Eswatini

The Swazi nation formed in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as the Dlamini royal clan, moving south and then north again under pressure from powerful neighbours such as the Ndwandwe, absorbed Nguni and Sotho groups into a centralised state under a dual monarchy of a king (the Ngwenyama, "Lion") and a queen mother (the Ndlovukati, "She-Elephant").

In the late nineteenth century Swazi kings granted sweeping land and mineral concessions to Boer and British adventurers. The territory came under South African Republic and then, after the Boer War, British administration, becoming one of the "High Commission Territories." Unusually, the monarchy survived the colonial period with much of its authority and land base intact.

Swaziland became independent in 1968 under King Sobhuza II, who in 1973 annulled the constitution and ruled by decree — a system his son Mswati III, on the throne since 1986, has largely maintained. In 2018 the king renamed the country Eswatini. Pro-democracy protests in 2021 were the most serious in decades and were met with force; calls for political reform continue. From 2025 Eswatini has taken in small numbers of people deported from the United States under a third-country agreement, for which its government has confirmed receiving American funding.

Eswatini has one of the most intact traditional monarchies in Africa, and kingship, clan, and ceremony are central to national life. The two great annual events are the Umhlanga, or Reed Dance, held at the end of August or the start of September, in which thousands of unmarried young women cut and carry reeds to the queen mother's residence over several days of song and dance, and the Incwala, a weeks-long sacred kingship ritual around the summer solstice that renews the monarch and the nation.

Society is largely Christian, often blended with ancestral belief, and remains socially conservative. The extended homestead (umuti), respect for elders and chiefs, and communal land held in trust by the king through local chiefs shape rural life. Traditional healers (tinyanga and tangoma) are widely consulted.

Craft is a strength — formal handcraft businesses employ more than 2,500 people, many of them women, and candles, glass, woven goods, and basketry are sold across the region — and choral and gospel singing, sibhaca dance, and the colour of the ceremonies are the cultural showcases.

Most of Eswatini's people live in rural homesteads on communally held "Swazi Nation Land," farming maize, keeping cattle — a store of wealth and status — and often depending on a family member's wage from town or from South Africa. Manzini is the commercial hub, Mbabane the executive capital and largest city, and Lobamba the legislative capital, all small.

The economy is closely tied to South Africa through the customs union and the currency peg, and rests on sugarcane (the country's largest export), soft-drink concentrate, forestry, and textiles. Eswatini has the world's highest HIV prevalence among people aged 15 to 49, and poverty and youth unemployment are high.

Daily life follows the farming and school calendar, church on Sunday, the minibus to Manzini market, and the rhythm of the royal ceremonies that punctuate the year.

Swazi cooking is Southern African and maize-based. Sishwala, a thick maize porridge, is the staple, normally served with meat or vegetables — a relish of beans, pumpkin leaves with groundnuts (umbidvo wetintsanga), or stewed beef or chicken. Incwancwa, a sour porridge of fermented maize meal, and emahewu, a drink made from fermented thin porridge, are traditional.

Beef features at ceremonies and family gatherings, often slaughtered on site; sidvudvu (pumpkin cooked with maize meal), groundnuts, sweet potato, and wild greens round out rural meals. Roadside grills serve braai meat, pap, and chakalaka relish, the shared regional fare.

Home-brewed traditional beer (umcombotsi, tjwala in siSwati) is drunk at gatherings and rituals; commercial lager and, from the local factory, soft drinks are widely available, along with strong sweet tea.

Eswatini's appeal is a lot of variety in a short drive. The Ezulwini and Malkerns valleys, between Mbabane and Manzini, form the tourist heart: craft markets and workshops turning out candles, glass, and batik, the Mantenga Nature Reserve, the House on Fire arts venue at Malkerns — host since 2007 of the annual MTN Bushfire festival — and the Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary, Eswatini's oldest protected area, a gentle reserve you can explore on foot, on horseback, by mountain bike, or by car, with hippos and crocodiles in its wetland.

In the eastern lowveld, Hlane Royal National Park, once a royal hunting ground, has lion, elephant, giraffe, and white rhino on open plains, and the small Mkhaya Game Reserve protects black and white rhino, elephant, and buffalo. To the northwest, Malolotja National Park is highland grassland and gorges with the 89-metre Malolotja Falls, the highest in Eswatini, and birdlife good enough for it to be named an Important Bird Area, and within it the Ngwenya iron mine, considered the oldest mine in the world.

The ceremonies themselves — the Umhlanga in late winter and, for those with the right timing and permissions, the public days of the Incwala — are the most distinctive thing a visitor can witness.