Gun War

(1880 - 81), southern African war that ended 10 years of rule by the British Cape Colony over Basutoland (Lesotho). Cape magistrates had interfered with the chiefs' authority and with the traditional laws of the Sotho people; part of southern Lesotho was demarcated for white use, and a 1879 Disarmament Act was to be enforced in 1880. The Sotho refused to give up their guns. Fighting from defensive