Zambia

 

(zăm'bēə) , officially Republic of Zambia, republic (2005 est. pop. 11,262,000), 290,584 sq mi (752,614 sq km), central Africa. It borders on Congo (Kinshasa) in the north, on Tanzania in the northeast, on Malawi and Mozambique in the east, on Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Namibia in the south, and on Angola in the west. Lusaka is the capital and largest city.

Land and People

Zambia is largely made up of a highland plateau, which rises in the east. The elevation there ranges from c.3,000 to 5,000 ft (915–1,520 m), and higher altitudes are attained in the Muchinga Mts., where Zambia's highest point (c.7,120 ft/2,170 m) is located. Also in E Zambia are Lake Bangweulu, parts of lakes Mweru and Tanganyika, and the Luangwa and Chambeshi rivers. The Zambezi River drains much of the western part of the country (where the elevation is c.1,500–3,000 ft/460–910 m) and forms a large part of Zambia's southern boundary. The impressive Victoria Falls and the huge Lake Kariba (formed by Kariba Dam), both on the border with Zimbabwe, are part of the Zambezi in the south. The Kafue River drains W central Zambia, including the Copperbelt in the north. There are several large swamps, or flats, in Zambia, which are noted for their concentration of wildlife. The country also has numerous national parks, but their emphasis is on tourism rather than preservation. In addition to Lusaka, other cities include Chingola, Kabwe, Kitwe, Livingstone, Luanshya, Mufulira, Nchanga, Ndola, and Nkana.

The country's population is made up almost entirely of members of several Bantu ethnic and linguistic groups. English is the official language, and approximately 75 African languages and dialects are spoken, including Bemba, Kaonda, Lozi, Lunda, Luvale, Nyanja, and Tonga. Some 50% to 75% of the population is Christian, while Muslims and Hindus make up between 24% and 49%; a small percentage follow traditional African beliefs. The greatest population density is found in the Copperbelt and the central provinces.

Economy

Some 85% of Zambians work the country's relatively infertile soil as subsistence farmers; commercial agriculture is mostly confined to a small number of large farms. The leading crops are corn, sorghum, rice, peanuts, sunflower seeds, vegetables, flowers, tobacco, cotton, sugarcane, cassava, and coffee. Cattle, goats, pigs, and poultry are raised. There is a small fishing industry.

The mining and refining of copper constitutes by far the largest industry in the country and is concentrated in the cities of the Copperbelt. Cobalt, zinc, lead, emeralds, gold, silver, coal, and uranium are also mined. Industries include food and beverage processing, construction, horticulture, and the manufacture of chemicals, textiles, and fertilizer. Most of Zambia's energy is supplied by hydroelectric plants, especially the one at Kariba Dam.

Copper, cobalt, electricity, tobacco, flowers, and cotton are the main exports. The principal imports are machinery, transportation equipment, petroleum products, electricity, fertilizer, foodstuffs, and clothing. The leading trade partners are South Africa, Switzerland, and Great Britain.

Government

Zambia is governed under the constitution of 1991 as amended. The president, who is both head of state and head of government, is popularly elected for a five-year term and is eligible for a second term. The unicameral legislature consists of the 158-seat National Assembly; 150 members are elected by popular vote and eight are appointed by the president. All legislators serve five-year terms. Administratively, Zambia is divided into nine provinces.

History

Early History to the Nineteenth Century

Some Bantu-speaking peoples (probably including the ancestors of the Tonga) reached the region by c.A.D. 800, but the ancestors of most of modern Zambia's ethnic groups arrived from present-day Angola and Congo (Kinshasa) between the 16th and 18th cent. By the late 18th cent. traders (including Arabs, Swahili, and other Africans) had penetrated the region from both the Atlantic and Indian Ocean coasts; they exported copper, wax, and slaves. In 1835 the Ngoni, a warlike group from S Africa, entered E Zambia. At about the same time the Kololo penetrated W Zambia from the south, and they ruled the Lozi kingdom of Barotseland (see Western Province from 1838 to 1864.

The Colonial Period

The Scottish explorer David Livingstone first came to the area that is now Zambia in 1851; he visited Victoria Falls in 1855, and in 1873 he died near Lake Bangweulu. In 1890 agents of Cecil Rhodes's British South Africa Company signed treaties with several African leaders, including Lewanika, the Lozi king, and proceeded to administer the region. The area was divided into the protectorates of Northwestern and Northeastern Rhodesia until 1911, when the two were joined to form Northern Rhodesia.

