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50 free Lesotho trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Lesotho is the only country on Earth that lies entirely above 1,000 metres, one of just three states surrounded by a single neighbour, and a kingdom whose founder built his capital on a mountain he said grew bigger at night. It sells water and electricity to South Africa, digs up the world's most valuable diamonds per carat, dresses in wool blankets and conical hats, and inspired Wakanda. This Lesotho trivia quiz covers all of it. Forty-four questions run from geography (Maseru, Thabana Ntlenyana, the Maloti Mountains, Sani Pass, Maletsunyane Falls, Afriski, Sehlabathebe) through history (Moshoeshoe I and Thaba Bosiu, the Boers and Queen Victoria, Basutoland, the Gun War, independence in 1966, Leabua Jonathan, the 1986 coup, Moshoeshoe II and Letsie III, the 1998 intervention, Thabane and Matekane) to culture and economy (Sesotho, the flag, the mokorotlo, the Basotho blanket and pony, the loti, the Highlands Water Project, Letšeng diamonds, garments, Black Panther). Roughly a third are easy, a third medium, and the rest are for people who really know southern Africa. Every answer has been checked against encyclopaedia and official pages, so the dates, numbers and names are ones you can rely on.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Lesotho is entirely surrounded by which country?
South Africa
It is the largest of the world's three sovereign enclaves, alongside Vatican City and San Marino.
Q 02What is the capital and largest city of Lesotho?
Maseru
It began as a British police camp on the Caledon River and its Sesotho name means "red sandstones".
Q 03Lesotho is the only independent state in the world lying entirely above what elevation?
1,000 metres
Its lowest point, at 1,400 m, is the highest low point of any country, hence the nickname "Kingdom in the Sky".
Q 04What is Lesotho's lowest point above sea level, the highest "low point" of any country?
1,400 m
Maseru and the surrounding lowlands can still hit 30 °C in summer.
Q 05Which peak in Lesotho's Maloti Mountains is the highest in southern Africa, at 3,482 m?
Thabana Ntlenyana
It is ranked 11th in the world by topographic isolation and stands on the Mohlesi ridge.
Q 06Who founded the Basotho nation in the early 19th century and became Lesotho's first king?
Moshoeshoe I
A minor chief's son, he gathered refugees from the wars of Shaka's era into a single polity from about 1822.
Q 07Lesotho's founding king made his stronghold on which sandstone plateau, whose name means "Mountain at Night"?
Thaba Bosiu
He spread the story that the mountain grew larger at night to scare off enemies; it was never taken by force.
Q 08Which missionaries settled at Morija from 1833 and created written Sesotho?
Paris Evangelical Missionary Society
Thomas Arbousset, Eugène Casalis and Constant Gosselin printed the first works in Sesotho between 1837 and 1855.
Q 09Lesotho's first king appealed to which monarch in 1868 to make his land a British protectorate?
Queen Victoria
The 1869 Treaty of Aliwal North then halved his kingdom by ceding the western lowlands to the Orange Free State.
Q 10Under what name was Lesotho known as a British colony?
Basutoland
It became a Crown colony in 1884 with Maseru as capital, after a period under the Cape Colony that sparked the Gun War.
Q 11The Basuto Gun War of 1880–1881 broke out during whose administration of the territory?
The Cape Colony
The Basotho were humiliated by being treated like a conquered territory after the 1871 transfer.
Q 12On what date did the British colony become the independent Kingdom of Lesotho?
4 October 1966
The new flag with the mokorotlo was adopted exactly 40 years later, on 4 October 2006.
Q 13Which prime minister refused to hand over power after losing the 1970 election, ruling until 1986?
Leabua Jonathan
His BNP had lost 36 seats to 23; he jailed the opposition leadership instead.
Q 21The conical mokorotlo hat is believed to be inspired by the shape of which mountain?
Mount Qiloane
The straw hat also appears on Lesotho's vehicle licence plates.
Q 22The Basotho blanket, Lesotho's national dress, was originally made of what?
Pure wool
Most are now acrylic, made by the firm Aranda across the border in South Africa; a husband gifts his wife a Serope blanket at their first child's birth.
Q 23Director Ryan Coogler said Lesotho inspired his depiction of which fictional country in a 2018 film?
Wakanda
Basotho blankets became far better known worldwide after Black Panther.
Q 14Who became King of Lesotho in 1996, having also reigned briefly from 1990 to 1995?
Letsie III
His father Moshoeshoe II died when his car plunged off a mountain road in January 1996; the king's role is largely ceremonial.
Q 15In 2000 Lesotho's king declared what to be a natural disaster?
HIV/AIDS
Nearly a quarter of the population tests positive; a 2010 petition even called for annexation by South Africa to save life expectancy.
Q 16Troops from which regional body intervened in Lesotho in 1998, leaving much of the capital in ruins?
SADC
South African and Botswanan forces entered after post-election protests; rioting flared when a South African flag was raised over the palace.
Q 17Prime Minister Thomas Thabane stepped down in 2020 after being named a suspect in whose murder?
His ex-wife's
He had already fled to South Africa for three days during an alleged coup attempt in 2014.
Q 18Who was sworn in as Lesotho's prime minister on 28 October 2022?
Sam Matekane
The businessman formed a coalition after Majoro resigned following a no-confidence vote.
Q 19The Basotho make up what share of Lesotho's population, one of the most homogeneous in the world?
99.7%
The country takes its name from the Sotho people, whose language Sesotho is official alongside English, IsiXhosa and SiPhuthi.
Q 20What black object sits at the centre of Lesotho's blue, white and green flag?
A mokorotlo, the Basotho hat
The 2006 design replaced a flag bearing a shield, spear and knobkerrie and symbolises peace with its only neighbour.
Q 24What is the currency of Lesotho?
Loti
The plural is maloti; it is pegged 1:1 to the South African rand, which is also legal tender.
Q 25The Lesotho Highlands Water Project sends Orange River water mainly to which South African region?
Free State and greater Johannesburg
Its first phase made Lesotho almost self-sufficient in electricity and earned about US$70 million from water and power sales in 2010.
Q 26Katse Dam on the Malibamatšo River is Africa's second-largest example of what type of dam?
Double-curvature arch dam
Only Ethiopia's Tekezé Dam is bigger of the type; the project may eventually include five large dams.
Q 27Lesotho's Letšeng mine is the world's richest diamond mine measured by what?
Average price per carat
Its stones average about US$2,172 per carat, and it produced the giant Lesotho Promise.
Q 28Under AGOA, Lesotho became sub-Saharan Africa's largest exporter of what to the US?
Garments
Brands sourcing from Lesotho have included Levi Strauss, Gap, Lululemon and Timberland; most workers are women.
Q 29Into how many districts is Lesotho divided?
10
Each is headed by a district administrator; the districts split into 80 constituencies and 129 community councils.
Q 30What was Lesotho's adult literacy rate as of 2021, among the highest in Africa?
81%
The country invests over 12% of its GDP in education.