Page "History of Lesotho" Paragraph 13

The differing fates of the seSotho-speaking peoples in the Protectorate of Basotholand and in the lands that became the Orange Free State are worth noting.

The Orange Free State became a Boer-ruled territory.

However at the end of the Boer War it was colonised by the British, and this colony was subsequently incorporated by Britain into the Union of South Africa as one of four provinces.

It is still part of the modern day Republic of South Africa, now known as the Free State.

In contrast Basotholand, along with the two other British Protectorates in the sub-Saharan region ( Bechuanaland and Swaziland ), was precluded from incorporation into the Union of South Africa.

These protectorates were individually brought to independence by Britain in the 1960s in line with the trend towards self-government and independence that swept the British Empire following the close of the Second World War, a trend that reached its peak in Africa in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

By becoming a protectorate Basotholand and its inhabitants were not subjected to Afrikaner rule, which saved them from experiencing Apartheid, and so generally prospered under more benevolent British rule.

Basotho resident in Basotholand had access to better health services and to education, and came to experience greater political emancipation through independence.

These lands protected by the British, however, had a much smaller capacity to generate income and wealth than the " lost territory " had, which had been granted to the Boers.