The mining of copper and lead began in the early 1900s. By 1909 the central railroad from Livingstone to Ndola had been completed and about 1,500 Europeans had settled in the country. In 1924 the British took over the administration of the protectorate. In the late 1920s extensive copper deposits were discovered in what soon became known as the Copperbelt, and by the late 1930s about 4,000 European skilled workers and some 20,000 African laborers were engaged there. The Africans protested the discrimination and ill treatment to which they were subjected by staging strikes in 1935, 1940, and 1956. They were not allowed to form unions but did organize self-help groups that brought together persons of diverse ethnic backgrounds.

In 1946, delegates from these groups met in Lusaka and formed the Federation of African Welfare Societies, the first protectorate-wide African movement; in 1948 this organization was transformed into the Northern Rhodesia African Congress. In the early 1950s, under the leadership of Harry Nkumbula, it fought strenuously, if unsuccessfully, against the establishment of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (1953–63), which combined Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), and Nyasaland (now Malawi). The booming copper industry had attracted about 72,000 whites to Northern Rhodesia by 1958, and the blacks there experienced increasing white domination.

Independence and Kaunda

Kenneth Kaunda, a militant former schoolteacher, took over the leadership of the Africans from the more moderate Nkumbula and in 1959 formed a new party, the United National Independence Party (UNIP). Following a massive civil disobedience campaign in 1962, Africans were given a larger voice in the affairs of the protectorate. On Oct. 24, 1964, Northern Rhodesia became independent as the Republic of Zambia, with Kaunda as its first president; he was reelected in 1968 and 1973. The main problems faced by Kaunda in the first decade of independence were uniting Zambia's diverse peoples, reducing European control of the economy, and coping with white-dominated Southern Rhodesia (which unilaterally declared its independence as Rhodesia in Nov., 1965).

European economic influence in Zambia was reduced by increasing the number of trained Zambians, by diversifying the country's economy, and (from 1969) by the government's acquisition of a 51% interest in most major firms (especially mining and banking companies). Separatist sentiment continued into the 1970s.

Zambia joined Great Britain and other countries in applying economic sanctions against white-ruled Rhodesia in 1965. It discontinued transporting goods via rail through Rhodesia to the seaport of Beira in Mozambique. Instead, overseas trade items were transported to and from the seaport of Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, by plane and by truck (via the Great North Road). A petroleum pipeline between Dar-es-Salaam and Ndola was opened in 1968, and, with the help of China, the Great Uhuru (Tanzam or Tazara) Railway connecting Dar-es-Salaam and Zambia was opened in 1975. In addition, the country halted imports of coal (used especially in the copper industry) from Rhodesia; mining in S Zambia increased until it supplied most of the country's needs. The Rhodesian army pressured Zambia to lift the sanctions by destroying parts of Zambia's transportation network. Zimbabwean independence was finally won in 1980. Throughout the 1970s Kaunda had combined his support of liberation movements in Rhodesia as well as Angola, Mozambique, and South Africa with the encouragement of diplomatic solutions—the approach favored by the West.

Beginning in the late 1960s Kaunda faced formidable opposition from political and student groups protesting the growing concentration of power in his hands. In 1972 all political parties except UNIP were outlawed and Zambia became a one-party state. Kaunda's frequent shuffling of the cabinet prevented a strong political rival from emerging, and he ran for reelection unopposed in 1978.

During the 1970s, the economic sanctions against Rhodesia and a drop in copper prices had put Zambia's economy under severe strain. In the 1980s, as a condition for future aid, Kaunda was forced by foreign creditors to introduce economic austerity measures. Shortages of basic goods, cuts in food subsidies, and unemployment led to rioting and strikes. Meanwhile, popular calls were heard for multiparty rule. In 1986, South Africa launched raids against Zambia and other neighboring countries, targeting camps that were suspected of being used by the African National Congress.

A New Regime

In 1990 another round of austerity measures sparked more unrest, and Kaunda was the target of a coup attempt. In the same year the constitution was amended to allow opposition parties. In 1991, Frederick Chiluba, a trade unionist who promised both political and economic reform for Zambia, overwhelmed Kaunda in the presidential election, and Chiluba's Movement for Multiparty Democracy party (MMD) won the majority of seats in the parliament. A coup allegedly plotted by the opposition led to a brief state of emergency in 1993.

