Swaziland National Parks
The combination of friendly people, interesting culture, beautiful countryside, and small game reserves make Swaziland an attractive country to visit.
Swaziland , along with Lesotho and Morocco , is one of the last three remaining kingdoms in Africa . The country is deeply rooted in tradition — an important part of present-day life.
Although Swaziland is the second smallest country in Africa , within its boundaries lie every type of African terrain except desert. Swaziland has several small wildlife reserves, bushmen paintings, international-class resorts, and superb scenery.
Unlike most African countries, Swaziland has never been a totally subject nation. Although the British administered the country for 66 years, the people have always been governed by their own rulers according to their own traditions.
Swaziland has an excellent climate; the higher altitudes have a near temperate climate while the rest of the country has a subtropical climate. Summers (November-January) are rainy, hot and humid. Winters (May-July) are crisp and clear, with occasional frosts in the highveld (higher altitudes). July is usually windy and dusty.
Geographically, the country is divided into four belts of about the same width, running roughly north to south: the mountainous highveld in the west, the hilly middleveld, the Lubombo Plateau along the eastern border, and the lowveld bush.
Swaziland may have been inhabited by Bushmen between the early Stone Age and fifteenth century. In the fifteenth century, descendants of the Nguni migrated to what is now Maputo , Mozambique , from the great lakes of Central Africa . About 1700 the Nkosi Dlamini settled within the present-day borders of Swaziland .
Mswati the Second was proclaimed king of the people of the Mswati in 1840, forming the seed of a Swazi nation. By this time the kingdom had grown to twice its present size, and whites began to obtain valuable commercial and agricultural concessions.
Dual administration of the country by British and Boer ( Transvaal ) governments failed. The Boers took over from 1895 until the Anglo-Boer War broke out in 1899. Swaziland became a High Commission Territory under the British after the war in 1903.
In 1921, Sobhuza the Second became king and remained on the throne until his death in 1982, making him the longest ruling monarch in the world. This long reign gave his country a higher level of political stability than experienced by most of the world.
Only four rulers in modern times have reigned over 60 years: Queen Victoria of Great Britain , Louis the Fourteenth of France, Karl Friedrich the Grand Duke of Badan, and Sobhuza the Second.
Swaziland gained its independence on September 6,1968, making it the last directly administered British colony in Africa . The Queen Regent, Indlovukazi, ruled after the death of Sobhuza, until Prince Makhosetive was crowned king in 1986. The mining of the highland's (Ngwenya's) iron ore deposits began as early as 26,000 B.C., until 1980, when supplies were exhausted. In the late 1800s, the Swazi gold rush centered around Pigg's Peak and Jeppe's Reef and lasted for 60 years.
The people are called Swazi(s), most of whom are subsistence farmers, following a mixture of Christian and indigenous beliefs. About 95 percent are of Swazi descent, with the rest of the population composed of Zulu, European, Mozambiquean and mulatto. Most live in scattered homesteads instead of concentrating themselves in villages and cities.
More than 15,000 Swazis work outside the country, primarily in South African gold and platinum mines. Much of i tradition revolves around the raising of cattle.
The country's main crops are maize, sugar, citrus, cotton, pineapples, and tobacco. Seventy-five percent of the population works in agriculture.