 12% of Lesotho is arable land which is vulnerable to soil erosion ; it is estimated that 40 million tons of soil are lost each year due to erosion. Because of its elevation, Lesotho remains cooler throughout the year than other regions at the same latitude. Most of the rain falls as summer thunderstorms . Maseru and surrounding lowlands may reach 30 °C (86 °F) in summer. The temperature in

5652-660: Is the largest sovereign enclave in the world, and the only one outside of the Italian Peninsula . It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the highest peak in Southern Africa . It has an area of over 30,000 km (11,600 sq mi) and has a population of about two million. Its capital and largest city is Maseru . The country is also known by the nickname The Mountain Kingdom/The Kingdom in

5809-515: Is truncated by the overlying Dwyka sediments of glacial origin. The latter forms part of the Karoo Supergroup . Therefore, the Witteberg Group forms the uppermost layer of the Cape Supergroup. It tends to form the most inland outcrops of the Cape Supergroup, and can be traced eastwards as far as the Bokkeveld Group can be traced (i.e. to Port Alfred), about 120 km beyond the Cape Fold Belt. The Bokkeveld and Witteberg groups do not occur in

5966-507: Is working with the South African Development Community (SADC) towards legal reform, his administration still shows signs of corruption, as 40,000 garment workers protested for better conditions and faced excessive force that killed two protestors. Lesotho is a member of some regional economic organisations, including the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Southern African Customs Union (SACU). It

6123-622: The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) to become the largest exporter of garments to the US from sub-Saharan Africa. US brands and retailers sourcing from Lesotho include Foot Locker, Gap, Gloria Vanderbilt, JCPenney, Levi Strauss, Lululemon Athletica, Saks, Sears, Timberland and Wal-Mart. In mid-2004, its employment reached over 50,000, mostly female, marking the first time that manufacturing sector workers outnumbered government employees. In 2008 it exported goods worth 487 million dollars mainly to

6280-633: The African Surface . Nearly all of the Drakensberg lavas were eroded away, leaving a remnant in Lesotho, several small patches on the Springbok Flats in the north of the country, and in the Lebombo mountains along the Mozambique border. Once the layer of hard lava was eroded away, the softer Karoo sediments over the rest of the basin eroded even faster. However, the dolerite sills resisted erosion, protecting

6437-886: The Cape Colony following its seizure from the French-allied Dutch by the British in 1795, and also from the Orange River Sovereignty and subsequent Orange Free State . Missionaries Thomas Arbousset, Eugène Casalis and Constant Gosselin from the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society , invited by Moshoeshoe I, were placed at Morija , developing Sesotho orthography and printed works in the Sesotho language between 1837 and 1855. Casalis, acting as translator and providing advice on foreign affairs, helped set up diplomatic channels and acquire guns for use against

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6594-575: The Cape Supergroup , accumulated on the floor of this rift valley. Closure of the rift valley, starting 330 million years ago, resulted from the development of a subduction zone along the southern margin of Gondwana, and the consequent drift of the Falkland Plateau back towards Africa, during the Carboniferous and Early Permian periods. After closure of the rift valley, and compression of

6751-521: The Cape Supergroup , which is more extensive than the Fold Belt. The Supergroup is divided into several distinct Groups. The western and southern extents of the Supergroup have been folded into a series of longitudinal mountain ranges, by the collision of the Falkland Plateau into what would later become South Africa (see diagrams on the left). However, the entire suite in this region slopes downwards towards

6908-692: The Cape Town City Bowl and Table Bay. The Pakhuis Formation is also well exposed on the road along Michell's Pass just below the Tolhuis, and especially on the Pakhuis Pass near Clanwilliam , from which the formation derives its name. The glaciers which formed the Pakhuis and Cederberg formations came from the north west, in the direction of the South Pole which was located in the neighborhood of Cameroon at

7065-432: The Carboniferous and early Permian periods. After closure of the rift valley, and rucking of the Cape Supergroup into a series of parallel folds, running mainly east-west (with a short section running north-south in the west, due to collision with eastward moving Patagonia), the continued subduction of the paleo-Pacific Plate beneath the Falkland Plateau and the resulting collision of the latter with Southern Africa, raised

7222-475: The Cederberg 200 km to the north of the Cape Peninsula , and then along the south coast as far as Port Elizabeth , 650 km to the east (see the two maps one above the other on the right). The rocks were laid down as sediments in a rift valley that developed in southern Gondwana , just south of Southern Africa, during the Cambrian - Ordovician Periods (starting about 510 million years ago, and ending about 330–350 million years ago). (See

7379-399: The Gondwana rifting when South America and the Falkland Plateau separated from Africa. Patagonia was to the west of Cape Town and the Falkland Islands were to the south during the Jurassic Period prior to separation. Most of these faults are inactive today, but on 29 September 1969 the towns of Ceres and Tulbagh , about 160 km north-east of Cape Town, were severely damaged by

7536-452: The Karoo inland sea , into which icebergs which had calved off the glaciers and ice sheet to the north deposited vast quantities of mud and rocks of various sizes and origins. Such deposits are known as tillite . Further north, the ice sheet was grounded also leaving diamictite deposits whenever it partially melted, but, in addition, it scoured the bedrock, leaving behind striations (scratch marks) which can be seen near Barkly West in

7693-413: The Ou Kaapse Weg (road) goes up the slope from Westlake on to the Silvermine plateau. In the cutting one can also see the abrupt and obvious transition into the Peninsula Formation above it. Looking up the slope from below to the first hairpin bend, the granite basement on which the Graafwater formation rests is visible. And in the cutting at the first hairpin bend, the ocher-colored, gritty clay into which