Chiluba's economic reforms, including plans for privatizing the copper industry, initially resulted in better relations with foreign-aid donors, and economic conditions improved somewhat, but Zambia continued to be burdened by a large international debt. Chiluba was reelected in 1996, after parliament passed a constitutional amendment preventing Kaunda from running again. Following a 1997 coup attempt, Chiluba again declared a state of emergency. Numerous opposition leaders and military officers were arrested, including Kaunda, who was freed in 1998 and announced his intention to retire from politics.

By the end of the 20th cent., the standard of living in Zambia was about half what it had been in the mid-1960s, before copper prices began falling. Unemployment and inflation were high, and the country was threatened by the unprecedented prevalance of deadly AIDS/HIV infections. In May, 2001, Chiluba abandoned a bid for a third term in office; it would have required changing the constitution's two-term limit. Chiluba's attempt to change the constitution had provoked a political crisis, both within the country and within his own party.

In the December elections the MMD candidate, Levy Mwanawasa, was elected with less than 30% of the vote; the badly divided opposition also failed to win control of the national assembly. Opposition leaders rejected the victories, charging vote rigging, and some international monitors described the poll as seriously flawed. The country's supreme court, however, ultimately rejected (2005) opposition challenges to the election. Although Mwanawasa was originally viewed as Chiluba's protégé, he embarked on an anticorruption campaign that led to charges against Chiluba and others in the preceding government. Mwanawasa's anticorruption moves also resulted in the dismissal of his vice president and finance minister. A resulting attempt to challenge Mwanawasa's leadership of the MMD was easily defeated in July, 2005.

Meanwhile, the president rejected (Feb., 2005) a draft constitution submitted by a commission he had appointed in 2002; churches and civic and opposition groups supported the changes, foremost among them the requirement that a candidate receive more than 50% of the vote to be elected president. A new draft, which still contained that requirement and other recommendations, was submitted before the end of the year, but Mwanawasa said that it could not be adopted before the 2006 presidential election. In the September presidential vote Mwanawasa won reelection with 43% of the vote after trailing early in the campaign. The opposition accused the president of stealing the election, and there were some clashes between opposition supporters and police after the election. The MMD also secured a narrow majority in the national assembly.

In Nov., 2006, former president Chiluba's corruption trial, which had stalled because of his ill health, was officially suspended, and he was permitted to travel (December) to South Africa for medical treatment. However, a case brought in Great Britain, in which the Zambian government sued Chiluba and 19 other people to regain assets in Europe that the government asserted had been acquired through corruption, continued, and in May, 2007, the British court order the 20 defendants to repay $46 million. That same month, a Zambian court ordered Chiluba's trial to resume.

Opposition leader and Patriotic Front presidential candidate Michael Sata, who had placed second in September's election, was charged in December with false declaration of his assets prior to the election. Sata denounced the charges as politically motivated, and they were soon dismissed. He was subsequently charged with defaming the president.

Bibliography

See B. M. Fagan, Iron Age Cultures in Zambia (2 vol., 1967–69) and A Short History of Zambia (1968); M. Bostock and C. Harvey, ed., Economic Independence and Zambian Copper (1972); A. A. Beveridge and A. R. Oberschall, African Businessmen and Development in Zambia (1980); A. M. Bliss and J. A. Rigg, Zambia (1984); M. M. Burdette, Zambia (1988).

Republic of Zambia
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem Stand and Sing of Zambia, Proud and Free
Capital (and largest city)		Lusaka 15°25′S, 28°17′E
Official languages		English
Demonym		Zambian
Government		Republic
-	President	Levy Mwanawasa
Independence		from the United Kingdom
-	Date	October 24 1964
Area
-	Total	km² (39th)  sq mi
-	Water (%)	1
Population
-	July 2005 estimate	11,668,0001 (71st)
-	Density	16/km² (191st)  /sq mi
GDP (PPP)		2005 estimate
-	Total	$10.792 billion (133rd)
-	Per capita	$931 (168th)
Gini? (2002–03)		42.1 (medium)
HDI (2004)		0.407 (low) (165th)
Currency		Zambian kwacha (ZMK)
Time zone		CAT (UTC+2)
-	Summer (DST)	not observed (UTC+2)
Internet TLD		.zm
Calling code		[[+260]]
1 Estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected.

Zambia (IPA: [ˈzæmbɪə]), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It borders 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. Formerly Northern Rhodesia, the country's name reflects the Zambezi river.

