Difference between revisions of "Swaziland" - New World Encyclopedia

Revision as of 00:47, 6 February 2007

The Kingdom of Swaziland, one of the smallest countries in Africa, is situated on the eastern slope of the Drakensberg mountains, embedded between South Africa in the west and Mozambique in the east. It is ruled autocratically by sub-Saharan Africa's last absolute monarch, who lives lavishly while two-thirds of the people survive on less than two dollars a day, largely from agriculture. Political parties and demonstrations are banned. The prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS is the highest in the world.

Umbuso weSwatini
Kingdom of Swaziland

File:Swaziland flag large.png	File:Swazicoa.jpg
Flag of Swaziland	Coat of Arms of Swaziland

National motto: Siyinqaba
(We Are the Fortress)

Principal languages

Swati, English

Capitals

Mbabane (administrative)
Lobamba (royal and legislative)

King

Mswati III

Prime minister

Themba Dlamini

Area
- Total
- % water

Ranked 153rd
17,363 km²
0.9%

Population
- Total (2001)
- Density

Ranked 150th
1,173,900
65/km²

Independence

1968

Currency

Lilangeni

Time zone

Universal Time + 2

National anthem

Nkulunkulu Mnikati
wetibusiso temaSwati
(O Lord, Our God, Bestower of Blessings upon the Swazi)

Internet TLD

.sz

Country calling code

268

History

Human remains and artifacts from more than 100,000 years ago have been found in Swaziland. Evidence of agriculture and iron use dates from about the fourth century, and people speaking languages ancestral to current Sotho and Nguni languages began settling no later than the eleventh century.

According to tradition, the people of the present Swazi nation migrated south before the sixteenth century to what is now Mozambique. Following a series of conflicts with people living in the area of modern Maputo, the Swazis settled in northern Zululand about 1750. Unable to match the growing Zulu strength, the Swazis moved gradually northward in the 1800s and established themselves in the area of modern Swaziland. As the Zulu raids of the early nineteenth century, known as the mfecane or difaqane, dispersed surrounding tribes, the arrival of the Ngwame provided the stimulus for the formation of the Swazi state.

They consolidated their hold under several able leaders. The most important was Mswati II, from whom the Swazis derive their name. Under his leadership in the 1840s, they expanded their territory to the northwest and stabilized the southern frontier with the Zulus. In self-defense, the Swazi adopted some of the military innovations that had empowered the Zulus.

Early in Mswati's reign he asked British authorities in South Africa for assistance against Zulu raids into Swaziland. It also was during Mswati's reign that the first whites settled in the country as the Boers moved north to avoid British rule. Following Mswati's death, the Swazis reached agreements with British and South African authorities over a range of issues, including independence, claims on resources by Europeans, administrative authority, and security. South Africans administered Swazi interests from 1894 to 1902. In 1902 Swaziland became a British protectorate and thus maintained its teritorial identity. The country was granted independence on September 6, 1968. Since then, Swaziland has seen a struggle between pro-democracy activists and the totalitarian monarchy. All political parties are banned.

In 2007, the Coordinating Assembly of Non-Governmental Organizations (CANGO) listed the problems facing the nation as poverty, HIV/AIDS, food security, governance, employment, corruption and gender-based violence. It complained that the government's failure to respect the nation's NGOs was hindering their ability to address the nation's humanitarian crisis and called for fiscal transparency and accountability and a shift in spending priorities to allocate more funds for education and health. CANGO said donors were avoiding Swaziland because of its lack of democratic reforms and transparency.

Politics

The head of state is the king, who since 1986 has been King Mswati III. By tradition, the king reigns along with his mother. He is viewed as the administrative head of state and his mother as a spiritual and national head of state. The king not only appoints the prime minister — the head of government — but also a small number of representatives for both chambers of the Libandla (parliament). The Senate consists of thirty members, while the House of Assembly has sixty-five seats, fifty-five of which are occupied by elected representatives, but since poliitcal parties are banned, they run as individuals.

The 1968 constitution was suspended in 1973. In 2001 King Mswati III appointed a committee to draft a new constitution. It was signed by the king in July 2005 after sections he objected to had been changed. The new constitution reaffirms his authority over the government and legislature and was strongly criticized by civil society organizations in Swaziland and human rights organizations elsewhere.

King Mswati III is often criticized for living lavishly in a nation that is afflicted by the world's highest HIV infection rate. His fleet of luxury cars and millions spent on refurbishing his numerous wives' luxury mansions are at odds with the approximately 34 percent of the nation that stand unemployed, nearly 70 percent of whom live on less than a dollar a day, and with around 39 percent of adults afflicted by HIV.

Economy

Map of Swaziland

In this small, landlocked economy, subsistence agriculture occupies more than 80 percent of the population. The manufacturing sector has diversified since the mid-1980s. Sugar and wood pulp remain important foreign exchange earners. Mining has declined in importance in recent years, with only coal and quarry stone mines remaining active. Surrounded by South Africa, except for a short border with Mozambique, Swaziland is heavily dependent on South Africa, from which it receives nine-tenths of its imports and to which it sends more than two-thirds of its exports. Customs duties from the Southern African Customs Union and worker remittances from South Africa substantially supplement domestically earned income. The government is trying to improve the atmosphere for foreign investment.

