The economy continues to revolve around copper after decades of mismanagement the industry is now doing better thanks to higher commodity prices and investments made after privatization. Much of Zambia remains poor, with GDP per capita of the order of USD1800/year, and the bulk of Zambia's population lives on subsistence agriculture. Guy Scott served briefly as president until new elections were held on 20 January 2015, in which Edgar Lungu was elected as the sixth President. Sata would hold onto power until his untimely death in October 2014. The peaceful election was taken as an indicator of how far Zambia had come and is viewed as a model African democracy.This was shown after the handover of power from the MMD to the Patriotic Front (PF) under Michael Sata. Following Mwanawasa's untimely death in office Zambia went on to the 2011 election and claimed the title of being one of the few African countries to have a sitting President lose an election. He led the Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD) to power with a platform of stamping out corruption. Zambia transitioned to a proper functioning democracy with the advent of Levy Mwanawasa as President. The election in 2001 was marked by administrative problems with at least two parties filing legal petitions challenging the results. This created huge obstacles to Zambia, with South Rhodesia under Ian Smith's white rule invading and actually bombing Lusaka and with South Africa cutting its economic ties and attempting its own 'sanctions' against the Zambians.Įlections in 1991 brought an end to one-party rule, but the subsequent vote in 1996 saw blatant harassment of opposition parties. As such it provided a base for the ANC to operate from, the previous South African President Jacob Zuma was at the time based in Lusaka. However Zambia under Kaunda was a staunch anti-Apartheid supporter, one of the only countries in the region to be so.

In the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, declining copper prices, one party democracy under Kenneth Kaunda and a prolonged drought hurt the economy. The name was changed to Zambia upon independence in 1964. The British granted self rule to their colonies in the period after the Second World War and after abandoning the federation idea Northern Rhodesia transferred to self government. During this period to help build the economy the British built the Kariba Dam on the Zambezi River creating Lake Kariba, one of Africa's largest lakes and providing hydro electric power for the area. During the 1920s and 1930s, advances in mining spurred development and immigration.īritain tried to administer Northern Rhodesia in a federation with Nysaland (Malawi) and Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) however this was opposed by Northern Rhodesia which was concerned that the majority of the investment and money would flow to the south.

The territory of Northern Rhodesia was administered by John Cecil Rhodes's British South Africa Company from 1891 until it was formally administered as a British crown colony in 1923. Zambia offers travellers some of the world's best safari opportunities, a glimpse into 'real Africa,' and Victoria Falls, one of the World's Seven Natural Wonders and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is, bordered by Tanzania to the northeast, Malawi to the east, Mozambique to the southeast, Zimbabwe and Botswana to the south, with a narrow strip of Namibia known as the Caprivi Strip to the southwest, Angola to the west, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the northwest. Zambia is a a landlocked country in Southern Africa. English (official), major vernaculars - Bemba, Kaonda, Lozi, Lunda, Luvale, Nyanja, Tonga, and about 70 other indigenous languagesĬhristian (50%-75%), Muslim and Hindu (24%-49%), indigenous beliefs (1%)

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