page_title: Lesotho
section_title: Geography
hierarchical_section_title: Lesotho / Geography
caption_attribution_description: Jaco van Tonder 2006 Jacovt at English Wikipedia, the copyright holder of this work, hereby publishes it under the following licenses: Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled GNU Free Documentation License. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic license.Attribution: Jacovt at English Wikipedia You are free: to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work to remix – to adapt the work Under the following conditions: attribution – You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). You may select the license of your choice.
context_page_description: Lesotho, officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is an enclaved country within the border of South Africa. Along with the Vatican City and San Marino, it is one of only three independent states completely surrounded by the territory of another country, and the only one outside the Italian peninsula and that is not a microstate. Lesotho is just over 30,000 km² and has a population of around 2 million. Its capital and largest city is Maseru. The official language is Sesotho.
  Lesotho was previously the British Crown Colony of Basutoland, but it declared independence from the United Kingdom on 4 October 1966. It is now a fully sovereign state and is a member of the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations, the African Union, and the Southern African Development Community. The name Lesotho roughly translates to "the land of the people who speak Sesotho".
context_section_description: Lesotho covers 30,355 km² (11,720 sq mi). It is the only independent state in the world that lies entirely above 1,000 metres (3,281 ft) in elevation. Its lowest point of 1,400 metres (4,593 ft) is thus the highest lowest point of any country in the world. Over 80 percent of the country lies above 1,800 metres (5,906 ft). Lesotho is also the southernmost landlocked country in the world and is entirely surrounded by South Africa. It lies between latitudes 28° and 31°S, and longitudes 27° and 30°E. About 12% of Lesotho is arable land, however, this land is vulnerable to soil erosion, and it is estimated that 40 million tons of soil are lost each year due to erosion.
caption: The Afriski resort in the Maloti Mountains of Lesotho
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