City (pop., 1999 est.: metro. area, 373,000), capital of Lesotho.
It lies on the Caledon River near the border with Free State province, Republic of South Africa. In 1869 the chief of the Basotho (Sotho) nation, Moshoeshoe I, founded the town near his mountain stronghold of Thaba Bosiu. Diamond mining is important economically. The country's only urban centre, Maseru is the site of government buildings as well as a technical school and Lesotho Agricultural College. Roma, to the southeast, is the seat of the National University of Lesotho (1945).