Eswatini

An absolute monarchy that was signed away in pieces and spent sixty years buying itself back. Swazi power was consolidated under Sobhuza I and Mswati II in the nineteenth century, and the borders were guaranteed by Britain and the Transvaal in the 1880s. The guarantee proved worthless: King Mbandzeni granted concessions to a stream of European speculators - for grazing, minerals, timber, customs, even the right to collect his own revenues - until nearly the whole country had been conceded several times over to people who did not understand that Swazi law recognised no permanent alienation of land. A British commission settled the mess in 1907 by awarding two-thirds of the land to Europeans outright. Sobhuza II, who reigned from 1921 to 1982, litigated the question to the Privy Council, lost, and bought land back through a national fund instead. Independence came in 1968 under a Westminster constitution he repealed five years later, ruling by decree thereafter. Political parties remain banned and protests in 2021 were suppressed with deaths. The country was renamed Eswatini in 2018. HIV prevalence is among the highest in the world. Mbabane is the administrative capital and Lobamba the royal one. The country has about 1.2 million people in seventeen thousand square kilometres. Siswati and English are both official. It is one of the last absolute monarchies in the world. The Umhlanga reed dance and Incwala ceremonies remain central to national life. Sugar is the largest export. The country is one of the smallest in Africa and is bordered by South Africa on three sides and Mozambique on the fourth.

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