Main article: Free State–Basotho Wars

In 1818, Moshoeshoe I  consolidated various Basotho groupings and became their king. During Moshoeshoe’s reign (1823–1870), a series of wars (1856–68) were fought with the Boers who had settled in traditional Basotho lands. These wars resulted in the extensive loss of land, now known as the “Lost Territory”.

A treaty was signed with the Boers of Griqualand in 1843 and an agreement was made with the British in 1853 following a minor war. The disputes with the Boers over land, however, were revived in 1858 with Senekal’s War and again, more seriously, in 1865 with the Seqiti War. The Boers had a number of military successes, killing possibly 1,500 Basotho soldiers, and annexed an expanse of arable land which they were able to retain following a treaty at Thaba Bosiu.^[6] Further conflict led to an unsuccessful attack on Thaba Bosiu and the death of a Boer commandant, Louw Wepener, but by 1867, much of Moshoeshoe’s land and most of his fortresses had been taken.^[7]

Fearing defeat, Moshoeshoe made further appeals to High Commissioner Philip Edmond Wodehouse for British assistance.^[7] On 12 March 1868, the British Cabinet agreed to place the territory under British protection and the Boers were ordered to leave. In February 1869, the British and the Boers agreed to the Convention of Aliwal North, which defined the boundaries of the protectorate.^[7] The arable land west of the Caledon River remained in Boer hands and is referred to as the Lost or Conquered Territory. Moshoeshoe died in 1870 and was buried atop Thaba Bosiu.

Annexation by Cape Colony[edit]

In 1871 the protectorate was annexed to Cape Colony. The Basotho resisted the British and in 1879 a southern chief, Moorosi, rose in revolt. His campaign was crushed, and he was killed in the fighting. The Basotho then began to fight amongst themselves over the division of Moorosi’s lands. The British extended the Cape Peace Preservation Act of 1878 to cover Basutoland and attempted to disarm the natives. Much of the colony rose in revolt in the Gun War (1880-1881), inflicting significant casualties upon the colonial British forces sent to subdue it. A peace treaty of 1881 failed to quell sporadic fighting.^[8]