7850-407: The South African rand . The loti is at par with the rand. Lesotho, Eswatini, Namibia, and South Africa form a common currency and exchange control area known as the Common Monetary Area (CMA). 100 lisente (singular: sente ) equal 1 loti. Cape Fold Belt The Cape Fold Belt is a fold and thrust belt of late Paleozoic age, which affected the sequence of sedimentary rock layers of

8007-475: The South Pole , with the result that an ice sheet several kilometers thick covered much of Africa, and other parts of Gondwana. The glacial deposits from this ice sheet were the first of the sediments to be deposited to the north of the Cape Fold Mountains (and partially over these incipient mountains). The basin into which these sediments settled was deepest immediately north of the Cape Fold Mountain ranges. The ice sheet therefore floated on an inland lake, termed

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8164-409: The State of Palestine . From 2014 up until 2018, it recognised the Republic of Kosovo . It was a public opponent of apartheid in South Africa and granted a number of South African refugees political asylum during the apartheid era. In 2019, it signed the UN treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons . The Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) is charged with the maintenance of internal security and

8321-419: The Tradouws Pass , Kogmanskloof, Garcia's pass, the Gourits River gorge (which does not have a road running through it), and Michell's Pass , which is, however, more V-shaped than the others, but impressive nevertheless. In addition several roads and highways crest the mountains over cols, or go through them via tunnels. A number of parallel faults still run roughly parallel with the coast, having formed during

8478-431: The " Malmesbury Group " that forms the base of Table Mountain on the Cape Peninsula , and similar outcrops in the Western Cape . In the Little Karoo the outcrop is composed of limestone , into which an underground stream has carved the impressively extensive Cango Caves . The following is a list of the largest individual ranges within the Cape Fold Belt include from west to east. (Translations in brackets; berg

8635-419: The 'Natural Hazard' section of Lesotho's section of the publication. In 2007, Lesotho experienced a drought and was advised by the United Nations to declare a state of emergency to get aid from international organizations. The Famine Early Warning Systems Network reported that the rainy season of 2018/2019 not only started a month later than normal but also recorded below-average amounts of rain. Data from

8792-494: The 2008 Ibrahim Index of African Governance . In 2010, the People's Charter Movement called for the practical annexation of the country by South Africa due to the HIV epidemic . Nearly a quarter of the population tests positive for HIV . The country has faced economic collapse, a weaker currency, and travel documents restricting movement. An African Union report called for economic integration of Lesotho with South Africa and stopped short of suggesting annexation. In May 2010,

8949-454: The 7 October elections . The Lesotho Government is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy . The Prime Minister, Sam Matekane , is the head of government and has executive authority . The King of Lesotho , Letsie III , is the head of state and serves a "largely ceremonial function"; he no longer possesses any executive authority and is prohibited from actively participating in political initiatives. The Revolution for Prosperity leads

9106-430: The BCP government. One of the conditions Letsie III put forward for this was that his father should be re-installed as head of state. After protracted negotiations, the BCP government was reinstated and Letsie III abdicated in favour of his father in 1995, and ascended the throne again when Moshoeshoe II died at the age of 57 in a supposed road accident when his car plunged off a mountain road on 15 January 1996. According to

9263-439: The Cape Fold Belt, being made up of the local lowest (oldest) strata of the Cape Supergroup, composed predominantly of quartzitic sandstone which forms the impressive, almost vertical cliffs which characterize the mountain and the rest of the range which constitutes the backbone of the Cape Peninsula . The degree to which the original Cape Fold mountains (formed during the Carboniferous and early Permian Periods) have been eroded

9420-412: The Cape Supergroup in the southwestern corner of South Africa . It was originally continuous with the Ventana Mountains near Bahía Blanca in Argentina , the Pensacola Mountains (East Antarctica), the Ellsworth Mountains (West Antarctica) and the Hunter-Bowen orogeny in eastern Australia. The rocks involved are generally sandstones and shales , with the shales ( Bokkeveld Group ) persisting in

9577-407: The Cape Supergroup into a series of parallel folds, running mainly east–west, the continued subduction of the paleo-Pacific Plate beneath the Falkland Plateau and the resulting collision of the latter with Southern Africa, raised a mountain range of immense proportions to the south of the former rift valley. The folded Cape Supergroup formed the northern foothills of this mountain range. The weight of

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9734-414: The Cape Supergroup sediments, but also the southern portions of the Dwyka and Ecca Groups of the Karoo Supergroup. By the time Gondwana broke up about 150 million years ago, the Falkland Mountains had been all but eroded away, before drifting south-westwards to their present position off the coast of southern South America , close to Cape Horn , leaving behind only the submarine Agulhas Bank along

9891-409: The Cape and the Lesotho statutes. The codification of customary law came about after a council was appointed in 1903 to advise the British Resident Commissioner on which laws would be best for governing the Basotho . Until this time, the Basotho customs and laws were passed down from generation to generation through oral tradition . The council was given the task of codifying them, and they came up with

10048-468: The Charter Movement delivered a petition to the South African High Commission requesting integration. South Africa's home affairs spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa rejected the idea that Lesotho should be treated as a special case. At the peak of the AIDS epidemic, over 30,000 Lesotho residents signed a petition for the country to be annexed to prevent life expectancy from falling to 34 years old. Scholars of comparative politics, like in Jeffrey Herbst 's "War and

10205-406: The Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation Station (CHIRP) shows rainfall in Lesotho between October 2018 and February 2019 ranged from 55% to 80% below normal rates. In March 2019, the Lesotho Vulnerability Assessment and Analysis Committee conducted a report that initially predicted that 487,857 people in the country need humanitarian assistance because of the effects of drought. There are

10362-405: The Falkland-Cape Supergroup mountains caused the continental crust of Southern Africa to sag, forming a retroarc foreland system, which became flooded to form the Karoo Sea. Sedimentation, beginning with glacial deposits from the north, but later from the Falkland Mountains to the south, into this depression formed the Karoo Supergroup . About 330 million years ago Gondwana had drifted over

