History

History of Zambia

The indigenous hunter-gatherer occupants of Zambia began to be displaced or absorbed by more advanced migrating tribes about 2,000 years ago. The major waves of Bantu-speaking immigrants began in the 15th century, with the greatest influx between the late 17th and early 19th centuries. They came primarily from the Luba and Lunda tribes of southern Zaire and northern Angola but were joined in the 19th century by Nguni peoples from the south. By the latter part of that century, the various peoples of Zambia were largely established in the areas they currently occupy.

Except for an occasional Portuguese explorer, the area lay untouched by Europeans for centuries. After the mid-19th century, it was penetrated by Western explorers, missionaries, and traders. David Livingstone, in 1855, was the first European to see the magnificent waterfalls on the Zambezi River. He named the falls after Queen Victoria, and the Zambian town near the falls is named after him.

When the first Europeans arrived, by far the most important state in what is now Zambia was the kingdom of Barotseland, ruled by the Lozi people. When the kingdom was first established is uncertain, but it was certainly existing by the 18th century, the Lozi calling themselves Aluya and their country Ngulu. Its ruler was called litunga, and had two capitals: in the dry season he stayed at Lealui, while in the rainy season he moved to Limulunga, a move that is still celebrated in the Kuomboka annual festival.

The first certain historical fact concerning Barotseland is in the early 19th century the trek of the Makololo, a clan of the South-african Basotho or Tswana people. Utterly defeated by Shaka's new Zulu kingdom in the 1820s, the Makololo under the guide of Sebetwane were forced to march north till they conquered the Lozi and became the aristocracy of Barotseland, with Sebitwane as new litunga.

Sebetwane prooved an able leader, and is speaken of with warm respect by David Livingstone, who met him in 1851 shortly before his death. He was succeeded by his daughter Mamochisane, who early stepped down in favour of her half-brother Sekeletu. With him the Makololo empire appears to have started to fall to pieces, especially after his death in 1863: a year later internal dissension in the ruling class brought to a revolt by the Lozi that is said to have exterminated the Makololo aristocracy and forced the survivors to migrate to present-day Malawi.

Colonial Period

In 1888, Cecil Rhodes, spearheading British commercial and political interests in Central Africa, obtained a mineral rights concession from local chiefs. In the same year, Northern and Southern Rhodesia (now Zambia and Zimbabwe, respectively) were proclaimed a British sphere of influence. To start with the territory was administered by Rhodes' British South Africa Company, which showed little interest for the province and used it mainly as a supplier of cheap labour.

In 1923 the British government decided not to renew the company's charter; as a result, Southern Rhodesia was annexed formally and granted self-government in 1923, while the administration of Northern Rhodesia was transferred to the British colonial office in 1924 as a protectorate, with Livingstone as capital (it was transferred in 1935 to Lusaka). A Legislative Council was estabilished, of which five members were elected by the small European minority (only 4,000 people), but none by the African population.

In 1928 important discoveries were made in the region from then on called Copperbelt: enormous copper deposits were found, transforming Northern Rhodesia from a prospective land of colonization for white farmers to a copper exporter (already in 1938 it produces 13% of world's copper extracted). The sector was immediately monopolized by the Anglo American Corporation (AAC, North-American) and the Rhodesian Selection Trust (RST, South African), who would control the sector till independence.

The bad security conditions helped to trigger in 1935 the first great strike of African mineworkers, which was followed by a still bigger one in 1940, crushed by the authorities that killed 13 miners in the repression.

In 1953, both Rhodesias were joined with Nyasaland (now Malawi) to form the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. Northern Rhodesia was the center of much of the turmoil and crisis that characterized the federation in its last years. At the core of the controversy were insistent African demands for greater participation in government and European fears of losing political control.

A two-stage election held in October and December 1962 resulted in an African majority in the legislative council and an uneasy coalition between the two African nationalist parties. The council passed resolutions calling for Northern Rhodesia's secession from the federation and demanding full internal self-government under a new constitution and a new national assembly based on a broader, more democratic franchise. On December 31, 1963, the federation was dissolved, and Northern Rhodesia became the Republic of Zambia on October 24, 1964.

Independence

At independence, despite its considerable mineral wealth, Zambia faced major challenges. Domestically, there were few trained and educated Zambians capable of running the government, and the economy was largely dependent on foreign expertise. Abroad, three of its neighbors--Southern Rhodesia and the Portuguese colonies of Mozambique and Angola--remained under white-dominated rule. Rhodesia's white-ruled government unilaterally declared independence in 1965. In addition, Zambia shared a border with South African-controlled South-West Africa (now Namibia). Zambia's sympathies lay with forces opposing colonial or white-dominated rule, particularly in Southern Rhodesia. During the next decade, it actively supported movements such as the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU), the African National Congress of South Africa (ANC), and the South-West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO).

Conflicts with Rhodesia resulted in the closing of Zambia's borders with that country and severe problems with international transport and power supply. However, the Kariba hydroelectric station on the Zambezi River provided sufficient capacity to satisfy the country's requirements for electricity. A railroad to the Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam, built with Chinese assistance, reduced Zambian dependence on railroad lines south to South Africa and west through an increasingly troubled Angola.

By the late 1970s, Mozambique and Angola had attained independence from Portugal. Zimbabwe achieved independence in accordance with the 1979 Lancaster House Agreement, but Zambia's problems were not solved. Civil war in the former Portuguese colonies generated refugees and caused continuing transportation problems. The Benguela Railroad, which extended west through Angola, was essentially closed to traffic from Zambia by the late 1970s. Zambia's strong support for the ANC, which had its external headquarters in Lusaka, created security problems as South Africa raided ANC targets in Zambia.

In the mid-1970s, the price of copper, Zambia's principal export, suffered a severe decline worldwide. Zambia turned to foreign and international lenders for relief, but as copper prices remained depressed, it became increasingly difficult to service its growing debt. By the mid-1990s, despite limited debt relief, Zambia's per capita foreign debt remained among the highest in the world.

Elections in 1991 brought an end to the one-party rule of Kenneth Kaunda, but the subsequent vote in 1996 saw blatant harassment of opposition parties.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "History of Zambia".