History

Main article: History of Zambia

Pre-European era

In the 1st century, technologically-advanced migrating tribes began to displace or absorb the indigenous Khoisan hunter-gatherer occupants. In the 12th century, major waves of Bantu-speaking immigrants arrived during the Bantu expansion. Among them, the Tonga people (also called Batonga) were first to settle in Zambia and are believed to have come from the far east near the "big sea." The Nkoya people had also come early in the expansion, with some suggesting that they were the first of the expansion into today's Zambia, having come from the Luba-Lunda kingdoms in the north.

In the late 17th and early 19th centuries, other groups followed with the greatest influx coming between . These later migrants also came primarily from the Luba-Lunda tribes of southern Democratic Republic of Congo and northern Angola but in the 19th century the Ngoni peoples from the south joined them. By the later part of the 19th century, most of the various peoples of Zambia were largely established in the areas they currently occupy. In the early 18th century, the (Nsokolo People) under the leadership of Joe Nsokolo Chupa, also known as Elvin, settled in Mbala district in Northern province .

European colonial era

The earliest account of a European visiting the area of present day Zambia was that of Portuguese national, Dr Francisco de Lacerda in the late 18th century. Others followed in the 19th century. The most prominent of these was Scottish explorer Dr David Livingstone. He had a vision of ending the slave trade through the "3 C's" (Christianity, Commerce and Civilisation). He is also famous for being the first European to see the magnificent waterfalls on the Zambezi River in 1855. He named them Victoria Falls after Queen Victoria. The falls are known in Zambia as Mosi-O-Tunya (in the Lozi or Kololo dialect), "the smoke that thunders." The Zambian town, Livingstone, near the falls is named after him. Highly publicised accounts of his journeys motivated a wave of explorers, missionaries and traders after his death in 1873.

In 1888, Cecil Rhodes, spearheading British commercial and political interests in Central Africa, obtained a mineral rights concession from local chiefs. In the west of the country, which came to be known as North Western Rhodesia, the British South African Company, Cecil Rhodes’ company, obtained mineral rights for the area from The Litunga, the king of the Lozi [4]. In the east, King Mpezeni of the Ngoni resisted but he was defeated in battle[5] and that part of the country came to be known as North-Eastern Rhodesia. The two were administered as separate units until 1911 when they joined to form Northern Rhodesia. In 1923, the Company ceded control of Northern Rhodesia to the British Government after the government decided not to renew the Company's charter.

That same year, the government proclaimed that Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) was within the British sphere of influence, formally annexed it and granted self-government. In 1924, after negotiations, administration of Northern Rhodesia transferred to the British Colonial Office.

In 1953, the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland joined Northern and Southern Rhodesia (now Zambia and Zimbabwe, respectively) with Nyasaland (now Malawi). This Colonial Office action was undertaken despite opposition from a sizable minority of Africans, who demonstrated against it in 1960-61.[6] Northern Rhodesia was the centre of much of the turmoil and crisis characterizing the federation in its last years. Initially, Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula's African National Congress (ANC) led the campaign that Kenneth Kaunda's United National Independence Party (UNIP) subsequently took up.

In January 1964, Kenneth Kaunda won the first (and last) election for Prime Minister of Northern Rhodesia. The Colonial Governor, Sir Evelyn Hone, was very close to Kaunda and urged him to go for the post. Soon after that there was an uprising in the north of the country known as the Lumpa Uprising led by Alice Lenshina. She was a self proclaimed prophetess who claimed that she had had a visitation from an angel telling her to liberate the people. Many followed her and fought off authorities to their death — men, women and children alike. She continued despite pleas from her own brother to give herself up. This was Kenneth Kaunda's first internal conflict as leader of the nation.

Independence

A two-stage election held in October and December 1962 resulted in an African majority in the legislative council and an uneasy coalition between the two African nationalist parties. The council passed resolutions calling for Northern Rhodesia's secession from the federation and demanding full internal self-government under a new constitution and a new National Assembly based on a broader, more democratic franchise. Led by Kenneth Kaunda, on 31 December 1963, the federation was dissolved, and Northern Rhodesia became the Republic of Zambia on 24 October 1964. At that time, Kaunda became the country's first president.

At independence, despite its considerable mineral wealth, Zambia faced major challenges. Domestically, there were few trained and educated Zambians capable of running the government, and the economy was largely dependent on foreign expertise. Abroad, three of its neighbours – Southern Rhodesia and the Portuguese colonies of Mozambique and Angola – remained under white-dominated rule. Southern Rhodesia's white-ruled government unilaterally declared independence in November, 1965. In addition, Zambia shared a border with South African-controlled South-West Africa (now Namibia).

