47 Fun Facts About Zambia

What is the capital of Zambia?

Lusaka became the colonial capital in 1935, replacing a town in the far south, and sits on a plateau about 1,280 metres above sea level.

What was Zambia called before independence in 1964?

Northern Rhodesia, administered by the British South Africa Company until 1924 and then as a British protectorate, became Zambia at independence in 1964.

Zambia takes its name from which river?

The Zambezi rises in north-western Zambia and, after looping through a neighbour, returns to form the country's southern border before plunging over Victoria Falls.

Who was Zambia's first president, in office from 1964 to 1991?

Kenneth Kaunda, 'KK', led Zambia from independence until losing the 1991 election; he promoted an ideology he called Zambian Humanism and died in 2021 aged 97.

What national motto did the country's first president coin for his young, multi-ethnic country?

The motto 'One Zambia, One Nation' was coined to bind some 70 ethnic groups into a single state after independence, and appears on the national coat of arms.

Zambia declared independence on the closing day of the 1964 Olympics, making it the first country to do what?

Zambia became the first country to enter a Games as one nation and leave as another: the team marched in under the colonial name and flew home as Zambians.

On what date does Zambia celebrate independence?

Zambia became independent on 24 October 1964, as a republic within the Commonwealth, with the outgoing prime minister sworn in as president.

Which metal has historically dominated Zambia's economy, making up about 69% of its exports in 2019?

Copper, mined in Zambia's north since the 1920s, made up roughly 69 percent of export earnings in 2019, and the kwacha tends to move with its price.

Which emblem sits at the fly of Zambia's flag rather than the centre?

An African fish eagle in flight, symbolising freedom and the ability to rise above problems, sits in the upper fly; the green field stands for natural resources.

The name of Zambia's currency, the kwacha, means what in several of the country's languages?

It echoes the nationalist slogan of a 'new dawn of freedom'; one kwacha is 100 ngwee.

What is the local Lozi name for Victoria Falls, meaning 'the smoke that thunders'?

Mosi-oa-Tunya, the Lozi name, also names the national park on the Zambian side; the spray rises hundreds of metres and is visible from some 20 km away.

Which Scottish missionary was the first European recorded to see Victoria Falls, in November 1855?

David Livingstone reached the falls by canoe on 16 November 1855 and named them for Queen Victoria; the Zambian tourist town beside them bears his name.

Victoria Falls is classed as the world's largest waterfall on the basis of what?

At 1,708 metres wide and 108 metres high it forms the largest single sheet of falling water on Earth, though others are taller or carry more water.

Kariba Dam, opened in 1959, created a lake so large that what operation was needed?

Operation Noah saved around 6,000 large animals from the rising water between 1958 and 1961; the dam is shared with Zimbabwe.

Kalambo Falls, on the Tanzanian border at a Rift Valley lake's southern tip, is notable as what?

Kalambo Falls is one of Africa's tallest single-drop waterfalls, plunging 235 metres in one uninterrupted leap; nearby, archaeologists found the world's oldest known wooden structure, about 476,000 years old, described in 2023.

Zambia's highest point, Mafinga Central, is on the border with which country?

Mafinga Central, at 2,339 metres in the Mafinga Hills, straddles the border with Malawi; most of Zambia is a plateau between 1,000 and 1,600 metres.

Zambia has how many neighbouring countries?

Zambia borders 8 countries; the shortest link, with Botswana at Kazungula, runs only about 150 metres, and Namibia touches Zambia via the Caprivi Strip.

Which archaic human skull, up to 300,000 years old, was found in a Zambian mine in 1921?

Broken Hill Man, also called Kabwe 1, was found by miners in 1921 and is usually assigned to Homo heidelbergensis; the Natural History Museum in London holds it.

Whose company secured a mineral concession from Lewanika, the Lozi king, in 1890?

Cecil Rhodes's British South Africa Company won the Lochner Concession from Lewanika in 1890 and administered the territory until 1924.

Which territory joined the two Rhodesias in the Central African Federation from 1953 to 1963?

Nyasaland was the third member of the Central African Federation; African leaders in the two northern territories opposed a union dominated by Southern Rhodesia's settlers, and it dissolved on 31 December 1963.

What is nshima, the staple of Zambian meals?

Nshima is a thick porridge of pounded white maize, cooked firm and eaten by hand, rolled into a ball and dipped into relishes of vegetables, beans, fish or meat.

Zambia's football team died in a 1993 plane crash after take-off from which African capital?

The plane crashed into the sea off Libreville, Gabon, after a refuelling stop; all 30 aboard, including 18 players, died when the pilot shut down the wrong engine after a fire.

Zambia won its first Africa Cup of Nations in 2012 by beating which team on penalties in the final?

Zambia beat Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties after a goalless final; Stoppila Sunzu converted the decisive kick after Kolo Touré and Gervinho missed for the Ivorians.

Zambia's Kalusha Bwalya scored a hat-trick in a 4–0 win over which country at the 1988 Seoul Olympics?

