Lesotho is the only country located entirely above 1,000 meters in altitude. He is the one closest to heaven precisely because he dreamed bigger.
Located in southern Africa, landlocked, “The Kingdom in Heaven” earned this almost divine nickname for being the only nation in the world entirely located above 1,000 meters of altitude.
The lowest point of Lesoto it’s impressive 1,400 meters above sea levelsurpassing the highest peaks of many countries.
The geography of this small country, which has around a third of Portugal’s area in square kilometers, is a consequence of its historical resilience.
At the beginning of the 19th century, during the Mfecane period — marked by widespread displacement and violence caused by the expansion of Zulu Kingdom under the command of Shaka Zulu — a clan led by the king Moshoeshoe I sought refuge in the mountains. This high ground provided a defensible stronghold for the group, where Moshoeshoe established a kingdom that would later become modern-day Lesotho, recalls .
Formerly known as Bassutoland, Lesotho entered British colonial rule in 1843 through a treaty with Moshoeshoe. Although it was annexed to the Cape Colony in 1871, it regained direct control from the Crown in 1884. Decades later, in 1966, during the wave of decolonization in Africa, Lesotho achieved independence, with the Rei Moshoeshoe II as its first ruler.
While other mountainous nations, such as Nepal and Bhutan, boast towering Himalayan peaks, their lowest points are well below 1,000 meters. Nepal, for example, stretches from the summit of Mount Everest, at 8,848 meters, to just 60 meters in the Tarai plains: they have nothing against this nation permanently perched in the skies.
Tomás Guimarães, ZAP //