Post-Independence

Zambia's sympathies lay with forces opposing colonial or white-dominated rule, particularly in Southern Rhodesia. During the next decade, it actively supported movements such as the National Union for Total Independence of Angola (UNITA); the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU); the African National Congress of South Africa (ANC); and the South-West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO).

Conflicts with Rhodesia (so renamed from Southern Rhodesia) resulted in the closing of Zambia's borders with that country and severe problems with international transport and power supply. However, the Kariba hydroelectric station on the Zambezi River provided sufficient capacity to satisfy the country's requirements for electricity (despite the fact that the hydro control centre was on the Rhodesian side of the border). A railway to the Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam, built with Chinese assistance, reduced Zambian dependence on railway lines south to South Africa and west through an increasingly troubled Angola. Until the completion of the railway, however, Zambia's major artery for imports and the critical export of copper was along the TanZam Road, running from Zambia to the port cities in Tanzania. Also a pipeline for oil was built from Dar-es-Salaam to Ndola in Zambia.

By the late 1970s, Mozambique and Angola had attained independence from Portugal. Zimbabwe achieved independence in accordance with the 1979 Lancaster House Agreement, however Zambia's problems were not solved. Civil war in the former Portuguese colonies generated an influx of refugees and caused continuing transportation problems. The Benguela railway, which extended west through Angola, was essentially closed to traffic from Zambia by the late 1970s. Zambia's strong support for the ANC, which had its external headquarters in Lusaka, created security problems as South Africa raided ANC targets in Zambia.

In the mid-1970s, the price of copper, Zambia's principal export, suffered a severe decline worldwide. In Zambia's situation, the cost of transporting the copper great distances to market was an additional strain. Zambia turned to foreign and international lenders for relief, but, as copper prices remained depressed, it became increasingly difficult to service its growing debt. By the mid-1990s, despite limited debt relief, Zambia's per capita foreign debt remained among the highest in the world.

Politics

Main article: Politics of Zambia

Zambia's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Zambia is both head of state and head of government in a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament. Zambia (formerly Northern Rhodesia) became a republic immediately upon attaining independence in October 1964.

Administrative divisions

Main articles: Provinces of Zambia and Districts of Zambia

Zambia is divided into 9 provinces, each administered by an appointed deputy minister (essentially performing the duties of a premier).However, there is a call to create a 10th Province called Kafue Province. Each province is subdivided into four to twelve districts to make a total of 72 districts. The provinces are:

Central Copperbelt Eastern Luapula Lusaka

Northern North-Western Southern Western Kafue

Languages

The official language is English, used to conduct official business and is the medium of instruction in schools. Commonly-spoken indigenous languages include the 8 major languages: Chibemba, Chinyanja, Lunda, Chitonga, Kaonde, Silozi, Nkoya and Luvale. The Ethnologue report on Zambia lists 42 languages and many more dialects spoken in Zambia. A Zambian languages website lists 78 languages. Some of the difference may be attributed to dialects in the Ethnologue list being counted as languages in the second list.

A number of the indigenous languages have altered quite dramatically during the process of urbanisation, Zambia being one of the most urbanised countries in Africa. Languages have assimilated words from other indigenous languages and English to such an extent that urban dwellers will often differentiate between the urban and rural dialects of the same language by prefixing the rural languages with 'deep'. E.g. a Bemba speaker might say "I don't know that word it is deep Bemba."

Education

Main articles: Education in Zambia and List of schools in Zambia

Lower education

Schooling usually falls into three levels: Primary (years 1 to 7), Junior Secondary (years 8 to 9) and Upper Secondary (years 10 to 12). So-called "basic schools" teach years 1 to 9, as year 9 is considered to be a decent level of schooling for the majority of children; however, schooling is only free up to year 7, and Unesco estimated that 80% of children of primary school age in 2002 were enrolled.^[1] Most children drop out after year 7 when fees are payable.

Both government and private schools exist in Zambia. The private school system began largely as a result of Christian mission efforts during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Amongst famous private schools are the International School of Lusaka, the Roman Catholic run St Mary's Seminary located in the Msupadzi area, south of Chipata, Eastern Province and Simba International School close to Ndola, Copperbelt Province. Private schools operate under either the British or American way of schooling, but also offer curricula approved by the Examinations Council of Zambia.