10519-401: The Fold Belt into the Eastern Cape and northern KwaZulu-Natal , where no folding took place. The initial sedimentation into the rift valley which developed in southern Gondwana (see diagram at top left) was confined to the western and eastern ends of the rift. Rivers diverted into these early rifts deposited sand and gravel to form the Klipheuwel Group in the west, and the Natal Group in

10676-452: The Justices on the Court of Appeal are South African jurists. There is no trial by jury; rather, judges make rulings alone or, in the case of criminal trials, with two other judges as observers. The constitution protects some civil liberties , including freedom of speech , freedom of association , freedom of the press , freedom of peaceful assembly , and freedom of religion . Lesotho was ranked 12th out of 48 sub-Saharan African countries in

10833-428: The Karoo Supergroup is divided into (from oldest to youngest): Lesotho Lesotho ( / l ɪ ˈ s uː t uː / lih- SOO -too , Sotho pronunciation: [lɪˈsʊːtʰʊ] ), formally the Kingdom of Lesotho , formerly known as Basutoland , is a landlocked country in Southern Africa . As an enclave of South Africa , with which it shares a 1,106 km (687 mi) border, it

10990-406: The Karoo sedimentation to an abrupt end. The name Drakensberg Group is derived from the fact that this layer forms the uppermost 1400 m of the Great Escarpment on the international border between Lesotho and KwaZulu-Natal, often referred to as the Drakensberg (although technically the "Drakensberg" refers to the entire 1000 km long eastern portion of the Great Escarpment, only about

11147-470: The Karoo's Ecca Group . During these Ecca times continued collision of the Falkland Plateau into Southern Africa, and subduction of oceanic crust under the plateau caused the formation of a range of mountains of Himalayan proportions to the south of South Africa. The Cape Fold Mountains became fully formed during this period to become the northern foothills of this enormous mountain range. The folding that occurred during this period therefore involved not only

11304-482: The Karoo, and with it the appearance of a wide range of new species, including the dinosaurs , and true mammals during the late Triassic – early Jurassic. As Gondwana drifted north, conditions in the portion that was to become Southern Africa became increasingly hot and arid. Sandstones were the predominant rocks that formed. However, in some areas there was sufficient water to form swamps with consequent coal formation, but

11461-651: The King enter into an agreement with the British Empire to become a protectorate in 1868 and, in 1884, a crown colony . It achieved independence in 1966, and was subsequently ruled by the Basotho National Party (BNP) for two decades. Its constitutional government was restored in 1993 after seven years of military rule. King Moshoeshoe II was exiled in 1990 but returned in 1992 and was reinstated in 1995. One year later, Moshoeshoe II died and his son Letsie III took

11618-454: The Laws of Lerotholi which are then applied by customary courts (local courts). The written works of certain authors have persuasive value in the courts of Lesotho. These include the writings of the "old authorities as well as contemporary writers from similar jurisdictions". For administrative purposes, Lesotho is divided into 10 districts , each headed by a district administrator. Each district has

11775-553: The Lesotho Highlands Development Authority. The project commenced in 1986. LHWP is designed to capture, store, and transfer water from the Orange River system to South Africa's Free State and greater Johannesburg area. Completion of the first phase of the project has made Lesotho "almost completely self-sufficient" in the production of electricity and generated approximately US$ 70 million in 2010 from

11932-653: The Northern Cape, and in the grounds of the University of KwaZulu-Natal . This layer of tillite, traces of which can be found over a wide area of Southern Africa, India , and South America provided crucial early evidence in support of the Theory of Continental Drift . In South Africa the layer is known as the Dwyka Group . It is the earliest and lowermost of the Karoo Supergroup of sedimentary deposits. As Gondwana drifted away from

12089-472: The Peninsula Formation sediments, the western portion of the region was covered for a geologically brief period by glaciers. The diamictite sediments that were laid down by these glaciers, or in glacial lakes, are known as the Pakhuis and Cederberg Formations . A small patch of Pakhuis tillite occurs on the top of Table Mountain at Maclear's Beacon , but most of the Pakhuis and Cederberg Formations are found as

12246-755: The Peninsula to the Mainland, has been eroded away. The Malmesbury shale and granite basement on which this anticline mountain rested also formed an anticline; but being composed of much softer rocks, readily eroded into a 50 km wide flat plain, (now covered with dune sands) called the "Cape Flats". The Cape Fold Belt (i.e. the mountain ranges) extends from about Clanwilliam (approximately 200 km north of Cape Town), to about Port Elizabeth (approximately 650 km east of Cape Town). The Cape Supergroup sediments beyond these points are not folded into mountain ranges, but do, in places, form steep cliffs or gorges, where

12403-565: The Sky . The Sotho ethnic group (also known as Basotho), from which the country derives its name, composes 99.7% of the country's current population, making it one of the most ethnically homogeneous in the world. Their native language, Sesotho , is the official language along with English . The name Lesotho translates to "land of the Sesotho speakers". Lesotho was formed in 1824 by King Moshoeshoe I . Continuous encroachments by Dutch settlers made

12560-603: The South Pole, the glaciers melted, leaving a vast inland sea, extending across South Africa, and neighboring regions of Gondwana. It might have had an opening to the ocean (similar to the Black Sea ) but tidal effects were small. Rivers draining mountains to the north of the Karoo Sea formed large swampy deltas in which plants belonging to the Glossopteris flora flourished. This dense vegetation accumulated as peat, which eventually turned into coal. The coal deposits are confined to

12717-494: The State of Africa", argue that the lack of border disputes for countries like Lesotho and Eswatini has kept the countries weak politically. This weakness stems from the remnants of colonialism in the government, influenced by English and Roman-Dutch common law . As a result, the government was not made to serve the Basotho people but rather to be exploitative. After prime minister Tom Thabane resigned due to impeachment threats and

