An Introduction to Southern Africa: ZAMBIA

President: Edgar Lungu

Zambia is in Southern Africa, with the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west.

• There are 13.2 million people in Zambia with 7 million of them being under the age of 18.

• 85% of the population is Christian, 11% practices indigenous religions, with the rest identifying as Bahá'í,  Muslim, Agnostic, and Hindu.

• English is the official language. However, Zambia is home to many different groups, speaking more than 72 local languages/ dialects. Bemba is the most widely-spoken.  There are six other main local languages – Nyanja/Chewa, Kaonde, Luvale and Lunda (in the west), Tonga (in the south) and Lozi (spoken along the Zambezi).

• Zambia's capital is Lusaka with a population of 2 million people.

Zambia gained its in independence from the British in 1964 after decades of nationalist struggle.

Zambia is most famous for being home to the Victoria Falls located on the Zambezi River which creates the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. It was described by the Kololo tribe living in the area in the 1800’s as ‘Mosi-oa-Tunya’ – ‘The Smoke that Thunders’.  At the height of the rainy season, more than 500 mil cubic meters of water per minute plummet over the edge, over a width of nearly 2km, into a gorge over 100m below.

The falls can be best viewed from the Knife-edge Bridge, Falls Bridge, Devils Pool and the Lookout Tree.

 

Ashleigh Nyambirai (Southern Africa)