Higher education

Educational opportunities beyond secondary school are limited in Zambia. After secondary school, most students study at the various colleges, around the country.

There are two main universities: University of Zambia (UNZA) and Copperbelt University (CBU). They normally select or invite the brightest students to pursue courses there and competition to get in is very tight. The introduction of fees in the late 1990s has made the pursuing of an university level eductaion quite hard for some, although bursaries do exist from the state. In the late 1970s Copperbelt University (CBU) opened on the copperbelt, taking over most of what previously was the Zambia Institute of Technology (ZIT) site in Kitwe.

Other places of learning include NIPA (Public Administrations College), NORTEC (Northern Technical College), NRDC (National Resources Development College),Evelyn Hone College, ZIBSIP, ZCAS, ZAMIM etc.

Several teacher training colleges offer two-year programmes beyond high school, missionary hospitals dotted around the country offer high quality training of an internationally acceptable standard to nurses and several Christian schools offer seminary-level training.

• University of Zambia
• Copperbelt University

Geography

Main article: Geography of Zambia

See also: List of cities in Zambia

Zambia is a landlocked country in southern Africa, with a tropical climate and consists mostly of high plateau with some hills and mountains. At 752,614 km² (290,566 sq. mi.) it is the 39th-largest country in the world (after Chile) and slightly larger than the US state of Texas.

Zambia is drained by two major river basins: the Zambezi River basin, in the south; and the Congo River basin, in the north. The part of Zambia drained by the Zambezi basin is about three-quarters of the country's total area. The part drained by the Congo basin is about a quarter of the area.

Zambezi River basin

In the Zambezi River basin, there are four major rivers that either run through Zambia or form the country's borders: the Kafue, the Luangwa, the Kwando and the Zambezi. The last three form part of Zambia's southern borders. The Kwando River forms Zambia's south-western border with Angola, then it runs easterly along the northern boundary of Namibia's Caprivi Strip before spreading into the Linyanti Marshes, which finally drain eastwardly into the Zambezi. From its confluence with the Kwando, the Zambezi flows east, forming the whole of Zambia's border with Zimbabwe.

The other two rivers, the Kafue and the Luangwa, lie entirely within Zambia and are major tributaries of the Zambezi. Their confluences with the Zambezi are on Zambia's Zimbabwean border at Chirundu and Luangwa town respectively. Before its confluence, the Luangwa River forms part of Zambia's border with Mozambique. From Luangwa town, the Zambezi leaves Zambia and flows into Mozambique, and eventually into the Indian Ocean's Mozambique Channel.

The Zambezi falls 100 m (360 feet) over the 1.6 km (1mile) wide Victoria Falls, located in the south-western corner of the country, subsequently flowing into Lake Kariba.

The Zambezi Valley, running along the southern border, is both deep and wide. Moving northwards the terrain shifts into a high plateau of 900 to 1,200 m (3000 to 4000 ft) to over 1,800 m (6000 ft) in the northern area of the Copperbelt. In the east, the Luangwa Valley curves southwards with hills on either side until it enters the Zambezi. In the west, large plains are a key geographic feature, flooding the western plains during the annual rainy season (typically October to April).

Zambia EUS outbreak

On September 14, 2007, epizootic ulcerative sydrome (EUS), a mysterious disease killed hundreds of sore-covered fish in the Zambezi River . Zambia Agriculture Minister Ben Kapita asked experts to investigate the outbreak to probe the cause to find out if the disease can be transmitted to humans.^[2]

Congo River basin

Zambia hosts two major rivers from the Congo River basin: the Chambeshi and the Luapula. The latter forms part of Zambia's border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Chambeshi lies entirely within Zambia and is the furthest headstream of the Congo River. It flows into the Bangweulu Swamps, which provide the waters that form the Luapula River. The Luapula flows south then west before it turns north until it enters Lake Mweru. The lake's other major tributary is the Kalungwishi River, which flows into it from the east. The Luvua River drains Lake Mweru, flowing out of the northern end.

Lake Tanganyika is the other major hydrographic feature that belongs to the Congo River basin. Its south-eastern end receives water from the Kalambo River, which forms part of Zambia's border with Tanzania. This river has Africa's second highest uninterrupted waterfall, the Kalambo Falls. (The continent's highest waterfalls is the Tugela Falls in South Africa.)

Economy

Main article: