A vast migratory movement from eastern Africa to central and southern Africa (the most indicate the 15th-16th centuries) brought the Nkosi-Dlamini clan, belonging to a Bantu tribe, at the beginning of the century. XIX to gather around him a group of tribes and to found a kingdom (1815) of which Sobhuza I was recognized as head. name of Swazi (people of Mswati) and from this, then, that of Swaziland (territory of the Swazi), a name kept by the country until 2018. After beating the Zulu for the first time (1836), Sobhuza I and Mswati moved to north continuing to fight with alternating fortunes against traditional enemies. Peace was achieved through the mediation of the British agent at Natal, Theophilus Shepstone. Transvaal, to which it ceded part of its northern territories. Under King Mbandzeni (1875-89) the siege of the Europeans began, especially the British and Boers, to obtain concessions of all kinds (lands, mines, forests, etc.). In 1867 the country officially became a British protectorate.
In the Pretoria Convention (1881) and in that of London (1884), England and Transvaal recognized the independence of Swaziland, but shortly afterwards the Transvaal began to make claims in order to establish a corridor to have a direct outlet to the sea. England opposed and accepted his proposal aimed at establishing a kind of mixed Anglo-Boer government (1890) for the duration of three years. In 1894, England granted the Transvaal the right to administer Swaziland with a prohibition on incorporating it: a right that remained in force until 1899 when the Anglo-Boer war broke out. In 1903 England took over direct administration of Swaziland and incorporated it into the Transvaal colony. On 1 December 1906, Swaziland came under the control of a crown commissioner for the three protectorates of the Bechuanaland, Basutoland and Swaziland. The following year England proceeded to reorganize the country and revise the land and mining concessions made to Europeans. Created the South African Union (1910), Swaziland refused to join it; even later it resisted pressure from Europeans and the Union government. In 1921, after more than twenty years of regency by his mother (he was born in 1899), the king (= Ngwenyama) Sobhuza II ascended the throne.
After World War II, England declared that it would not transfer Swaziland to the South African Union, which, on the contrary, claimed to be able to administer the three British protectorates in South Africa better than England. Established an Executive Council and a Legislative Council in 1963, Swaziland achieved full internal autonomy in April 1967 and therefore also full external sovereignty, within the Commonwealth., on September 6, 1968. Five years after independence, Sobhuza II revoked the newborn Constitution of Swaziland, suspending the activity of the parties and assuming full powers (April 1973), and in 1978 a second Constitution substantially sanctioned the absolutist involution of the monarchy. Following the death of the king (August 1982), one of his widows, Queen Dzeliwe, assumed the regency, who a year later was deposed and replaced by another widow of Sobhuza, Queen Ntombi. In 1986 the new king was crowned, Mswati III, who assumed the fullness of power on April 19, 1989, at the age of twenty-one. The new ruler aimed to strengthen his role in relation to the other members of the royal family, while accentuating of its own power also against popular opposition, which is increasingly subject to repressive actions, which have not, however, succeeded in stifling the pressures for a more democratic management of the state. These were finally accepted by the king, who introduced, in 1992, a new electoral system which led, in September-October 1993, to the first free elections. The result of the consultations confirmed the gap between the population and the government that was soundly beaten, while the outgoing prime minister was not even re-elected to parliament. The democratization process, however, was struggling to succeed. Again in 1996 (February), the trade unions organized a vast mobilization which the majority of the population adhered to with the result of paralyzing the country, but they obtained only one from Mswati III. yet another promise for a future complete liberalization of the institutions. Virtually dependent on South Africa for its economic activities, Swaziland during the 1980s pursued a policy of dialogue and cooperation with its powerful neighbor, consolidated in particular by a secret pact of non-aggression (1982).
Giving in to pressure from neighboring countries, gathered in Maputo (Mozambique) in July 1996, Mswati III announced the establishment of a Commission for the revision of the Constitution. At the end of the nineties a radical protest spread against the government and the monarchy, which opened a period of unrest: in 2000 a general strike was proclaimed for the first time in the country, but despite this the following year Mswati III further limited the freedom of the press and political association. With the new Constitution of 2006, freedom of assembly (provided it is non-partisan), freedom of speech and equality between the sexes were recognized, but at the same time all political parties were banned, increasing the power of the absolute monarchy. In fact, the sovereign is above the law, cannot be sued and is exempt from paying taxes. According to getzipcodes, in September 2008, elections were held for the renewal of parliament, with independent candidates, political parties being banned; Barnabas Sibusiso Dlamini became prime minister. In 2018, King Mswati III changed the name of the country, which from Swaziland became Eswatini. Barnabas Sibusiso Dlamini became prime minister. In 2018, King Mswati III changed the name of the country, which from Swaziland became Eswatini.