History History

The great Rift Valley, which crosses Africa from Egypt to Zambia, is now recognized as the cradle of humanity. Numerous Stone Age sites have been excavated in Zambia, containing 200,000 year old tools in the area of Kalambo Falls in the north and Victoria Falls in the south. In 1921, the bones of the so-called "Broken Hill Man" were exhumed near Katwe. This Homo Rhodesiensis is the common ancestor ofHomo sapiens and Neanderthal man who lived from 700 000 to 300 000 years ago.

At the end of the Stone Age, the first men living here had prominent cheekbones, brown and very wrinkled skin, and probably resembled the San people who still live in Namibia and Botswana: the Bushmen, whose ancestors they are believed to be.

The first Bantu-speaking farmers and pastoralists slowly populated the country. Those who settled in southern Africa are believed to have originated in Cameroon around 3000 years before our era. Probably fleeing the tsetse fly in the African equatorial zones. After several centuries of slow progress, the Bantu peoples reached Zambia, then Zimbabwe and South Africa. They brought with them a political organization, the art of pottery, agricultural methods and metallurgy.

Muslim merchants crossed the territory along the Zambezi River. From the ^14th century onwards, trade developed in southern Africa. Gold, but also copper, iron and ivory became currencies of exchange. Arab, Indian and Swahili merchants from the coasts of the Indian Ocean penetrated the interior of the continent. At the same time, social structures between ethnic groups developed, languages and cultures diversified. Trade led to the enrichment of certain groups, who chose to form chieftaincies.

Establishment of the various modern tribes. Kingdoms emerge, such as that of Chewa in the east, then those of Bemba and Lunda in the north.

The Lozi king, Litunga, settled in the west near Kalabo and founded the powerful dynasty that continues today.

From the ^17th century onwards, the first Europeans began to penetrate the heart of southern Africa. The Portuguese from Angola reached the source of the Zambezi River in the west, while the Swahili and Arabs reached Mozambique from the east. These incursions continued into the ^nineteenth century, with the slave trade quickly becoming the most lucrative trade and the main motivation of the colonists. With the cooperation of village chiefs, captives were taken in appalling conditions to the coast of Mozambique and then to Zanzibar, where they were sold on the slave market. From there, the most resistant were sent to India or Arabia.

As a result of the "Difaquane" (the great Zulu crush) in South Africa, many tribes forced into exile invaded the lands of their neighbors. Thus, in Zambia, from one invasion to another, the Tonga and the Lozi were in turn threatened by these peoples from South Africa.

First journey of the English missionary David Livingstone to the Zambezi country. This doctor was commissioned by the British crown to evangelize the peoples of southern Africa, to fight the horrors of slavery and to trace a path to the heart of a continent that was in danger of falling entirely under Portuguese rule.

Livingstone starts to go up the Zambezi.

Studying Greek, medicine and theology at the University of Glasgow, before joining the London Missionary Society, Livingstone settled in Bechuanaland (now Botswana) in 1840 and established his first missions in the Kalahari Desert. From 1852 to 1856, his first expedition led him to the interior of the continent, with the project of opening roads to evangelize the indigenous populations. Going up the Zambezi River, he discovered the Mosi-O-Tunya Falls, which he named Victoria Falls in honor of his sovereign. After a brief stay in England where, welcomed as a hero, he published the accounts of his journey, he led, from 1858 to 1864, a large-scale expedition along the Zambezi, but which ended in failure. Two years later, he undertook a journey through Tanzania to discover the source of the Nile. But he became seriously ill and lost all contact with the outside world for five years. At the end of 1871, the English journalist Stanley arrived in the village of Ujiji, on the shores of Lake Tanganyka. He is greeted by a bearded man with an emaciated face. For the visitor, the identity of his host is not in doubt: his " Dr. Livingstone, I presume? " will remain in the pages of history. The two men travelled together for a while, but Livingstone refused to return to Europe and died of malaria on May¹, 1873, at the age of 60, in a village near Lake Bangweulu in Zambia. His faithful servants Susi and Chuma buried his heart and viscera and sent his embalmed body and his travel journals to England. The explorer was buried with great pomp in Westminster Abbey.

Livingstone renamed these immense falls Mosi-oa-Tunya (the smoke that roars) in honor of his sovereign, Victoria. Back in England, he published, in 1857, the Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa, a work that was to be the origin of the departure of many missionaries to Zambia and Malawi. Thanks to Livingstone, the British crown consolidated its influence in the region, while the European powers were increasingly fighting for dominance on the African continent.

