The
Sotho people (
Basotho or
Basuto) are a
Bantu ethnic group whose ancestors have lived in southern Africa since around the fifth century. The Sotho nation emerged from the accomplished diplomacy of
Moshoeshoe I who gathered together disparate clans of
Sotho–Tswana origin that had dispersed across southern Africa in the early 19th century. Most Sotho today live in South Africa, as the area of the
Orange Free State was originally part of Moshoeshoe's nation (now
Lesotho).