2. This session is designed to provide a clear, authoritative and objective information
about the historical, political, cultural, religious and economic background of
modern day Zambia.
This session will analyse the background to Zambian Studies from an
anthropological, geological, historical and most importantly Christian perspective.
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Session One - Zambia's Historical
Background
3. Kabwe skull or Broken Hill Man is a hominin fossil that was frequently
classified as belonging to Homo rhodesiensis found in 1921.
Species lived between 125,000 to 300,000 years ago.
3
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Heb13:8
4. During the centuries between 300BC
and 400AD Zambia was gradually
taken over by Negroid people.
Session One - Zambia's Historical
Background 4
5. Iron and copper working in Sub-Saharan Africa
spread in conjunction with the Bantu, from the
African Great Lakes in the 3rd century BC,
reaching the Cape around AD 400.
Session One - Zambia's Historical
Background 5
6. Zambia is a Riparian state separating part of its
boundary with water.
Land locked also called
Land linked nation
One of the 44 land linked
countries in the world
One of 15 land linked
nations in Africa
Session One - Zambia's Historical
Background 6
7. Besides Iron, copper began to be mined and refined about
350 AD. It was used to make jewellery and, cast in the form of
a cross, as currency.
Trade with the Arabs and Portugese in copper is what led to
interests much later by Europeans in the prospect of great
mineral wealth awaiting exploitation in present day Zambia.
The biggest pre-European mining area in Zambia was at
Kansanshi. Later, Europeans such as George Grey’s
expedition discovered large mined areas and shafts in 1901.
He noted that some of the shafts were so old that large trees
were growing out of them.
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Session One - Zambia's Historical
Background
8. The centuries between 1500 and 1800 AD saw many of the
peoples of Zambia organised into chieftaincies or monarchies.
The Chewa in the East, the Lozi in the West, the Bemba and
Lunda in the North, were the largest of these, all established
under the influence, some as direct extensions of the large and
powerful Lunda Empire of the MwataYamvo.
By the 18th Century or probably much earlier, the empire was
trading with the Atlantic Coast, and other states on the eastern
seaboard, where the world economy was represented by the
Swahili city-states from Somalia to south of the Zambezi delta.
Copper, ivory, rhino horn had a ready market as well as slaves.
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Session One - Zambia's Historical
Background
9. The wealth of the Indian Ocean trade was one of the
elements (another was to spread the Gospel) that in
the 15th Century inspired the Portuguese, who had
recently retaken their country from Muslim Moors,
to embark on their bold ‘Voyages of Discovery’.
Africa has been circumnavigated from east to west
by a Phoenician fleet in Pharaonic times, and the
Portuguese were determined to do the same from
west to east and break the Muslim grip on the supply
of spices from Asia to Europe, which was being
drained of their resources to pay for them.
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Session One - Zambia's Historical
Background
10. By 1515 the Portuguese had through the force of
arms seized the Indian Ocean trade and, what is
relevant to the course of events in Zambia,
established themselves on the coasts of
Mozambique and Angola.
Although the Portuguese happily bought the
ivory and copper that Central Africa produced,
the slave rapidly became and for centuries
remained a major item of commerce.
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Session One - Zambia's Historical
Background
11. Domestic slavery was part of the social order of
these central African states.
Very rarely did the Portuguese have to go raiding to
capture slaves: by selling the rulers goods such as
cloth, rum, jewellery and firearms they drew the
rulers into their colonial economy as suppliers of
slave labour for the mines and plantations across the
Atlantic.
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Session One - Zambia's Historical
Background
12. The Mfecane wars introduced in southern Africa by
Shaka of the Zulu set about creating a centralised
militaristic state and causing mass displacement of
people in the early 19th century. Three of these groups
were to make a forceful impact on Zambia, 1500 km to
the north of the Zulu heartland in eastern South Africa.
The Ngoni (as they are known today) crossed the
Zambezi in 1835 and went northwards as far as Lake
Tanganyika where they settled for a while among the
Bemba. In 1865, under Zongendaba’s successor
Mpenzeni I, they established themselves permanently in
what is now Zambia’s Eastern Province.
Session One - Zambia's Historical
Background 12
13. Mzilikazi conquered Zimbabwe in 1837, while
Sebitwane has crossed the Zambezi a few years
previously and taken over territory just north of
the Victoria Falls. From there he marched west to
conquer the Lozi kingdom of the Upper Zambezi
and founded his Kololo state.
