Independence

A militant and former schoolteacher named Kenneth Kaunda took over the leadership of the Africans from the more moderate Nkumbula. Then in 1959 he formed a new party, the United National Party (UNIP). Following this was a huge civil disobedience campaign in 1962. Africans were given a larger voice in the affairs of the protectorate. On the 24^th of October 1964 Northern Rhodesia became independent as the Republic of Zambia. Kaunda was the Zambia’s first president which he was reelected in 1968 and 1973. Kaunda faced many problems in the first 10 years of independence which was uniting Zambia’s diverse people, reducing European control of the economy, and coping with the white-dominated Zambia.

Organizations

In 1946 leaders from these groups met in Lusaka and formed the Federation of African Welfare Societies, this was the first protectorate-wide African movement. In 1948 this organization was moved into the Northern Rhodesia (today it is called Zambia) African Congress. In the early part of the 1950s, under the leadership of Harry Nkumbula, the organization fought against the establishment of the British Federation in Rhodesia and Nyasaland. Their fight was unsuccessful. The British Federation in Rhodesia combined Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia (today it is called Zimbabwe), and Nyasaland (now called Malawi). In 1958 the booming copper industry had attracted about 72,000 white people to Zambia and black people were having increasing white domination in their own homeland.

Losing Power

The mining of copper and lead started in the early 1900s. By 1909 the central railroad from Livingstone to Ndola had been completed. By then about 1,500 Europeans had settled in Zambia. In 1924 the British took over the administration of the protectorate. In the late 1920s extensive copper deposits were discovered in what was soon to be known as the Copper Belt. By the late 1930s about 4,000 European skilled workers and 20,000 African Laborers were working there. The Africans protested the discrimination and poor treatment they were subjected to by having strikes in 1934, 1940, and 1956. Africans then weren’t allowed to form unions, but they did organize secret groups that brought together people of different ethnic backgrounds.

Explorers

In the 18^th century, Portuguese explorers followed the routes of the Swahili-Arab slave traders from the coast to the middle of Africa. (Zambia) This was the first known European visitors. Then the Zulu nations began scattering their neighbors, victims of forced migration began arriving in Zambia in the early part of the 19^th century. The Makalolo people were forced out of Zimbabwe, they moved into the southern part of Zambia. When the Makalolo people arrived in Zambia they pushed Tonga out of the way and took Lozi Land on the upper Zambezi River.

Human Habitation

Evidence of human habitation going back 100,000 years has been found at Kabwe, Zambia. In the beginning of 1000AD, Swahili-Arab slave traders were the first recorded people in Zambia. They gradually moved to this region from their villages and towns on the eastern coast of Africa. Between the 14^th and 16^th centuries, Bantu-speaking people called the Maravi moved from Congo and established kingdoms in the eastern and south eastern parts of Zambia.

First time

This is my first post ever