Nine things about the country Donald Trump says ‘nobody has ever heard of’

US President Donald Trump has said that “nobody has ever heard of” the African country of Lesotho – a comment that has “shocked” its government.

It is a small country in southern Africa that almost entirely consists of mountains and is completely surrounded by South Africa.

Here are nine things to know about the country:

The Kingdom of Lesotho is made up mostly of highlands, where many villages can only be reached on horseback, by foot or light aircraft.

It is known as the “Kingdom in the Sky” and is the only independent state in the world that lies entirely above 1,000m (3,281ft) in elevation, according to Encyclopaedia Britannica. Its lowest point is at 1,400m.

It is known to have one of the world’s most intimidating airstrips to land on – the Matekane Airstrip has a short runway and with long drops at both ends.

The Business Insider website describes flying from the airport as “essentially the same as when a bird is pushed out of the nest in order to learn to fly”.

Lesotho is completely encircled by South Africa, but separated by the forbidding mountain ranges.

Not much of its land is available for farming, with its population vulnerable to food shortages and relying on income from jobs in South Africa. Over the decades thousands of workers have been forced by the lack of job opportunities at home to find work in South Africa.

The people of Lesotho, who number more than two million, share some cultural and language similarities with South Africans. Their language, Sesotho, is also one of South Africa’s 11 official languages. In fact, more people speak it in South Africa – 4.6 million – than in Lesotho.

Resources are scarce in Lesotho – a consequence of the harsh environment of the highland plateau and limited agricultural space in the lowlands.

Its biggest resource is water – known locally as white gold – which is exported to South Africa. Diamonds are another major export.

When you think of skiing and snowboarding, you may imagine the snowy slopes of Europe and North America.

But Lesotho has been making itself known on the snowsports scene. It has the highest ski resort in sub-Saharan Africa, one of just a handful on the continent.

Afriski is situated 3,222m above sea level, high up in Lesotho’s Maloti mountains and attracts visitors from Africa and beyond.

People from Lesotho are referred to as Basotho.

Some of the cultural items associated with the Basotho people are their blankets and the Basotho traditional conical hats, known as the mokorotlo. The hat is a national symbol and appears in the middle of the country’s flag.

The blankets are made from thick wool, with their intricate and colourful patterns each telling a different story of the Basotho people’s history. The Basotho wear them as shawls at special events and give them as gifts.

Lesotho has one of the highest rates of HIV prevalence in the world, with one in five adults living with HIV, and more infections per 100,000 people than most other countries, including neighbouring Namibia, Botswana and Eswatini.

The US government has committed nearly $1bn to help the country deal with HIV since 2006, including for prevention, care and treatment services, according to the US State Department.

Like the United Kingdom, Lesotho is a constitutional monarchy. This means that although it has a royal family, an elected prime minister runs the country.

Lesotho’s Prince Seeiso – the younger brother of current King Letsie III – is close friends with the UK’s Prince Harry.

The pair have set up a charity in Lesotho – Sentebale, which means “forget me not”. The organisation works with local communities in the country at grassroots level, helping young people affected by HIV/Aids.

Prince Harry first went to Lesotho as a 19-year-old and has returned to the country many times since then.

Jeans have long been associated with the American West but nowadays, many of the pairs worn in the US have come from halfway across the world, in Lesotho.

Lesotho’s garment factories have made jeans for iconic American brands such as Levi’s and Wrangler in recent years. As a result, Lesotho has become known as the “denim capital of Africa”.

And it is not just jeans – Lesotho is one of sub-Saharan Africa’s largest exporters of clothing in general to the US.

Last year, Lesotho exported $237m (£184m) worth of clothes and textiles to the US through the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), which allows eligible African countries to send some goods to the US without paying taxes.

It is ranked second by value of goods exported under the deal.

Many of Lesotho’s clothing and textile factories are owned by Chinese and Taiwanese migrants.

The mountain kingdom has the world’s highest suicide rate, with 87.5 people per 100,000 of the population taking their own life every year, according to the UN World Health Organization.

This is nearly 10 times the global average of nine and more than double the country with the second highest rate, Guyana, which has about 40.

There is no single reason for this shocking statistic – experts point to the abuse of drugs and alcohol, the shortage of jobs and the lack of mental health counselling.

Additional reporting by Wedaeli Chibelushi