Swaziland king changes nation’s name to eswatini

The king of Swaziland, King Mswati III, one of the world’s few absolute rulers, announced yesterday that his country had changed its name to the Kingdom of eswatini to mark 50 years since independence from British rule.

Meaning “place of the Swazi”, it is the Swazi language name for the nation landlocked between South Africa and Mozambique. Unlike other African countries, Swaziland did not revert back to a pre-colonisation name when it gained independence in 1968.