12874-428: The US. Since 2004, employment in the sector has dwindled to about 45,000 in mid-2011 due to international competition in the garment sector. It was the largest formal sector employer in Lesotho in 2011. In 2007, the average earnings of an employee in the textile sector were US$ 103 per month, and the official minimum wage for a general textile worker was US$ 93 per month. The average gross national income per capita in 2008

13031-516: The West Coast), southwards to Cape Town and then eastwards to northern KwaZulu-Natal , a total distance of approximately 1800 km, roughly along the South African coastline. Only the section between Clanwilliam (approximately 200 km north of Cape Town) and Port Elizabeth (approximately 650 km east of Cape Town) is folded into the Cape Fold Mountains. During the laying down of

13188-660: The Worcester-Robertson valley in the middle of the Fold Belt. Although the Dwyka and Ecca sediments adjoining the Cape Fold Mountains were subjected to the same compression forces that gave rise to the Cape Mountains, they do not form the same mountain ranges as do the Cape Fold Mountains. This is because they are composed of much softer rocks than the Peninsula Formation Sandstone, and were thus soon eroded into

13345-455: The administration of Basutoland was transferred to the Cape Colony in 1871. Moshoeshoe died on 11 March 1870, marking the beginning of the colonial era of Basutoland. In the Cape Colony period between 1871 and 1884, Basutoland was treated similarly to other territories that had been forcibly annexed, much to the humiliation of the Basotho, leading to the Basuto Gun War in 1880–1881. In 1884,

13502-550: The apparel sector, male migrant labour, primarily miners in South Africa for 3 to 9 months, and employment by the Government of Lesotho (GOL). The western lowlands form the main agricultural zone. Almost 50% of the population earn income through informal crop cultivation or animal husbandry with nearly two-thirds of the country's income coming from the agricultural sector. The percentage of the population living below USD Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) US$ 1.25/day fell from 48% to 44% between 1995 and 2003. Lesotho has taken advantage of

13659-418: The bare rocky surfaces of the quartzites above and below. In several locations the quartzites below the glacial horizon have been rucked into a series of folds. This is believed to have been caused by the movement of ice ploughing into the underlying unconsolidated sands. A good example of this can be seen on a ridge of rocks near Maclear 's Beacon on Table Mountain, close to the edge of the plateau overlooking

13816-479: The border with Mozambique to form the Lebombo Mountains . A layer of lava more than 4800 m thick was violently extruded at this time. While the Drakensberg lavas form nearly horizontal layers, the Lebombo lavas dip to the east, so it is difficult to gauge how far the lava spread laterally. The uplifting of Southern Africa heralded a phase of massive erosion, removing a layer several kilometers thick from

13973-446: The bottom, through which rivers flow from the inland Great Escarpment to the sea. It is from within these narrow defiles, many of which can be traveled by road, that one is afforded a cross sectional view of the mountains, and can appreciate their intense folding and distortion (see the photographs on the top right above). Their origin is as follows: After the fold mountains had been formed they became buried under sediments derived from

14130-498: The course of the laying down of the 6 km thick Beaufort deposits, the massive end-Permian mass extinction , 251 million years ago, extinguished about 96% of all species alive at that time. The global event can clearly be seen in the Beaufort rocks. A few members of the genus Lystrosaurus were the only mammal-like reptiles that survived this event. The Beaufort sediments that were laid down after this event tend to be coarser than

14287-453: The decisions of the High Court and the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal, the final appellate forum on all matters, has supervisory and review jurisdiction over all the courts of Lesotho. Lesotho has a dual legal system consisting of customary and general laws operating side by side. Customary law is made up of the customs of the Basotho, written and codified in the Laws of Lerotholi. The general law consists of Roman Dutch law imported from

14444-503: The defence of Lesotho. Its chief officer is designated Commander . The Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS) is charged with the maintenance of law and order. Its chief officer is designated Commissioner . LMPS provides uniformed policing, criminal detection, and traffic policing. There are specialist units dealing with high-tech crime, immigration, wildlife, and terrorism. The force has existed, with changes of name, continuously since 1872. The Lesotho National Security Service (LNSS)

14601-602: The depression that had been the Agulhas Sea, and rucking the Cape Supergroup sediments into folds running roughly parallel to what would ultimately become the south-western and southern coastlines of South Africa. This mountain building continued into the next phase of the Karoo sedimentation, which began about 260 million years ago, after the ice sheets had melted, leaving a large lake (the Karoo Sea) extending over much of South Africa. The resulting marine or lacustrine deposits form

14758-523: The dispute diplomatically, and then defeated the Batlokoa in 1853. In 1854, the British pulled out of the region, and in 1858, Moshoeshoe fought a series of wars with the Boers in what is known as the Free State–Basotho War . As a result, Moshoeshoe lost a portion of the western lowlands. The last war with the Boers ended in 1867 when Moshoeshoe appealed to Queen Victoria who agreed to make Basutoland

14915-426: The drought". There are known to be 339 bird species in Lesotho, including 10 globally threatened species and two introduced species, 17 reptile species , including geckos, snakes and lizards, and 60 mammal species endemic to Lesotho, including the endangered white-tailed rat . Lesotho's flora is alpine , due to mountainous terrain. The Katse Botanical Gardens houses a collection of medicinal plants and has

15072-570: The early Devonian Period) there was further subsidence of the rift valley floor. This brought about the deposition of deeper-water, fine grained sediments of the Bokkeveld Group . This is in marked contrast to the predominantly sandy sediments of the Table Mountain Group. The Bokkeveld Group consists predominantly mudstones. After the Cape Supergroup had been folded into the Cape Fold Mountains, these soft mudstones readily washed away from

