By Henry Kyambalesa
May 30, 2023
In this article, I wish to share my understanding of the story relating to the origins of our beloved country. The history of our country can be traced from at least 3 million years ago as having been part of the northern African Rift Valley. Archaeologists have found stone implements, similar to those found in modern Kenya, along the Zambezi River.
A number of early Stone Age sites have been unearthed in many parts of our beloved country, the most significant being at the Kalambo Falls in the Northern and the Victoria Falls in the Southern portions of the country. At Kalambo Falls, archaeologists have found evidence that our ancestors began using fire over 60,000 years ago.
At Victoria Falls, on the other hand, they have found a housing complex showing that the people who lived there had developed important architectural, organisational, human relations, and survival skills.
1. The 12th Century: Much of the readily available information about Zambia’s past, though, starts from the 12th Century when the Shona people arrived in the area from the south and established the Mwene Mutapa Empire, which included today’s southern Zambia.
2. The 16th Century: During the 16th Century, the region witnessed the arrival of people from the Luba and Lunda empires of the former Zaire to set up small kingdoms. They were joined later during the 19th Century by the Ngoni people from the south. During the latter part of the 19th Century, the country’s 73 tribal groups had already established themselves in the areas they currently occupy.
3. The Late 1800s: British imperialist, John Cecil Rhodes, obtained a concession for mineral rights from local chiefs in 1899, and eventually took control over the territory and administered it through his British South Africa Company (BSAC) as North-Eastern Rhodesia (with Fort Jameson – now Chipata – as its capital) and North-Western Rhodesia (with Kalomo as its capital).
In 1911, the territory became Northern Rhodesia with Livingstone as its capital. In 1924, the BSAC ceased to be the political power and the territory became a British Protectorate. In 1935, the seat of government was eventually moved from Livingstone to Lusaka.
4. August 1953: The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland was created in August 1953, consisting of Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and Nyasaland (now Malawi). In opposition to the Federation, the late Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula and his followers (including Kenneth David Kaunda) formed the Northern Rhodesia African National Congress (ANC), which was later banned (in 1959) and its leaders imprisoned by British authorities.
5. The Year 1960: Kenneth David Kaunda, upon his release from prison, founded the United National Independence Party (UNIP) to campaign for independence and the dissolution of the Federation dominated by white-ruled Southern Rhodesia. On December 31, 1963, the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland was finally and permanently dissolved.
6. October 24, 1964: Northern Rhodesia gained independence on October 24, 1964, with Kenneth David Kaunda of the United National Independence Party (UNIP) as the first President of Zambia.
7. Origin of the Name “Zambia”: According to the Zambia Daily Mail (1999), the name “Zambia” was coined in October 1958 during the launching of the Zambia African National Congress (ZANC) at Broken Hill (now Kabwe) by some of the former leaders of the liberation movement to replace the Northern Rhodesia African National Congress (ANC).
Initially, the name “Zambezia African National Congress” was proposed, but someone (believed to be the late Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe) suggested that the “Zambezia” part of the nascent political party’s name should be shortened to “Zambia.”
Our country, therefore, derives its name from the “Zambezi River.” But then, what is the origin of the name “Zambezi”?
As early as the 16th Century, maps drawn by Arabs in search of trade in goods and slaves began to show a river named “Zembere.” In the 17th Century, the De Lisle maps similarly depicted the name of the river as “Zambeze,” “Empondo” or “Cuama.” Later, cartographers sometimes used the name “Zambeze,” sometimes “Cuoama” (or “Cuama”) or both. But from the time of De Lisle (1675-1725), “Zambeze” became established on the maps.
Portuguese historian De Barros, whose writings were published between 1552 and 1613, mentioned “Zambeze” as one of the great rivers in the territory. Reference to the meaning of the name can be traced to the writings of Joao dos Santos, a Dominican Father, who wrote in 1609 that the local people called the river “Zambesi” – implying a river surrounded by riches and abounding in animals and provisions.
According to David Livingstone, in his Missionary Travels first published in 1858, the people living around today’s Western Province of Zambia referred to the river as “Liambai” or “Leeambye”—which meant “the large river.” He also noted that the names “Luambeji,” “Ambezi,” “Ojimbezi,” and “Zambesi” were applied to the river depending on the languages or dialects spoken by natives.
The name “Zambezia” was sometimes used to describe parts of today’s Zambezi valley by E. P. Mathers in his book entitled Zambezia published around 1900.
He also used the same name to describe the whole of Matabeleland and Mashonaland. And R. C. F. Maughan, in a book published in 1910 with a similar title to that of E. P. Mathers’ book, presented a map with the name “Zambesia,” which covered a large portion of today’s lower Zambezi in Mozambique.