Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bordered to the north by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique to the southeast, Zimbabwe and Botswana to the south, Namibia to the southwest, and Angola to the west. The capital city of Zambia is Lusaka, located in the south-central part of Zambia. The population is concentrated mainly around Lusaka in the south and the Copperbelt Province to the north, the core economic hubs of the country.
On 24 October 1964, Zambia became independent of the United Kingdom and prime minister Kenneth Kaunda became the inaugural president. Kaunda's socialistUnited National Independence Party (UNIP) maintained power from 1964 until 1991. Kaunda played a key role in regional diplomacy, cooperating closely with the United States in search of solutions to conflicts in Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), Angola, and Namibia. From 1972 to 1991, Zambia was a one-party state with UNIP as the sole legal political party under the motto "One Zambia, One Nation" coined by Kaunda. Kaunda was succeeded by Frederick Chiluba of the social-democraticMovement for Multi-Party Democracy in 1991, beginning a period of socio-economic development and government decentralisation. Zambia has since become a multi-party state and has experienced several peaceful transitions of power.
The Zambezi River at the junction of Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana
The Zambezi (also spelled Zambeze and Zambesi) is the fourth-longestriver in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. Its drainage basin covers 1,390,000 km2 (540,000 sq mi), slightly less than half of the Nile's. The 2,574 km (1,599 mi) river rises in Zambia and flows through eastern Angola, along the north-eastern border of Namibia and the northern border of Botswana, then along the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe to Mozambique, where it crosses the country to empty into the Indian Ocean.
Image 2Ancient (but graffitied) Rock Art in Nsalu Cave, Kasanka National Park in North-Central Zambia. (from Zambia)
Image 3A drawing of Lunda houses by a Portuguese. The size of the doorways relative to the building emphasizes the scale of the buildings. (from History of Zambia)
Image 6GDP per capita (current), compared to neighbouring countries (world average = 100) (from Zambia)
Image 7An 1864 photograph of the Scottish explorer and missionary David Livingstone. (from Zambia)
Image 8Ancient (but graffitied) Rock Art in Nsalu Cave, Kasanka National Park in North-Central Zambia. (from History of Zambia)
Image 9Batonga fisherwomen in Southern Zambia. Women have played and continue to play pivotal roles in many African societies. (from Zambia)
Image 10Ancient (but graffitied) Rock Art in Nsalu Cave, Kasanka National Park in North-Central Zambia. (from Zambia)
Image 11An 1864 photograph of the Scottish explorer and missionary David Livingstone. (from Zambia)
Image 12Zambia National Assembly building in Lusaka (from Zambia)
Image 13Enormous Ba-Ila settlement. These communities have been of interest to mathematicians due to their fractal pattern design. (from History of Zambia)
Image 14Drawing of the ruler of Lunda, Mwata Kazembe, receiving Portuguese in the royal courtyard in the 1800s (from History of Zambia)
Image 15Inside the palace of the Litunga, ruler of the Lozi. Due to the flooding on the Zambezi, the Litunga has two palaces one of which is on higher ground. The movement of Litunga to higher land is celebrated at the Kuomboka Ceremony (from Zambia)
Image 21Lukasa memory board, was used by members of Mbudye (an association of groits in charge of maintaining Baluba history) (from History of Zambia)
Image 22Seated female Staffs of office (Kibango), were displayed by Luba kings. In Luba society, women's bodies were considered the ultimate vessels of spiritual power. (from History of Zambia)
Image 27Batonga fisherwomen in Southern Zambia. Women have and continue to play important roles in many African societies. (from History of Zambia)
Image 28The Kalonga of the Chewa today descends from the Kalonga (rulers) of the Maravi Empire. (from History of Zambia)
Image 29Inside the palace of the Litunga, ruler of the Lozi. Due to the flooding on the Zambezi, the Litunga has two palaces one of which is on higher ground. The movement of Litunga to higher land is celebrated at the Kuomboka Ceremony (from History of Zambia)
Image 30Three young Ngoni chiefs. The Ngoni made their way into Eastern Zambia from KwaZulu in South Africa. They eventually assimilated into the local ethnic groups. (from Zambia)
Image 41A drawing of Lunda houses by a Portuguese visitor. The size of the doorways relative to the building emphasizes the scale of the buildings. (from Zambia)
Image 42Tribal and linguistic map of Zambia (from Zambia)
Image 43Tribal and linguistic map of Zambia (from Zambia)
Image 45Drawing of the ruler of Lunda, Mwata Kazembe, receiving Portuguese in the royal courtyard in the 1800s (from Zambia)
Image 46Three young Ngoni chiefs. The Ngoni made their way into Eastern Zambia from KwaZulu in South Africa. They eventually assimilated into the local ethnic groups. (from Zambia)
Image 53A drawing of Lunda houses by a Portuguese visitor. The size of the doorways relative to the building emphasizes the scale of the buildings. (from Zambia)
Image 54Zambia map of Köppen climate classification. (from Zambia)
Image 55Three young Ngoni chiefs. The Ngoni made their way into Eastern Zambia from KwaZulu in South Africa. They eventually assimilated into the local ethnic groups. (from History of Zambia)
Image 62Inside the palace of the Litunga, ruler of the Lozi. Due to the flooding on the Zambezi, the Litunga has two palaces one of which is on higher ground. The movement of Litunga to higher land is celebrated at the Kuomboka Ceremony (from Zambia)
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The 2010 Zambian census was conducted in Zambia in 2010 under the approval of the Government of Zambia, which recorded demographic data from 13 million people and 3.2 million households. The 2010 Census of Population and Housing was conducted between 16 October and 15 November 2010, with all parts of the country covered by 30 November 2010. It was the fifth national population census exercise of Zambia since its independence in 1964, with the previous censuses conducted in 1969, 1980, 1990 and 2000. A total of 3.2 million questionnaires were used for data collection and the processing started in April 2011 by the Central Statistical Office. Optical Mark Reading (OMR) and Intelligent Character Recognition (ICR) technology were used for data capture. The census was funded by United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Kingdom AID (UKAID-formerly DFID), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the African Development Bank (AfDB), who contributed close to 60 per cent of the total expenditure and rest contributed by the Ministry of Finance of the Government of Zambia.
As per the census, Zambia had a total population of 13,092,666 including 6,454,647 males (49.2%) and 6,638,019 females (50.8%) with a sex-ratio of 102.84. The total literacy of the population above the age of five stood at 70.2 per cent. Urban population constituted 39.51 per cent and the remaining 61.49 per cent resided in rural areas. The density of population was 17.4 persons per km2 and the decadal growth of population was 2.8 per cent. There were 22 major languages spoken in Zambia of which 33.5 per cent of the population spoke Bemba, making it the largest spoken language. Out of the seven broad ethnic groups, Bemba was the most prevalent tribal group (21.0%), followed by Tonga (13.6%). The national average of active people stood at 55.5 per cent with 50.2 in rural areas and 65.3 per cent in urban areas. Unemployment rate was 13 per cent as of 2010. Agriculture was the major occupation with 66.5 per cent involved in it. The proportion of people living under poverty line was 60.5 per cent, while the extremely poor formed 42.3 per cent of the total population. (Full article...)