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in many parts of Zambia; the most significant sites
are located at the Kalambo Falls in the north and at
Victoria Falls in the south of the country. Evidence
gathered from Kalambo Falls indicates early fire
use, which has lead archaeologists to believe that
humans have been systematically using fire for over
60,000 years.
Pre-colonization
From 1500 to 1800 AD, those living in what is now
known as Zambia were ruled by either chieftains
or monarchs, and they were separated into distinct
groups based on their region. The Tonga people in-
habited the South and are believed to be the oldest
group to live in the region. The Chewa people lived
in the east, and the Lozi people controlled the west.
Lastly, the Bemba and Lunda controlled the north.
The Lunda group exercised wide influence over ev-
ery group in the region except for the Tonga people.
The supply of copper, ivory, rhino horns, as well as
people, for the growing international slave trade, rap-
idly expanded with such trading connections.
The European Factor
The potential wealth of trade in the Indian Ocean was
one of the elements that inspired the Portuguese
"Voyages of Discovery" in the 15th Century. By 1515,
the Portuguese had seized control of this region and
had effectively established themselves on the coasts
of Mozambique and Angola. The proximity of these
establishments to Zambia left a huge mark on the
country. Similarly, the effects of the Dutch (and sub-
sequent British) colonization of the Southern Cape
and its hinterland from 1652 onwards also left a sig-
nificant impression on the region.
In 1840, a 27-year-old Scottish doctor, David Living-
stone, sailed from Britain to the Cape to work as a
medical evangelist with the London Missionary Soci-
ety. Meanwhile, Portugal was planning to consolidate
its African territories by uniting Angola and Mozam-
bique across the central African plateau.
Unlike the Portuguese, the British knew nothing about
the region, and Livingstone was sent to explore the
region to rectify this issue. Livingstone started going
on longer and longer journeys of exploration, receiv-
ing help from a wealthy Englishman named William
Cotton Oswell–the two of them were the first Europe-
ans to visit Lake Ngami in the middle of the Kalahari.
In 1851, Livingstone and Oswell crossed the Kalahari
to visit the region's king, Sebetwane, who controlled
what is now southwestern Zambia. It is here where
Livingstone was first exposed to the slave trade. He
and Oswell, who were both staunch abolitionists,
concluded that the only way to stop the trade would
be through a new type of mission combining both
Christianity and Commerce as a means of promot-
ing change. Sebitwane, though scarcely interested in
Christianity itself, agreed that Livingstone could es-
tablish a mission in his country. In fact, their Christian
development program, under which the slave trade
was replaced by "legitimate" trade in commodities
such as cotton, grew exponentially in the area.
Empire
By the end of the 19th century, the British imperialist
Cecil John Rhodes, a millionaire businessman hun-
gry for power, had successfully taken over the entire-
ty of present-day Zambia. He did so by persuading
the British government to grant his company, the Brit-
ish South African Company (BSAC), the license to
lay claim to African territory. In 1911, the territory had
been claimed and was named Northern Rhodesia. Its
former capital, Kalomo, was moved to Livingstone, a
city named after David Livingstone overlooking Vic-
toria Falls. In 1964, however, the seat of government
was moved to Lusaka.
Rhodes' ambition was to make Africa British--from
the Cape to Cairo (hence the name of Lusaka’s main
street: Cairo Road). Although the territory of Northern
Rhodesia did not contain much mineral wealth at the
time, the territory was considered to be of importance
to prevent the Portuguese from winning their age-old
claim to the region. It was at this point in time that the
country’s borders solidified, primarily through agree-
ments with other colonial powers.
The BSAC made profit on their mining through the
imposition of the Hut Tax on all African males who
had reached puberty. Violence was used to suppress
tax revolts, and severe punishments were placed
upon those who did not pay. To avoid such penal-
ties, many men worked to pay off their debts. This
led to tens of thousands of men sent to work for the
infamous WENELA (Witwatersrand Native Labour
Authority) or the Southern Rhodesian mines. The
railway between Victoria Falls and Katanga (DR of
the Congo) was financed entirely from the Hut Tax.
Some 20,000 Zambians were forcibly recruited as
porters for the British forces in East Africa during the
First World War and perished due to disease and in-
juries.
By 1923, company rule had become an objection-
able anachronism for the British government, and in
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