Butha-Buthe was founded in 1884 on the Hlotse River to facilitate tax collection and means the 'place of lying down' but its history is a little more interesting.In the early 19th century, tribal groups fleeing from the warring Zulu King Shaka found refuge in the high Maluti Mountains. One group under Chief Moshesh (later called Moshoeshoe) successfully defended the flat-topped sandstone plateau of Butha-Buthe Mountain for two years before relocating to Thaba Bosiu.