Session One - Zambia's Historical
Background 13
14. In 1840, David Livingstone, a 27 year old Scottish
doctor and ordained minister, sailed from Britain
to the Cape, to work as a medical evangelist with
the London Missionary Society. He was to open
central Africa to the gaze of British imperialists.
Meanwhile, Portugal was planning to consolidate
its African territories by uniting Angola and
Mozambique across the central plateau.
Session One - Zambia's Historical
Background 14
15. In 1851 Livingstone crossed the Kalahari to visit
Sebitwane, whom we have already met, on the
Upper Zambezi and had his first sight of the slave
trade - the Kololo nobles were wearing
Manchester cloth obtained from the Portuguese
in Angola in return for ivory and slaves.
Session One - Zambia's Historical
Background 15
16. Livingstone was a staunch abolitionist who
concluded that the only way to stop the trade would
be through a new type of mission where a
combination of Christianity and Commerce would
lead to Civilisation - in fact a sort of Christian
development program. The scheme would be
managed by carefully selected Scottish settlers.
Sebitwane, though scarcely interested in Christianity
itself agreed if only because it might afford him
protection against his enemy Mzilikazi of the
Ndebele, whose warrior kingdom bordered his own.
Session One - Zambia's Historical
Background 16
17. In 1857, Livingstone travelled to England to promote his idea of
a cotton exporting Christian venture in central Africa, with the
Zambezi as its ‘highway’.
The British government later appointed him leader of a
government sponsored expedition to the Zambezi, the secret
objective of which was to found a British colony near the
present town of Mazabuka in southern Zambia. There would be
a port for steamers nearby at the confluence of the Zambezi and
Kafue Rivers.
The plan failed when they discovered the Cobra Bassa george
but a lot of information regarding the rich mineral deposits of
the region reached British commercial interests.
Session One - Zambia's Historical
Background 17
18. Rhodes was born in 1853 in England.
Rhodes travelled to South Africa with his friend
CD Rudd to invest in a company founded by
Johannes Nicolaas de Beer .
On 12 March 1880, Rhodes and Rudd launched
the De Beer Mining Company after the
amalgamation of a number of individual claims
and start up capital of £200,000.
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Session One - Zambia's Historical
Background
19. Rhodes backed the Rhodesia Concessions Ltd which
sent mineral prospectors into present day Zambia
and Katanga in DRC from 1895 – 1897.
The British Empire was not initially interested in
colonising Central-Southern Africa and instead let
the Portugese grow in influence.
Rhodes, an Englishman hoped to lobby Britain to
take more interest in the region in order to secure his
business interests.
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Session One - Zambia's Historical
Background
20. The Berlin Conference of 1884–85 regulated European
colonisation and trade in Africa and coincided with Germany's
sudden emergence as an imperial power.
The Conference adopted the Principle of Effectivity which
stated that powers could hold colonies only if they actually
possessed them: in other words, if they had treaties with local
chiefs, if they flew their flag there, and if they established an
administration in the territory to govern.
The colonial power also had to make use of the colony
economically. If the colonial power did not do these things,
another power could do so and take over the territory. It
therefore became important to get chiefs to sign a protectorate
treaty and to have a presence sufficient to police the area.
Session One - Zambia's Historical
Background 20
21. By 1902, 90% of all the land
that makes up Africa was
under European control.
The Boer republics were
conquered by the United
Kingdom in the Boer war
from 1899 to 1902.
The official British
annexation of Egypt in 1914
ended the colonial division
of Africa. By this point, all of
Africa, with the exceptions
of Liberia and Ethiopia, was
under European rule.
Session One - Zambia's Historical
Background 21
22. Rhodes worked to have Lobengula, King of the
Matebele, agree to have the BSA mine in his area for
GBP1,200/yr, 1,000 rifles, 10,000 rounds of ammunition
and a steamboat with guns to patrol the Zambezi. The
agreements the BSA signed with Lobengula was called
the Rudd Concession.
Lobegula was keen on the weapons so that he could
destroy his enemy Lewanika. Lobengula did not receive
everything the BSA promised and neither did he realise
that he had just given away the region with all its wealth.