15229-495: The east. These formations contain no fossils. Today the Klipheuwel Group is exposed in several small patches near Lamberts Bay, Piketberg, and to the south-west of Paarl Rock . The Natal Group, which is similar to the Table Mountain Group (see below), is found in several elongated patches near the coast of the northern Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal . It forms the impressive cliffs of Oribi Gorge , and can also be seen in

15386-618: The ebb and flow of tidal currents, as well as polygonal sand-filled mud cracks that indicate occasional exposure to desiccation. This layer, known as the Graafwater Formation , reaches a maximum thickness of 400 m, but on the Cape Peninsula it is only 60–70 m thick. No fossils have been found in the Graafwater rocks, but shallow-water animal tracks have been found. A particularly good example of these tracks can be viewed in

15543-625: The encroaching Europeans and the Griqua people . Trekboers from Cape Colony arrived on the western borders of Basutoland and claimed rights to its land, the first of which being Jan de Winnaar who settled in the Matlakeng area in 1838. Incoming Boers attempted to colonise the land between the two rivers and north of the Caledon , claiming that it had been abandoned by the Sotho people. Moshoeshoe subsequently signed

15700-428: The eroding African landscape to form the parallel ranges of mountains that run for 800 km along the southern and south-western Cape coastline today. In fact, they form the coastline, either sloping steeply directly into the sea, or are separated from it by a relatively narrow coastal plain. The Falkland Mountain range had probably eroded into relative insignificance by the mid-Jurassic Period, and started drifting to

15857-424: The evolution of the mammals from reptiles. The most abundant herbivores were the anomodonts , whose most primitive forms are also known from the Beaufort rocks. The dinocephalians (terrible head) are so named because of their extraordinary thick boned skulls, which were probably used for head butting during territorial fights. With their 3-meter body length, they were the first large animals to live on land. During

16014-417: The flat plains of the "Lower Karoo" , except where they were protected by hard, erosion resistant dolerite or turbidite caps, to form isolated mountains that stand out from the plain. The mountains are not particularly ancient, despite their old-looking appearance. They are considered middle-aged in geologic terms. They were created when the Falkland Plateau collided with Southern Africa, when Pangaea ,

16171-443: The formation of rift valleys along what were to become the sea borders of the subcontinent. As these rift valleys widened they became flooded to form the proto-Indian and Southern Atlantic Oceans, as Gondwana fragmented into today's separate continents of South America , Africa , Antarctica , Australia , India , Madagascar and Arabia . In close association with this rifting, a second episode of basalt eruption occurred along

16328-498: The formation of the Cape Mountains therefore initiated frequent underwater mud- and rock-slides, forming fan-shaped accumulations of turbidites , which can be seen in the south west corner of the Karoo today (see photograph lower down on the right) the Ecca group also has its members that are named based on the lithologies of the locality they are in . Turbidites have for some time been recognized as petroleum producing rocks, because

16485-642: The foyer of Geology Department of the University of Stellenbosch, where a slab of Graafwater rock from the Cederberg mountains has been built into the wall. The cutting for Chapman's Peak Drive, on the Cape Peninsula, is carved into the Graafwater Formation which overlays the Cape Granite basement rock below the road. The Graafwater Formation can also be clearly seen in the cutting on the second hairpin bend as

16642-553: The granite weathers is clearly displayed. With further subsidence of the rift valley floor, and possibly breaking through to the ocean, the sediments abruptly become more sandy, indicative of a sudden increase in the depth of the Agulhas Sea (see photograph on the right). A deposit, known as the Peninsula Formation (also often referred to as Table Mountain Sandstone ), consisting of thickly layered quartzitic sandstone , with

16799-487: The lowlands can get down to −7 °C (19 °F) and the highlands to −18 °C (0 °F) at times. Snow is more common in the highlands between May and September; the higher peaks may experience snowfalls year-round. Rainfall in Lesotho is variable regarding both when and where precipitation occurs. Annual precipitation can vary from 500 mm annually in one area to 1200 mm in another because of elevation. The summer season that stretches from October to April sees

16956-542: The massive Himalaya-sized Falkland Mountains to the south of the Cape Fold Belt. Sediments eroded from these mountains provided the bulk of the 6 km thick Beaufort sediments in the Karoo Basin, but they also covered the Cape Fold Belt, thereby protecting them from erosion. At the end of the Karoo Period about 180 million years ago, the subcontinent was covered by a thick layer of Drakensberg lavas , an event that

17113-469: The military government had originally agreed to. His son was installed as King Letsie III in his place. The chairman of the military junta , Major General Justin Metsing Lekhanya , was ousted in 1991 and replaced by Major General Elias Phisoana Ramaema who handed over power to a democratically elected government of BCP in 1993. Moshoeshoe II returned from exile in 1992 as an ordinary citizen. After

17270-612: The most rainfall, and from December to February, the majority of the country receives over 100 mm of rain a month. The least monthly rainfall in Lesotho occurs in June when most regions receive less than 15 mm a month. Periodic droughts have an effect on Lesotho's majority rural population as some people living outside of urban areas rely on subsistence farming or small scale agriculture as their primary source of income. Droughts in Lesotho are exacerbated by some agricultural practices. The World Factbook lists periodic droughts under

17427-634: The mountain tops, and only remain in the valleys. Here they form the fertile soils on which the vineyards and fruit orchards of the Western Cape flourish with the help of irrigation from the rivers that have their sources in the surrounding mountains. The Bokkeveld Group does not extend on to the Cape Peninsula or its isthmus (the Cape Flats). Here the Stellenbosch , Franschhoek , Paarl , Durbanville , Tulbagh and Constantia vineyards have been planted on

