Mohale's Hoek District in the context of Qacha's Nek District

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 (then known as Basuto) and their territory had been under British control starting in 1868 (and ruled by Cape Colony from 1871), 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.

It was divided into seven administrative districts: Berea, Leribe, Maseru, Mohale's Hoek, Mafeteng, Qacha's Nek and Quthing.

Maseru is a district of Lesotho. Maseru is also the name of the district's capital, and is the only city in the district and also the capital of the country. It is the largest urban area in the country, and therefore the only city. The city of Maseru is located on Lesotho's western border with the Free State Province of South Africa, the frontier being the Caledon River. Maseru borders on Berea District in north, Thaba-Tseka District in the east, Mohale's Hoek District in south, and Mafeteng District in southwest.

As of 2006, the district had a population of 431,998 which was 23.02 per cent of the total population of the country. The total area of the district was 4,279 which was 14.10 per cent of the total area of the country. The density of population in the district was 101.00 per km. As of 2008, there were 52 economically active people in the district. There were totally 294,062 employed people out of a total of 585,770 people in the district above 15 years of age.