Free State–Basotho Wars
| Free State-Basotho Wars | |||||||||
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| Part of the Boer Wars | |||||||||
 King Moshoeshoe I, founder of the Basotho nation, with his Ministers. |
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Basotho kingdom |
 Orange Free State
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| King Moshoeshoe | J.H. Brand | ||||||||
The Free State–Basotho Wars refers to a series of wars fought between King Moshoeshoe I, the ruler of the Basotho kingdom, and the white settlers, in what is now known as the Free State. These can be divided into the Senekal's War of 1858, the Seqiti War in 1865−1866 and the Third Basotho War in 1867−68.
These three wars were fought over the territorial rights in the area between the Caledon and Orange rivers; from present day Wepener to Zastron, and the area north of the Caledon River, which includes present day Harrismith and the area further westwards. The wars resulted in the white settlers acquiring large tracts of land from Basotho, and the Basotho eventually accepting annexation as a part of the British Empire
In 1818, King Moshoeshoe I, who was the son of Bamokoteli l, chief of the Bakotela branch of the Koena/Kwena (Crocodile) clan, helped to gain power over small clans who had been displaced during the Mfecane. Mfecane is a Zulu word which means "the crushing" or "scattering". It describes a period of warfare and famine in southern Africa between 1815 and about 1840. In 1820, Moshoeshoe became chief of a larger unit of Southern Sotho groups, who had fallen under his centralised authority due to competition for resources, which was intensified by a drought.
This competition for resources caused these larger groups to seek protection from other marauding groups, and Moshoeshoe and his people retreated to the mountain fortress of Thaba Bosiu in 1824. Moshoeshoe gave assistance to these groups by giving them land, which led to the establishment of the Basotho nation.
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