Held that same year, the Berlin Conference aimed to defuse conflicts between colonizers. The African continent was shared like a cake between France, Germany, Belgium, Portugal and Great Britain, which inherited the territory of present-day Zambia. Thus began the exploitation of Africa's resources and natural wealth to serve European development, often in defiance of the indigenous peoples. It was also the establishment of the first Catholic missions in Zambia and southern Malawi.

This Afrikaner South African businessman, holder of the South African diamond trade monopoly and soon to be Prime Minister of the Cape Colony, founded the British South Africa Company (BSAC). He obtained permission from the British government to administer the territories north of the Limpopo River and had ambitions to fly the Union Jack along a railway line from Cairo to Cape Town. He obtained from the Lozi ruler the right to exploit the country's mines, in exchange for the protection granted to his people. The British established their power over the region, definitively putting aside Portuguese ambitions.

In honor of this ambitious imperialist, the new colonies took the name of Rhodesia in 1894: Southern Rhodesia for Zimbabwe, North-Western Rhodesia and North-Eastern Rhodesia for Zambia.

In 1911, the two Rhodesias, North-Western and North-Eastern, merged and chose Livingstone as their capital (which was transferred to Lusaka in 1935). The mining resources of Northern Rhodesia were more difficult to exploit and less profitable than those of Southern Rhodesia. The population was suffocated by the taxes to which it was subject and revolts were put down by bullets. Soon, 20,000 Zambians were called up to fight under the British colors in the First World War.

The costs of the BSAC having become too high, the British Colonial Office decides to take over the administration of Northern Rhodesia, which obtains the status of a British protectorate. The Colonial Office replaced the BSA Company but the BSAC remained the owner of the mines and discrimination against the black population continued with the arrival of new settlers.

A huge copper deposit is located in the Kafue River basin, the Copperbelt. During the following decade, discoveries of deposits multiplied and the Europeans established vast open-pit mines. With widespread electricity and soon the growing demand for metals for the manufacture of weapons in World War II, copper quickly made the fortune of the British colony. For the local population, however, the benefits were far from being felt. Working conditions in the mines were catastrophic.

Transfer from the capital of Livingstone to Lusaka, because of its central position, at the crossroads of the main roads and on the Tanzania-Zambia railroad.

The first tensions appear between the British and the indigenous populations. Expropriated from their lands by the whites, men came from all over the territory to work in the mines in miserable conditions. Exhausted, malnourished and victims of the racism of their superiors, many of them did not survive. Revolt movements are repressed in blood. Associations were created.

The first African miners' union was recognized by the British government.

After three weeks of peaceful strike, the miners obtained an increase in their wages.

This independent federation, the CFA, united Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and Nyasaland (now Malawi). After the Second World War, the settlers of the two Rhodesias felt the need to emancipate themselves from British colonial administration and made this move with Nyasaland. At the same time, the African nationalist movement became an important force in the region.

Kenneth Kaunda, founded the United National Independence Party (UNIP). Leader of the independence cause.

Kenneth Kaunda, a schoolteacher and disciple of Gandhi, began a campaign of civil disobedience known as the "Chachacha Rebellion," while in Europe British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan acknowledged in a famous speech that the time of colonial rule in Africa was running out.

Elections were held and the party of Kenneth Kaunda, who after a short period of imprisonment had become a national hero, won by a large margin. A year later, the Central African Federation was dissolved.

First elections by universal suffrage. The National Independence Party won a majority in the Assembly.

Northern Rhodesia gained independence and took the name Zambia, in this country that pioneered democracy in English-speaking Africa.

President Kaunda (often referred to as "KK") inherited a country whose only significant resources were its copper mines. The infrastructure was inadequate and the population poorly educated. In his first years in office, Kaunda set about developing his country, basing his policies on a personal doctrine of humanism, a mixture of Marxism, Christianity and traditional African values. Schools, hospitals and factories were built, free health care and education were provided, the civil service was developed and private enterprises, including copper mines, were nationalized. Commercially, Zambia tried to break free from its ties with its southern neighbors and moved closer to Tanzania. With Chinese assistance, a road and railroad were built to Dar es Salaam, giving landlocked Zambia access to the Indian Ocean. In 1969, he nationalized mines.