17584-444: The north and east, so that the oldest rocks are exposed in the south and west, while the youngest members of the Supergroup are exposed in the north, where the entire Cape Supergroup dives beneath the Karoo rocks . Drilling in the Karoo has established that Cape Supergroup rocks are found below the surface up to approximately 150 km north of their northernmost exposure on the surface. The Cape Supergroup extends eastwards beyond

17741-456: The north of the Karoo Sea had, by this time, been leveled by erosion and begun to be buried under newer sediments.) Several Mississippi-like rivers flowed over the silted up Karoo Basin from the south, creating rich new habitats for a variety of flora and fauna. The terrestrial (as opposed to lacunar or marine) deposits created by these rivers gave rise to the Beaufort Group . It is composed of

17898-647: The north-eastern Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal , where the Cape Supergroup is represent only by the Natal Group and a trace of the Peninsula Formation (without the intervening Graafwater Formation). The Witteberg sediments were laid down in what remained of the Agulhas Sea – a shallow, much reduced expanse of water compared to its size during the Bokkeveld period. Immediately following the Witteberg period (about 330 million years ago) much of Gondwana (particularly what

18055-515: The northern shores of the early Permian Karoo Sea, and is mined today in the Highveld and KwaZulu-Natal. These sedimentary deposits are termed the Ecca Group of the Karoo Supergroup. They consist largely of shales and sandstones , and extend over the entire former Karoo Sea, but the southerly deposits do not contain coal, even though rivers from the Cape Fold Mountains formed small deltas. Although

18212-517: The ones that preceded them, probably because of a massive die-off of vegetation, which had protected the surface against erosion. These early Triassic sandstone-dominated strata are known as the Katberg formation (within the Beaufort Group), which accumulated to a thickness of 1 km. With time the Beaufort deposits became more fine-grained once again, probably indicating a recovery of the vegetation in

18369-636: The past 180 million years has meant that rocks younger than The Drakensberg Group are almost non-existent over most of the interior. Some of the eroded material from the interior was trapped between the Cape Fold Mountains to the south during the Cretaceous Period to form the Enon Formation and similar deposits near the coast of KwaZulu-Natal , north of Richards Bay . Apart from that, only very minor patches of very recent, mainly sandy deposits occur in South Africa. In Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique

18526-439: The petroleum industry and geologists, who have found them to have rich and readily accessible deposits of oil and gas. Thus the north-eastern Ecca basin is rich in coal, while its south-western corner is becoming renowned for its oils reserves. With the formation of the Falkland Plateau and Cape Fold Mountain ranges, rivers from the south began to dominate the sedimentation in the Karoo Sea, which began to silt up. (The highlands to

18683-553: The pretense of being Azanian People's Liberation Army soldiers of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC). Deprived of arms and supplies by the David Sibeko faction of PAC in 1978, the 178-strong LLA was rescued from their Tanzanian base by the financial assistance of a Maoist PAC officer and launched a guerrilla war . A force was defeated in northern Lesotho, and later guerrillas launched more sporadic attacks. The campaign

18840-586: The proportional seats, with BNP having the largest share (21). LCD has 79 of the 80 constituency -based seats. While its elected members participate in the National Assembly, BNP has launched legal challenges to the elections, including a recount. On 30 August 2014, an alleged abortive military "coup" took place, forcing then Prime Minister Thomas Thabane to flee to South Africa for three days. On 19 May 2020, Thomas Thabane formally stepped down as prime minister of Lesotho following months of pressure after he

18997-412: The protective layer over the Cape Fold Belt eroded away, exposing their mountain tops. The rivers breached these ridges, after possibly being dammed back for a short period, creating a narrow passage through the low rocky barrier. Continued erosion exposed more and more of these quartzitic mountain ranges, but the rivers, now confined to narrow, fast flowing gorges, continued breaking through each barrier as

19154-689: The publication of the Commencement Order. Constitutionally, legislation refers to laws that have been passed by both houses of parliament and have been assented to by the king (Section 78(1)). Subordinate legislation refers to laws passed by other bodies to which parliament has, by virtue of Section 70(2) of the Constitution, validly delegated such legislative powers. These include government publications, ministerial orders, ministerial regulations, and municipal by-laws . While Lesotho shares with South Africa , Botswana , Eswatini , Namibia , and Zimbabwe

19311-560: The quality is poor. The landscape probably resembled the Kalahari desert of today, with rivers like the present-day Orange River or the Nile running through it, sustaining localized areas of Triassic flora and fauna. The Stormberg Group contains South Africa's earliest dinosaur fossils. It also contains the fossil remains of the shrew-sized Megazostrodon , the oldest mammal in Africa. A remarkable array of insect and plant fossils are found in some of

19468-518: The return to democratic government, King Letsie III tried unsuccessfully to persuade the BCP government to reinstate his father (Moshoeshoe II) as head of state . In August 1994, Letsie III staged a military-backed coup that deposed the BCP government, after the BCP government refused to reinstate his father, Moshoeshoe II, according to Lesotho's constitution. Member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) engaged in negotiations to reinstate

19625-426: The risk of being physically or sexually assaulted. Drought in Lesotho leads to both migration to more urban areas and immigration to South Africa for new opportunities and to escape food insecurity. The report found that between July 2019 and June 2020 640,000 people in Lesotho are expected to be affected by food insecurity as a result of "unproductive harvests as well as the corresponding rise in food prices because of

19782-461: The sale of electricity and water to South Africa. Diamonds are produced at the Letšeng, Mothae, Liqhobong, and Kao mines, which combined are estimated to produce 240,000 carats of diamonds in 2014, worth US$ 300 million. The Letšeng mine is estimated to produce diamonds with an average value of US$ 2172 per carat, making it the world's richest mine on an average price per carat basis. The sector underwent