Overgrazing, soil depletion, drought, and sometimes floods persist as problems for the future. More than one-fourth of the population needed emergency food aid in 2002 because of drought, and more than one-third of the adult population was infected by HIV. In 2004 Swaziland acknowledged for the first time that it has one of the highest AIDS rates in the world, with almost 40 percent of adults infected with HIV. Prime Minister Themba Dlamini declared a humanitarian crisis due to the combined effect of drought and land degradation, increasing poverty and HIV/AIDS. The United Nations special envoy on AIDS, Stephen Lewis, said “Swaziland stands alone with the world's highest rate of HIV infection after nearby Botswana made headway against the deadly pandemic.”

Geography

Swaziland offers a wide variety of landscapes, from the mountains along the Mozambican border to savannas in the east and rainforest in the northwest. Several rivers flow through the country, such as the Lusutfu River. With fifty thousand inhabitants, the capital city of Mbabane is the largest town in the nation; others include Manzini, Lobamba, and Siteki.

Demographics

The majority of the population consists of Swazi, but there are also small numbers of Zulu, Europeans, and Mozambican refugees. The official languages are Swati and English; the latter is also the official written language. The chief religion is Christianity, often in a form blended with several indigenous religions. There are also Jewish and Muslim communities.

Culture

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

James L. Newman, The Peopling of Africa, 1995. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT. ISBN 0300060033

Paul Bohannan and Philip Curtin, Africa and Africans, 3rd ed., 1988. Waveland Press, Prospect Heights, IL. ISBN 0881333476

Charles H. Cutter, Africa 2006, 41st ed., 2006. Stryker-Post Publications, Harpers Ferry, WV. ISBN 1887985727

Marq de Villiers and Sheila Hirtle, Into Africa, 1997. Key Porter Books, Toronto, Canada. ISBN 1550138847

U.S. State Department, Background Note and Human Rights Report, [[1]][[2]]

"'Weak' Civil Society Hampering Efforts to Address Crises" allAfrica - Swaziland, observed January 26, 2007.

"Prime Minister Upbeat About Country's Prospects" allAfrica - Swaziland, observed January 26, 2007.

External Links

Government

Swaziland Government official government site
Ministry of Tourism official site

News

allAfrica - Swaziland news headline links
Times of Swaziland newspaper

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

Swaziland ^history

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

History of "Swaziland"

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@@ Line 59: / Line 59: @@
 == History ==
-Human remains and artifacts from more than 100,000 years ago have been found in Swaziland. Evidence of [[agriculture]] and [[iron]] use dates from about the fourth century, and people speaking languages ancestral to current Sotho and Nguni languages began settling no later than the eleventh century. The ruling Dlamini lineage had chiefships in the region in the eighteenth century. As the Zulu raids of the early nineteenth century, known as the ''mfecane'' or ''difaqane'', dispersed surrounding tribes, the arrival of the Ngwame provided the stimulus for the formation of the Swazi state. In self-defense, the Swazi adopted some of the military innovations that had empowered the Zulus. An enlarged Swazi kingdom was established by Sobhuza I. Soon thereafter the first whites started to settle in the area as the Boers moved north to avoid British rule. After the South African War of 1899-1902, Swaziland became a British protectorate and thus maintained its teritorial identity. The country was granted independence on September 6, 1968. Since then, Swaziland has seen a struggle between pro-democracy activists and the totalitarian monarchy. All political parties are banned.
+Human remains and artifacts from more than 100,000 years ago have been found in Swaziland. Evidence of [[agriculture]] and [[iron]] use dates from about the fourth century, and people speaking languages ancestral to current Sotho and Nguni languages began settling no later than the eleventh century.
+According to tradition, the people of the present Swazi nation migrated south before the sixteenth century to what is now [[Mozambique]]. Following a series of conflicts with people living in the area of modern Maputo, the Swazis settled in northern Zululand about 1750. Unable to match the growing Zulu strength, the Swazis moved gradually northward in the 1800s and established themselves in the area of modern Swaziland. As the Zulu raids of the early nineteenth century, known as the ''mfecane'' or ''difaqane'', dispersed surrounding tribes, the arrival of the Ngwame provided the stimulus for the formation of the Swazi state.
+They consolidated their hold under several able leaders. The most important was Mswati II, from whom the Swazis derive their name. Under his leadership in the 1840s, they expanded their territory to the northwest and stabilized the southern frontier with the Zulus. In self-defense, the Swazi adopted some of the military innovations that had empowered the Zulus.
+Early in Mswati's reign he asked British authorities in South Africa for assistance against Zulu raids into Swaziland. It also was during Mswati's reign that the first whites settled in the country as the Boers moved north to avoid British rule. Following Mswati's death, the Swazis reached agreements with British and South African authorities over a range of issues, including independence, claims on resources by Europeans, administrative authority, and security. South Africans administered Swazi interests from 1894 to 1902. In 1902 Swaziland became a British protectorate and thus maintained its teritorial identity. The country was granted independence on September 6, 1968. Since then, Swaziland has seen a struggle between pro-democracy activists and the totalitarian monarchy. All political parties are banned.
 In 2007, the Coordinating Assembly of Non-Governmental Organizations (CANGO) listed the problems facing the nation as poverty, HIV/AIDS, food security, governance, employment, corruption and gender-based violence. It complained that the government's failure to respect the nation's NGOs was hindering their ability to address the nation's humanitarian crisis and called for fiscal transparency and accountability and a shift in spending priorities to allocate more funds for education and health. CANGO said donors were avoiding Swaziland because of its lack of democratic reforms and transparency.