Rampant inflation combined with corruption, rising unemployment and shortages of all kinds, as well as the blockade of trade routes by neighbouring colonial powers, who blamed Kaunda for supporting independence movements, led to growing misery. The country's debt was growing and aid from the International Monetary Fund was insufficient. The discontent of the population was accompanied by a political opposition that was increasingly threatening to Kaunda.

It was the main opposition party. It proclaimed the "Second Republic", which allowed it to remain in power for another 19 years under a unitary republic regime.

The country is one of the poorest in the world and faces all kinds of shortages with very limited international aid. Discontent grew among the population. Between 1975 and 1990, the GDP fell by almost 30% and Zambia became one of the poorest countries in the world.

After yet another wave of riots and demonstrations, KK agreed to restore a multi-party system and allowed general elections to be held.

Kenneth Kaunda's main opponent, Frederick Chiluba, a former trade unionist and leader of the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD), became president.

To deal with the abysmal debt of Zambia, which was then among the poorest countries in the world, Chiluba embarked on a path of liberalization and privatized most of the enterprises. He wanted to win the confidence of foreign investors, especially South Africans, by abandoning exchange controls. But unemployment is rising and to finance these economic reforms, austerity measures are plunging the Zambian people into ever-increasing misery. Food prices are soaring and privatization is leaving thousands unemployed, especially miners. Zambia remains a peaceful country, but the population is exasperated, and in the cities, the problems of AIDS and crime are emerging.

Shortly before the elections, to counter a possible return of Kaunda, whose parents were originally from Malawi, the MMD passed a law prohibiting citizens of foreign origin from standing for election. The measure caused an international outcry and Chiluba was re-elected in a highly contested election. Corruption and human rights abuses increased.

On October 28, 1997, Zambia awoke to a new voice. Officer Steven Lungu, who calls himself "Captain Solo," has taken over the national radio station. He announced the start of "Operation Born Again" to establish a National Redemption Council to cleanse the country of corruption. He claimed that his troops were in control of the presidential residence. In reality, the attempted coup, orchestrated by a few drunken soldiers, was more of a farce than an uprising, but President Chiluba took advantage of the situation to make mass arrests, declare a state of emergency for five months, arrest many soldiers and sentence them to death. And he placed his main rival, former president Kenneth Kaunda, under house arrest for almost two years. Following this affair, numerous accusations of torture further tarnished the reputation of the Chiluba regime.

Chiluba withdrew from the presidential race. His designated MMD successor, Levy Mwanawasa, was declared the winner with only 29 per cent of the vote. Despite this highly contested election, Mwanawasa, a lawyer by training, quickly gained recognition for his integrity. As early as 2002, he eradicated corruption within the government, denouncing even former President Chiluba and his supporters, who were brought to justice in 2003. A policy of diversification combined with the rise in world copper prices: the economy is back in the black. In 2005, Zambia benefited from a $6 billion cancellation of its foreign debt

On this positive note, Levy Mwanawasa was re-elected with 43% of the vote.

Levy Mwanawasa dies in Paris. He suffered a stroke and was replaced in power by his vice-president Rupiah Banda.

Levy Mwanawasa's vice-president was elected with only 41 per cent of the vote. But the results were initially contested by his opponent Michael Sata. However, his inauguration took place peacefully, as foreign observers judged the election to be fair. Banda declared that the fight against poverty was his priority and promised to continue the fight against corruption. However, he drew criticism when he decided to release former president Frederic Chiluba from prison.

Michael Sata, representing the Patriotic Front-PF party, known as "King Cobra" won the election against Rupiah Banda. For the first time since the introduction of multiparty politics in Zambia, the opposition to the historic party won the election.

Michael Sata dies of illness in London.

In the new presidential elections, Edgar Lungu was re-elected for a five-year term with 50.4 per cent of the vote, again against the opponent Hakainde Hichilema (47.6 per cent), as leader of the United Party for National Development (UPND).

For several years now, the country has been suffering from an economic crisis due, in particular, to the lack of water, which has led to very serious electricity shortages, paralysing the mining industry, agriculture and services. Energy crisis, power outages, drought and record price inflation. In 2019 from August to December, Lusaka was experiencing an 8 hour a day blackout.

UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema and his running mate Mutale Nalumango won the first round with 59.0% of the votes cast, more than 20 points ahead of incumbent President Edgar Lungu. The first measures were in favour of education (free schooling and recruitment of teachers) and health (hiring of nurses).