High in the Drakensberg Mountains, the land-locked and tiny kingdom of Lesotho is totally surrounded by South Africa.
Population: About two million.
Official languages: English, Sesotho.
Area: 30,355 sq km.
Capital: Maseru.
Economy: Economically, Lesotho is at the mercy of South Africa. Nearly 50 per cent of its male labour force works there. Most trade is with South Africa, and a scheme to dam rivers and sell water to South Africa is in progress.
Government: King Letsie III was sworn in as successor to his father, King Moshoeshoe, in February 1996. The current Prime Minister, Mr Pakalitha Mosisili, and his ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy won the May 1998 election.
Opposition leaders said the vote was fraudulent.
Modern History:1966: After almost a century as a British protectorate, Lesotho became independent.
1970: Chief Leabua Jonathan of the then ruling Basutoland National Party (BNP) annulled its first election when he looked certain to lose.
About 500 people were killed in subsequent fighting. Chief Jonathan declared a "holiday from politics" during which the opposition was harassed, exiled or imprisoned.
Initially Chief Jonathan was friendly with South Africa's white minority government, but later supported the struggle against white rule.
1982: South African troops raided Maseru, killing 30 ANC members and 12 others.
Chief Jonathan forged links with the Soviet Union, Cuba and China.
January 1986: Pretoria imposed a blockade, halting supplies of food and other essentials, and installed the South African-trained Maj Gen Justin Lekhanya as head of a military junta.
Gen Lekhanya forced King Moshoeshoe into exile in Britain and his son was installed as King Letsie, a monarch without power.
April 1991: Col Phitsoane Ramaema overthrew Gen Lekhanya and, after riots in which 30 people were killed, allowed King Moshoeshoe home from Britain.
1993: Lesotho held its first free election since independence with Ntsu Mokhehle elected prime minister.
The losers challenged the election result, but UN observers judged it to be free and fair.
Mokhehle was deposed in a dispute within his party and Mosisili won the poll by a landslide.
1998: Opposition and government supporters have clashed for seven weeks over a general election in May which returned the ruling party to power with 79 of the 80 seats.