19939-506: The softer Beaufort and Ecca shales beneath them. This created numerous and widespread flat topped hills, known as Karoo Koppies ("koppie" being the Afrikaans term for hill), which are iconic of the Karoo, and, by extension, the South African landscape. The dykes , or vertical fissures which brought the lava to the surface stand out today as linear ridges extending across large stretches of the Karoo. The continued erosion of Southern Africa over

20096-422: The south-west soon after Gondwana began to break up 150 million years ago, leaving the Cape Fold Belt to edge the southern portion of the newly formed African continent. Even though the mountains are very old by Andean and Alpine standards, they remain steep and rugged due to their quartzitic sandstone geology (see below) making them very resistant to weathering . The famous Table Mountain forms part of

20253-464: The southern Karoo . These rocks were laid down 370 – 330 million years ago in the silted up, and therefore shallow marine conditions of what remained of the Agulhas Sea. The group contains fewer fossils than the Bokkeveld Group, but the assemblage that is preserved includes primitive fish, an extinct species of shark, brachiopods, bivalves , and a meter long sea scorpion . There are also plant fossils and numerous animal tracks. The Witteberg Group

20410-559: The southern African portion of Gondwana passed over the Bouvet hotspot causing the crust under the Karoo Supergroup to rupture, releasing huge volumes of basaltic lava over the Clarens desert, covering nearly the whole of Southern Africa and other portions of Gondwana.The pile of lava that accumulated over the course of several eruptions was more than 1600 m thick, especially in the east (in present-day Lesotho). This massive lava outpouring brought

20567-538: The southern coastline of Africa. The Cape Fold Mountains possibly survived erosional obliteration, firstly because of the extremely hard rocks (the Peninsula Formation Sandstone) that form the backbone of the mountain chains, but also possibly because they had become buried under the Karoo deposits which originated in the Falkland Mountains. Thus traces of Karoo deposits can, for instance, be found in

20724-640: The strata. The uppermost strata of the Stormberg group were probably laid down under true sand desert conditions, similar to the Namib Desert in Namibia. It was probably as large as the Sahara Desert today, extending from the Cape Fold Mountains many thousands of kilometers northwards over large parts of Gondwana. Only a small remnant of this massive formation can be found in and around Lesotho today. This formation

20881-400: The subcontinent, about 180 million years ago, and again 20 million years ago, started an episode of continuous erosion that was to remove many kilometers of surface deposits from Southern Africa. Although the tops of the original Cape Fold Mountains were eroded away, they eroded much slower than the considerably softer Karoo deposits to the north. Thus the Cape Fold Belt "erupted" from

21038-515: The supercontinent formed during the Cambrian - Ordovician periods (from 510 to about 330–350 million years ago),. Their stature, with heights varying from 1000m to 2300m, is mostly due to the weather-resistant rocks of quartzitic sandstone of the Peninsula Group (see above). They occur in long parallel ranges each not much more than 10 km wide, separated by equally long valleys with

21195-484: The surface, but extruded under high pressure between the horizontal strata of the Ecca and Beaufort rocks. When this magma solidified it formed multiple dolerite sills at various depths throughout the southern and south-western Karoo sediments. These sills vary in thickness from a few centimeters to hundreds of meters. This outpouring of lava coincided with uplifting of the Southern African portion of Gondwana, and

21352-479: The surrounding landscape eroded to lower and lower levels, particularly during the past 20 million years. These 150‑million-year-old rivers therefore cut the defile, starting by flowing over, and then through the gradually erupting Cape Fold Mountains, to form the spectacular "poorte" and "klowe" (plural of "poort" and "kloof", the Afrikaans for defile or chasm) that characterize these mountains today. The best known defiles are: Meiringspoort , Seweweekspoort ,

21509-506: The surrounding sediments have been eroded away (see, for instance, Oribi Gorge in KwaZulu-Natal ). The mountains, although only of moderate height, are majestic and dramatic. This is due in part to numerous geological factors; The ranges usually have few to no foothills and rise directly from valley floors. The bases of the mountains are usually at or near sea level. The mountains of the Cape Fold Belt are composed of rocks belonging to

21666-538: The territory became a Crown colony by the name of Basutoland, with Maseru as its capital. It remained under direct rule by a governor, while effective internal power was wielded by tribal chiefs . In 1905, a railway line was built to connect Maseru to the railway network of South Africa. Basutoland gained its independence from the United Kingdom and became the Kingdom of Lesotho in 1966. The Basotho National Party (BNP) ruled from 1966 until January 1970. What later ensued

21823-422: The throne, which he still holds. Lesotho is considered a lower middle income country with significant socioeconomic challenges. Almost half of its population is below the poverty line, and the country's HIV/AIDS prevalence rate is the second-highest in the world . However, it also targets a high rate of universal primary education and has one of the highest rates of literacy in Africa (81% as of 2021). Lesotho

21980-568: The time. The Upper Peninsula Formation, above the Pakhuis and Cederberg Formations, consists of much softer sandstone than the Lower Peninsula Formation, and is often referred to as the Nardouw Formation . In the Cederberg this formation has been eroded by the wind into a wide variety of "sculptures", caves, and other fascinating structures for which these mountains have become well-known. About 400 million years ago (in

22137-472: The underwater avalanches that cause these deposits often carry organic matter from close to the coastline, especially near river estuaries and deltas, into the anoxic depths of adjoining troughs. Here it is buried in the turbidite and turns into hydrocarbons , particularly petroleum and gas. The turbidites in the Ecca formation of the Tanqua and Laingsburg Karoo regions have thus, recently, come under scrutiny by

22294-472: The upper strata dinosaurs ), and ichnofossils . Their biostratigraphy has been used as the international standard for global correlation of Permian to Jurassic nonmarine strata. About 510 million years ago a rift valley developed across Southern Gondwana just south of Southern Africa, but extending westward into South America , and eastward into Eastern Antarctica and possibly even into Australia . An 8 km thick layer of sediment, known as

