Swaziland’s King Mswati III, Africa’s last absolute monarch, said on
Thursday April 19,2018 he was officially renaming the country as the Kingdom of
eSwatini.
He announced the change to eSwatini, meaning “land of the Swazis”, in the local Swati language at Golden Jubilee celebrations of the 50th anniversary of Swazi independence and of his 50th birthday.
The king has referred to the “Kingdom of eSwatini” several times in recent years - in an address to the United Nation (UN) General Assembly in 2017 and at African Union and other international conferences.
Addressing a large gathering in a
stadium in the second city of Manzini, 40 kilometres (25 miles) east of
the capital Mbabane, the king said Swaziland was reverting to the
original name it had before being colonised by the British. The
impoverished southern African nation — a member of the Commonwealth —
gained independence from Britain in 1968. “I would like to announce that
from today onwards, our country will be known as the Kingdom of
eSwatini,” the king said. He said the name “Swaziland” had caused
confusion. “Whenever we go abroad, people refer to us as Switzerland,”
the king said.
He announced the change to eSwatini, meaning “land of the Swazis”, in the local Swati language at Golden Jubilee celebrations of the 50th anniversary of Swazi independence and of his 50th birthday.
The king has referred to the “Kingdom of eSwatini” several times in recent years - in an address to the United Nation (UN) General Assembly in 2017 and at African Union and other international conferences.
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