During a selective geographic survey of Russians conducted last year, it turned out that there are several states that not everyone in our country has even heard of. One of them is Swaziland. The fact that not everyone knows it is not surprising, because it is the smallest country in the southern hemisphere. The area of the kingdom is only slightly more than 17,000 square kilometers. Swaziland borders on Mozambique only in a small area, and then the borders of the kingdom are surrounded by the territory of South Africa. This country has no outlet to the sea at all.
SWAZI HISTORY
Swazis (the indigenous people of Swaziland) lived on the coast of the Indian Ocean. They constantly had to defend their borders from warlike neighboring tribes. They did it more or less successfully only until the 18th century, when, having suffered several defeats in a row, they were forced to retreat to the north, to the very territory that they now occupy. But even there, the Swazi were not left alone. Especially the Zulu tribe took root on their land.
In 1836, three bloody battles took place between the Zulu and the Swazi, in which the latter were victorious. One of the Swazi leaders, Sobhuza, declared himself king and quickly suppressed the discontent of his former colleagues. Since then, the Kingdom of Swaziland has appeared. The next ruler of the country strengthened his supreme power and increased the territory of the state by almost 2 times.
Boers began to appear in Swaziland in the middle of the 19th century. They were so impressed by this country that the Boers began to buy up tracts of land in the kingdom. They paid so well that local leaders gladly dealt with them. But in 1894, the Boers realized that it was much cheaper to annex Swaziland to their Transvaal republic. This is exactly what they did.
After the British defeated the Boers, Swaziland became a British protectorate. True, the British did not interfere in the internal life of the country; they did not abolish the power of kings and leaders. And England granted full independence to Swaziland only in 1964.
Soon the king, having heard a lot about the values of the Western world, even decided to play democracy. The country has a constitution and political parties. In 1964, it even came to the point that parliamentary elections were held. Since then the party, created personally by King Sobhuza II, won, no excesses happened. In 1973, in the next elections, the opposition party won 18 percent of the vote. The king saw this as a threat to his power. He was so angry that he not only dissolved parliament and abolished the constitution, but also banned the existence of parties and trade unions altogether, and equated all social movements with his decree to "criminal communities."
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BEAUTIFUL FAMILY
There is one and only absolute monarch throughout Africa, King Mswati III, who rules the state of Swaziland. Mswati is very loving, but at the same time constantly emphasizes that he is a wonderful family man and never cheats on his loved ones. But in his place, many other men would not cheat on their wives. After all, if the king desires a lady, he can immediately marry her. And no one will dare to deny him this, because, do not forget, he is still an absolute monarch. Thus, by the age of 43, Mswati III had already 14 wives. Since he practically single-handedly disposes of all state wealth and is able to feed any number of children, he does not even think about any means of protection. Here Mswati III became the father of 23 children.
True, in Swaziland, even for the king, if he wants to marry, there are some restrictions. In recent years, in order to get married in this country, the bride and groom must exchange medical certificates. The fact is that Swaziland is famous not only for its absolute monarchy, but also for the largest percentage of AIDS patients. Here every fourth inhabitant is infected with it.
The fact that Mswati III has 23 children does not amaze anyone. And if someone is still surprised by something, it is why he has so few children.
For example, let's compare the achievements of Mswati with the record of his own father, Sokhuza II. That one only sons had 671. But the current king still has time to try to catch up with the parent, which, however, requires a dramatic increase in productivity.
UMKHLANGA
In order to choose their next wife, kings do not sit on the Internet, they do not go to discos for this, do not ask their friends to give them the phone number of a suitable young lady. Nor do the kings of Swaziland, despite the need for more and more wives.
The first two wives are recommended to the rulers of Swaziland by a special state commission, consisting of psychologists, sorcerers, graphologists and other specialists. But the king cannot immediately marry even the recommended brides until they become pregnant. Starting with his third wife, the monarch himself is free to choose his betrothed.
The search for brides for royal persons is arranged in this country with special splendor. There is a holiday in Swaziland called umhlanga. It ends with the fact that, on average, 70 thousand young half-naked ladies, who want to win the favor of the monarch, dance in front of him.
For an ordinary person, it is almost impossible to choose the best among these beauties. It's another matter when the king himself undertakes this. Once, answering a reporter's question how Mswati still succeeds, he said: "I choose my wife not only with my eyes, but also with my heart!"
CHANGE
And then suddenly it turned out: the monarch was getting elected to the point that he almost got a heart attack. The fact is that Mswati III suddenly found out that his twelfth spouse, Notanda Dube, was cheating on him. The king first saw Dube in the final of the Miss Young Swaziland competition and immediately fell in love. Having married, he, of course, remained faithful to her. But Notanda betrayed him.
Mswati's first suspicions arose when he was informed: "A soldier who is strikingly similar to your twelfth wife has just left the palace." The monarch did not attach any importance to this statement. But when he went to his wife's bedroom, she was not there. A search throughout the palace yielded nothing. The king ordered to discreetly photograph a soldier who resembled his wife when he returned. Soon Mswati became convinced: yes, it was his wife who had changed her clothes in order to secretly leave the palace.
After that, the ruler of Swaziland ordered the establishment of surveillance over Notanda. It soon became clear that she, having again deceived the vigilance of the guards, slipped out of the palace. Then she was seen entering the Royal Villas hotel (a safe hotel near Moscow), and the room in which she had wrapped her was identified. The monarch decided to personally visit this number. And he did it not in vain, finding in bed not only Notanda, but also the Minister of Justice Ndumiso Mambu. By the way, his close friend, and now, as Mswati was convinced of this, and a very close friend of his wife.
Of course, Ndumiso not only lost his position, but was immediately arrested. Mswati categorically forbade journalists to touch on this topic. But there is also such a thing as gossip, over which no ruler has control. So what happened soon became the property of the whole country.
The area of the kingdom is only slightly more than 17,000 square kilometers.
Notandu is not expecting anything good now either. She will not receive any divorce, but will henceforth be under the close supervision of the police. But this is not the worst thing, she was now awarded to live with Mswati's mother. And this, due to the difficult nature of an elderly woman, is considered by the people to be much worse than imprisonment.
Ilya Butman