Teyateyaneng

Teyateyaneng, village, northwestern Lesotho, 19 miles (31 km) northeast of Maseru, on the country’s main north-south road. Teyateyaneng was named after the Teja-Tejane (“Quicksands”) River, which flows south of the village, and is often abbreviated as TY. The village is on a hilltop, the site of a camp established in 1886 following the resolution of a dispute between the British resident commissioner, Marshall Clark, and Chief Masopha, third son of the legendary Moshoeshoe, founder and paramount chief of the Sotho nation. Masopha agreed to pay taxes to the resident commissioner, who allowed the chief to set up his own district headquarters with police recruited from his own people. From its hilltop the village affords a spectacular view of the lowlands to the northwest and the Maloti (Maluti or Front Range) Mountains to the southeast. Teyateyaneng is a market centre and is known for the production of finely woven mohair rugs and other textiles and for stoneware pottery. Numerous specimens of Khoisan art in several rock shelters in the area, and the Cannibal Cave, a notorious hideout for cannibals during the Difaqane (migratory wars) in the early 19th century, are in the vicinity. Berea Mission (named for a Greek town where St. Paul found converts of remarkable zeal), which was maintained for 50 years by an Anglican missionary, William Wrenford, is a historical monument southwest of the village. Pop. (2006 prelim.) 21,949.