22451-515: The valley floors while the erosion resistant sandstones (of the Peninsula Formation) form the parallel ranges, the Cape Fold Mountains, which reach a maximum height of 2325 m at Seweweekspoortpiek ('Seven Weeks Defile Peak' in Afrikaans). The Cape Fold Mountains form a series of parallel ranges that run along the south-western and southern coastlines of South Africa for 850 km from

22608-465: The vegetation in the south was not as dense as on the northern shores of the inland sea, several early reptiles such as Mesosaurus are found in these Ecca deposits. This is a fossil reptile found only in Southern Africa and Brazil providing important paleontological evidence of the existence of the Gondwana supercontinent. The northern shores contain mainly fossil plants, pollens and spores. Fossils of

22765-400: The weathered Cape Granite and Malmesbury shale soils, which form the basement rocks on which the Cape Supergroup rocks in this region rest. The Bokkeveld Group extends eastwards to Port Alfred (near Grahamstown ), approximately 120 km beyond the eastern extent of the Cape Fold Belt. The bulk of the fossils found in the Cape Supergroup occur in the Bokkeveld mudstones. They include

22922-635: The west to East London in the east, plus the KwaZulu-Natal coastline, became flooded, leading to a seaway across the southern and eastern parts of the country, called the Agulhas Sea. The sea floor consisted of the Klipheuwel Group in the west, the Natal Group in the east, and eroded pre-Cambrian rocks in between. The first sediments into the initially still shallow, possibly inland, sea were alternating layers of maroon-colored mudstones and buff-colored sandstones, each mostly between 10 and 30 cm thick. The mudstone units commonly display ripple marks from

23079-463: The world . Over 80% of the country lies above 1,800 metres (5,906 ft). Lesotho is the southernmost landlocked country in the world. It is the largest of the world's three independent states completely surrounded by the territory of another country , with Vatican City and San Marino being the other two. It is the only such state outside the Italian peninsula and Europe , as well as the only one that

23236-494: The yellow block labeled C on the Earth's geological timeline diagram on the right.) An 8-km-thick layer of sediment, known as the Cape Supergroup (see below), accumulated on the floor of this rift valley. Closure of the rift valley, starting 330 million years ago, resulted from the development of a subduction zone along the southern margin of Gondwana , and the consequent drift of the Falkland Plateau back towards Africa, during

23393-400: Was US$ 83 per month. The sector initiated a program to fight HIV/AIDS called Apparel Lesotho Alliance to Fight AIDS (ALAFA). It is an industry-wide program providing disease prevention and treatment for workers. Water and diamonds are some of Lesotho's natural resources. Water is used through the 21-year, multibillion-dollar Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP), under the authority of

23550-547: Was a de facto government led by Leabua Jonathan . In January 1970, the ruling BNP lost the first post-independence general elections , with 23 seats to the Basotho Congress Party 's (BCP) 36. Prime Minister Jonathan refused to cede power to BCP, instead declaring himself prime minister and imprisoning the BCP leadership. BCP began a rebellion and then received training in Libya for its Lesotho Liberation Army (LLA) under

23707-445: Was abducted from his home, together with two friends, and murdered. After Jonathan was sacked in a 1986 coup, the Transitional Military Council that came to power granted executive powers to King Moshoeshoe II , who was until then a ceremonial monarch . In 1987 the king was forced into exile after coming up with a 6-page memorandum on how he wanted the Lesotho's constitution to be, which would have given him more executive powers than

23864-403: Was accompanied by upliftment or bulging of Southern Africa, ushering in an almost uninterrupted period, continuing to the present, of erosion removing many kilometers of surface rocks from the entire subcontinent. Rivers running off this bulging interior into the seas that were forming around South Africa as Gondwana was breaking up 150 million years ago, eventually encountered rocky ridges as

24021-416: Was compromised when BCP's leader, Ntsu Mokhehle , went to Pretoria . In the 1980s, some Basotho who sympathised with the exiled BCP were threatened with death and attacked by the government of Leabua Jonathan. On 4 September 1981, the family of Benjamin Masilo was attacked. In the attack his 3-year-old grandson died. Four days later, Edgar Mahlomola Motuba, the editor of the newspaper Leselinyana la Lesotho ,

24178-431: Was deposited formed during the formation and breakup of Pangea . The type area of the Karoo Supergroup is the Great Karoo in South Africa , where the most extensive outcrops of the sequence are exposed. Its strata, which consist mostly of shales and sandstones , record an almost continuous sequence of marine glacial to terrestrial deposition from the Late Carboniferous to the Early Jurassic . These accumulated in

24335-510: Was formerly known as “Cave Sandstone” as wind-eroded shallow caves often developed in cliffs made up of these rocks. These caves were later used by the San people who frequently decorated the walls with their paintings . Today the Cave Sandstones are called the Clarens Formation . The oldest dinosaur embryos ever discovered were found in the Clarens Formation in 1978. The eggs were from the Triassic Period (220 to 195 million years ago) and had fossilised foetal skeletons of Massospondylus ,

24492-488: Was named as a suspect in the murder of his ex-wife. Moeketsi Majoro , the economist and former Minister of Development Planning, was elected as Thabane's successor. On 13 May 2020, according to the health ministry, Lesotho became the last African nation to report a COVID-19 case . On 28 October 2022, Sam Matekane was sworn in as Lesotho's new Prime Minister after forming a new coalition government. His Revolution for Prosperity (RFP) party, formed earlier same year, won

24649-433: Was to become Africa and Antarctica, but also parts of South America and India) became covered in a kilometers thick layer of ice as the super-continent drifted over the South Pole. The diamictite deposits left by these glaciers form the first layer of the Karoo Supergroup , called the Dwyka Group . During the glaciation period the Falkland Plateau started to move northwards into what was to become southern Africa, closing

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