the Kingdom of Eswatini,
Eswatini,
officially the Kingdom of Eswatini, and also known as Swaziland, is a
landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its
northeast and South Africa to its north, west and south. At no more than 200
kilometres (120 miles) north to south and 130 kilometres (81 miles) east to
west, Eswatini is one of the smallest countries in Africa; despite this, its
climate and topography are diverse, ranging from a cool and mountainous
highveld to a hot and dry lowveld.
The population is primarily ethnic Swazis. The language is
Swazi (siSwati in native form). The Swazis established their kingdom in the
mid-18th century under the leadership of Ngwane the 3rd. The country and the Swazi take their names
from Mswati the 2nd, the 19th-century king under whose rule Swazi territory was
expanded and unified; the present boundaries were drawn up in 1881 in the midst
of the Scramble for Africa. After the Second Boer War, the kingdom, under the
name of Swaziland, was a British protectorate from 1903 until it regained its
independence on 6 September 1968. In April 2018 the official name was changed
from Kingdom of Swaziland to Kingdom of Eswatini, mirroring the name commonly
used in Swazi.
The government is an absolute diarchy, ruled jointly by
Ngwenyama ("King") Mswati III and Ndlovukati ("Queen
Mother") Ntfombi Tfwala since 1986. The former is the administrative head
of state and appoints the country's prime ministers and a number of
representatives of both chambers (the Senate and House of Assembly) in the
country's parliament, while the latter is the national head of state, serving
as keeper of the ritual fetishes of the nation and presiding during the annual
Umhlanga rite. Elections are held every five years to determine the House of
Assembly and the Senate majority. The current constitution was adopted in 2005.
Umhlanga, held in August/September, and incwala, the kingship dance held in
December/January, are the nation's most important events.
Eswatini is a developing country with a small economy.
With a GDP per capita of $9,714, it is classified as a country with a
lower-middle income. As a member of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU)
and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), its main local
trading partner is South Africa; in order to ensure economic stability,
Eswatini's currency, the lilangeni, is pegged to the South African rand.
Eswatini's major overseas trading partners are the United States and the
European Union. The majority of the country's employment is provided by its
agricultural and manufacturing sectors. Eswatini is a member of the Southern
African Development Community (SADC), the African Union, the Commonwealth of
Nations and the United Nations.
The Swazi population faces major health issues. It is
estimated that 26% of the adult population is HIV-positive. As of 2018,
Eswatini has the 12th lowest life expectancy in the world, at 58 years. The
population of Eswatini is fairly young, with a median age of 20.5 years and
people aged 14 years or younger constituting 37.5% of the country's total
population. The present population growth rate is 1.2%.
