BASUTOLAND. — A small (30,344 sq km) inland territory of southern Africa, lying between the Orange, Natal, and the Cape Colony. It corresponds to the headwater basin of the Orange River; it is therefore a mountainous country (Champagne Castle, 3,650 m), but with valley floors suitable for cultivation (cereals) and good pastures (1.5 million sheep; half a million goats and an equal number of cattle). The Basuto, a branch of the Bantu Negroes who replaced the Bushmen, have multiplied since the second half of the last century; today they number approximately 600,000 (compared with barely 1,450 whites), organized in a British Protectorate administered (since 1884) by a resident commissioner under the control of the British high commissioner for the Union of South Africa.
The mission had to contend with very great difficulties, arising in part also from the French Protestant mission. Today, however, it is in full development.
Among a population of 559,273 souls, almost exclusively indigenous, it numbers 177,086 Catholics and 15,404 catechumens, 75 quasi-parishes and 258 secondary stations, 107 priests, of whom 3 are indigenous, 67 coadjutor brothers, and 408 sisters, many of whom are indigenous. There is a seminary for the indigenous clergy at the see of the apostolic vicar in Roma of B. The king of the country is Catholic. Three periodicals are published there, and in 1945 the ‘Pio XII’ university college for indigenous people was established.