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The road to the Republic…

Zambia’s history

The original inhabitants of the country lived as hunter / gatherers. A gradual, but not complete ousting of these peoples took place around 2000 years ago, when more advanced tribes moved into the territory. The majority of Bantu-speaking immigrants entered the area in the 15th century, with a further influx taking place between the end of the 17th and beginning of the 19th centuries.

First, from the southern Congo and northern Angola, came the tribes of the Luna and the Lunda; later the Ngoni arrived from the southern regions of Angola as well. Most tribal groups can still be found living today very much where they had originally settled by the end of the 19th century.

Apart from the odd Portuguese explorer, the country remained undiscovered by Europeans throughout the centuries. The first missionaries, traders and explorers did not reach the country until the second half of the 19th century. In 1855, Livingstone became the first European to come face to face with the magnificent waterfalls across the Zambezi River. He named them after his Queen, Victoria, whilst the little town close to the falls was itself named in honour of the great explorer himself.

Cecil Rhodes, a pioneer of British trade and politics in Southern Africa, acquired mining concessions from a number of tribal chiefs in 1888. In that same year, Northern and Southern Rhodesia were integrated into the British Protectorate, later becoming Zambia and Zimbabwe respectively. The official integration of Southern Rhodesia took place in 1923 and was subject to terms of self-governance. The governance of Northern Rhodesia was assigned to the British Colonial office as a protectorate in 1924.

The formation of a federation including Nyasaland (now Malawi), Southern and Northern Rhodesian took place in 1953. Northern Rhodesia however became a hotbed of political crisis and unrest and this destabilized the federation. Major reasons for the fighting were the demands of Africans to be included in government and the fear of the Europeans of losing their political influence over the area. On the 31st December 1963, the Colonial Federation was dissolved, whereupon on 24th October 1964 Northern Rhodesia became the Republic of Zambia.