1966 basutoland becomes independent from the united kingdom and i 10 04
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1966 60 years ago Historical Events October 4

Basutoland becomes independent from the United Kingdom and is renamed Lesotho.

On October 4, in the year 1966, Basutoland becomes independent from the United Kingdom and is renamed Lesotho. This event is recorded as a Historical Events event in the history of October 4, one of 409 recorded events on this date across all of history.

Basutoland was a British Crown colony that existed from 1884 to 1966 in present-day Lesotho, bordered with the Cape Colony, Natal Colony and Orange River Colony until 1910 and completely surrounded by South Africa from 1910. Though the Basotho and their territory had been under British control starting in 1868, the rule by Cape Colony was unpopular and unable to control the territory. As a result, Basutoland was brought under direct authority of Queen Victoria, via the High Commissioner, and run by an Executive Council presided over by a series of British Resident Commissioners.

Key Facts

  • This event took place on October 4, 1966 (AD era).
  • It is categorised as a Historical Events event in recorded history.
  • Referenced in 1 Wikipedia article.
  • The event is associated with a specific geographical location (see map below).
  • Wikipedia source last updated on 5 August 2026.

On This Date in History 409

Type Year Date Event
Notable Deaths 2024 Oct 4 Christopher Ciccone, American artist (born 1960)
Notable Deaths 2024 Oct 4 Billy Shaw, American football player (born 1938)
Notable Deaths 2022 Oct 4 Loretta Lynn, American singer-songwriter and musician (born 1932)
Notable Deaths 2020 Oct 4 Clark Middleton, American actor (born 1957)
Notable Deaths 2020 Oct 4 Kenzō Takada, Japanese-French fashion designer (born 1939)
Historical Events 2017 Oct 4 Joint Nigerien-American Special Forces are ambushed by Islamic State militants outside the village of Tongo Tongo.
Notable Deaths 2015 Oct 4 Dave Pike, American vibraphone player and songwriter (born 1938)
Notable Deaths 2015 Oct 4 Edida Nageswara Rao, Indian director and producer (born 1934)
Notable Deaths 2015 Oct 4 Neal Walk, American basketball player (born 1948)
Notable Deaths 2014 Oct 4 Konrad Boehmer, German-Dutch composer and educator (born 1941)
Notable Deaths 2014 Oct 4 Hugo Carvana, Brazilian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1937)
Notable Deaths 2014 Oct 4 Fyodor Cherenkov, Russian footballer and manager (born 1959)
Notable Deaths 2014 Oct 4 Jean-Claude Duvalier, Haitian politician, 41st President of Haiti (born 1951)
Notable Deaths 2013 Oct 4 John Cloudsley-Thompson, Pakistani-English commander (born 1921)
Notable Deaths 2013 Oct 4 Ulric Cross, Trinidadian navigator, judge, and diplomat (born 1917)
Notable Deaths 2013 Oct 4 Akira Miyoshi, Japanese composer (born 1933)
Notable Deaths 2013 Oct 4 Diana Nasution, Indonesian singer (born 1958)
Notable Deaths 2013 Oct 4 Võ Nguyên Giáp, Vietnamese general and politician, 3rd Minister of Defence for Vietnam (born 1911)
Notable Deaths 2013 Oct 4 Nicholas Oresko, American sergeant, Medal of Honor recipient (born 1917)
Notable Deaths 2012 Oct 4 David Atkinson, Canadian actor and singer (born 1921)
Notable Deaths 2012 Oct 4 Stan Mudenge, Zimbabwean historian and politician, Zimbabwean Minister of Foreign Affairs (born 1941)
Notable Deaths 2012 Oct 4 Tom Stannage, Australian footballer, historian, and academic (born 1944)
Notable Deaths 2011 Oct 4 Doris Belack, American actress (born 1926)
Historical Events 2010 Oct 4 The Ajka plant accident in Hungary releases a million cubic metres of liquid alumina sludge, killing nine, injuring…
Notable Deaths 2010 Oct 4 Norman Wisdom, English actor, comedian, and singer-songwriter (born 1915)
Notable Deaths 2009 Oct 4 Gerhard Kaufhold, German footballer (born 1928)
Notable Deaths 2009 Oct 4 Günther Rall, German general and pilot (born 1918)
Notable Deaths 2007 Oct 4 Qassem Al-Nasser, Jordanian general (born 1925)
Historical Events 2006 Oct 4 WikiLeaks is launched.
Notable Deaths 2005 Oct 4 Stanley K. Hathaway, American lawyer and politician, 40th United States Secretary of the Interior (born 1924)
Historical Events 2004 Oct 4 SpaceShipOne wins the Ansari X Prize for private spaceflight.
Notable Deaths 2004 Oct 4 Gordon Cooper, American colonel, engineer, and astronaut (born 1927)
Historical Events 2003 Oct 4 The Maxim restaurant suicide bombing in Israel kills twenty-one Israelis, both Jews and Arabs.
Notable Deaths 2003 Oct 4 Sid McMath, American lawyer and politician, 34th Governor of Arkansas (born 1912)
Notable Deaths 2002 Oct 4 André Delvaux, Belgian-Spanish director and screenwriter (born 1926)
Historical Events 2001 Oct 4 Siberia Airlines Flight 1812 crashes after being struck by an errant Ukrainian missile. Seventy-eight people are killed.
Notable Deaths 2001 Oct 4 Blaise Alexander, American race car driver (born 1976)
Notable Deaths 2001 Oct 4 John Collins, American guitarist (born 1913)
Notable Deaths 2001 Oct 4 Ahron Soloveichik, Russian rabbi and scholar (born 1917)
Notable Deaths 2000 Oct 4 Yu Kuo-hwa, Chinese politician, 32nd Premier of the Republic of China (born 1914)
Notable Deaths 2000 Oct 4 Michael Smith, English-Canadian biochemist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1932)
Notable Deaths 1999 Oct 4 Bernard Buffet, French painter and illustrator (born 1928)
Notable Deaths 1999 Oct 4 Art Farmer, American trumpet player and composer (born 1928)
Notable Deaths 1998 Oct 4 S. Arasaratnam, Sri Lankan historian and academic (born 1930)
Historical Events 1997 Oct 4 The second largest cash robbery in U.S. history occurs in North Carolina.
Notable Births 1997 Oct 4 Rishabh Pant, Indian cricketer
Notable Births 1997 Oct 4 Yuju, South Korean singer
Notable Deaths 1997 Oct 4 Otto Ernst Remer, German general (born 1912)
Notable Deaths 1997 Oct 4 Gunpei Yokoi, Japanese game designer, created the Game Boy (born 1941)
Notable Births 1996 Oct 4 Ella Balinska, English actress

This article draws on content from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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