Zambia thrashed Italy 4-0 in the group stage, Kalusha Bwalya scoring three; he was spared the 1993 crash because he travelled separately from his Dutch club.

Which Zambian won Olympic silver in the 400 metres hurdles at Atlanta 1996?

Samuel Matete, the 1991 world champion, took silver behind American Derrick Adkins in Atlanta, Zambia's second Olympic medal after a 1984 boxing bronze.

Which African lake, sharing its shore with Zambia, has the country's most endemic fish species?

Lake Tanganyika, the world's longest freshwater lake at about 660 km and the second deepest, holds hundreds of endemic cichlids; Zambia has around 490 fish species in all.

Which vice-president became acting president when Michael Sata died in office in 2014?

Guy Scott, vice-president under Michael Sata, served as acting president for about 90 days until Edgar Lungu won the January 2015 by-election; Sata had been the fifth president.

Who won Zambia's 2021 presidential election with 59% of the vote, defeating incumbent Edgar Lungu?

Hakainde Hichilema, a businessman on his sixth attempt at the presidency, won about 59 percent; Lungu conceded on television, extending Zambia's run of peaceful transfers of power.

Under its 1996 constitution, Zambia is officially declared what?

The 1996 constitution's preamble declares Zambia a Christian nation while guaranteeing freedom of religion; the clause was pushed by the Pentecostal president of the day.

Which local language is most widely spoken in the capital?

Nyanja, also known as Chewa, is the lingua franca of the capital and the Eastern Province, while the mining towns of the north speak a different Bantu tongue.

Which Zambian province is home to Kitwe and Ndola?

The Copperbelt Province, around Kitwe and Ndola, saw industrial mining begin in the late 1920s, triggering rapid urbanisation along the railway line.

Which 1964 revolt by Alice Lenshina's followers was the new president's first internal conflict?

Her Lumpa Church refused to recognise the state; hundreds died before the movement was crushed.

Which annual ceremony sees the Litunga of the Lozi move by royal barge from the flooded plain to higher ground?

It takes place in Western Province at the end of the rains; the other options are also traditional ceremonies of other Zambian peoples.

Which giraffe subspecies lives only in Zambia's Luangwa Valley?

Thornicroft's giraffe, also called the Luangwa giraffe, is an isolated population of a few hundred animals confined to Zambia's Luangwa Valley.

Zambia's rainy season, its summer, runs over which months?

Rains fall from November to April, when the intertropical convergence zone sits over Zambia; the dry season then splits into a cool spell to August and a hot one to October.

Roughly what share of Zambia drains south to the Indian Ocean rather than into the Congo?

About three-quarters of Zambia lies in the basin of its namesake river, which drains to the Indian Ocean via Mozambique; the Congo basin takes most of the north.

Which peoples inhabited Zambia before Bantu farmers arrived around AD 300?

Khoisan and Batwa peoples left rock paintings at sites like Mwela and Nachikufu Cave; the Twa later lived around the Kafue Flats and Lukanga Swamp.

Which Congo kingdom do the peoples of northern Zambia trace their origins to?

The Luba kingdom of Katanga, from which the Lunda empire budded off, is the origin claimed by these peoples, who migrated south in the 17th century.

Zambia's national football team is nicknamed the Chipolopolo, meaning what?

Chipolopolo means 'the Copper Bullets', a nod to the metal that built the country's economy; the team's 2012 continental title came 19 years after the 1993 air disaster.

Kansanshi mine, near Solwezi, is majority-owned by which Canadian company?

First Quantum Minerals holds 80 percent of Kansanshi in North-Western Province, with the state mining investment arm holding the rest; it opened in 2005 and grew into one of Africa's biggest mines.

Which regional trade bloc has its headquarters in Lusaka?

The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa stretches from Egypt to Eswatini.

Roughly what was Zambia's population at the 2022 census?

The 2022 census counted about 19.6 million people, up from 13.1 million in 2010; roughly 40 percent live in urban areas.

Which is Zambia's largest ethnic group, at roughly a fifth of the population?

Bemba make up about 21 percent of Zambians, the largest single group, concentrated in the north; Tonga follow at about 14 percent.

What is the official language of Zambia, used for government, education and law?

English, inherited from British rule, is the sole official language, used in government, courts and schools, and is the home language of many inter-ethnic urban families.

Which state-owned company, formed in 1982, ran Zambia's mines until privatisation?

ZCCM, formed in 1982 by merging the state-controlled NCCM and RCM groups, ran the mines until they were sold off between 1997 and 2000.

Under which 1972 body's recommendations did Zambia become a one-party state?

The Chona Commission, chaired by Vice-President Mainza Chona, reported in 1972 and the one-party state followed the next year; multiparty democracy returned in 1991 after riots and a failed coup.

The Benguela railway, closed to Zambian traffic by the late 1970s, ran west through which country?

The Benguela line ran from Zambia's mining belt through Angola to the Atlantic port of Lobito; Angola's civil war after 1975 cut the route just as metal prices collapsed.