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Session One - Zambia's Historical
Background
23. Rev John Mackenzie, former deputy commissioner in South Africa,
opposed the Rudd Concession because it gave too vast a land to
the BSA.
Following increasing discontent among the Matebele, King
Lobengula wrote to the British Queen in which he denied giving
away all his rights to the minerals in his area, however, these
protests were ignored on account that the region needed liberation
from the effects of slavery and the people needed the investment
for material advancement.
Rhodes managed to get the British govt to give his a charter in
October 1889 to manage the territories covering present day
Zambia.
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Session One - Zambia's Historical
Background
24. Rhodes obtained more concessions and
treaties with King Lewanika (Lochner
Concession) and with Kazembe (Kazembe
Concession) in 1890.
In the case of the Lochner Concession, the
version taken to the British Government
contained several paragraphs not contained in
the original signed agreement.
The BSA gave gifts of gunpower (4 cases), 2
cases of cartridges, 15 muskets, 5 rifles, a
saddle and 162 cotton blankets. In return
Lewanika gave two large Ivory Tusks for the
Queen which never reached her.
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Session One - Zambia's Historical
Background
25. The BSA viewed this concession as covering the
entire North West region of present day Zambia
which other chiefs such as Monze protested
claiming that his territory was not under the
jurisdiction of the Litunga.
The BSA extended their territory of influence
even beyond the signed agreements.
Session One - Zambia's Historical
Background 25
26. It has been argued by various authors that the BSA’s treaties of
submission with traditional rulers were often obtained by fraud and deceit
and rulers who refused to capitulate willingly, like Mpezeni of the Ngoni or
Mwata Kazembe were dealt with by force. Further the BSA put an end to
slave trade and inter tribal conflict.
To what extent do you agree with the above statement?
Do you believe that local hatred of colonialism resulted in the birth of nationalism?
Session One - Zambia's Historical
Background 26
27. By the end of 1894, the territories over which the BSAC
had concessions or treaties, collectively called
"Zambesia" after the Zambezi River.
In May 1895, its name was officially changed to
"Rhodesia", reflecting Rhodes' popularity among
settlers.
The designation Southern Rhodesia was officially
adopted in 1898 for the part south of the Zambezi, which
later became Zimbabwe; and the designations
N.Western Rhodesia and N.Eastern Rhodesia were used
from 1895 for the territory which later became Northern
Rhodesia.
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Session One - Zambia's Historical
Background
28. Any BSA faced financial difficulties in administering such a large tract of land.
To overcome this problem, the BSA imposed a Hut Tax (payable in cash) on all
African males who had reached puberty.
This indirect form of forced labour resulted in tens of thousands of locals being
sent to work in the South African or Southern Rhodesian mines: the railway
between the Victoria Falls and Katanga (DRC) was financed from the Hut Tax -
which consistently turned a profit.
Session One - Zambia's Historical
Background 28
29. The British govt took control of Northern Rhodesia
on 1st April 1924 with Sir Herbert Stanley as its first
Governor at the capital Livingstone.
At the same time, a Legislative Council was
established, of which five members were elected by
the small European minority consisting of only 4,000
people, but none by the African population.
In that same month, April 28th 1924, Kenneth
Kaunda, Zambia’s first president was born.
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Session One - Zambia's Historical
Background
30. African political enlightenment rose as they became more literate
from attending mission schools, employment and travelling
especially to South Africa for work and where a political movement
had already began by black workers.
At the time, the only educated local class were the Lozi ruling class
such asTawila Silumba who became Ngambela in 1919.
In 1923, four Africans, namely Donald Siwale, a Boma clerk, David
Kaunda, Hezekiya Kawosa and Peter Sinkala formed a welfare
association to represent both Africans and Europeans.
1937 – The Northern Rhodesia African Congress was formed in
Mazabuka by Ellison Milambo and George Kaluwa but was denied
recognition by the Secretary for Native Affairs.
Session One - Zambia's Historical
Background 30
31. In 1935, the Welfare Association staged a strike against unfair taxes; in
1940 there was a pay strike with 13 miners killed.
In 1948, the firstAfrican Mineworkers Union was formed;
In 1955 there was 100 % stoppage over pay conditions that lasted 58
days - ending with victory for the miners. The mining companies now
started seriously, if slowly, to move Africans into management.
On the broadly political front, African nationalist
feeling had been growing since the 1939-45 world war,
in which many Zambians fought for the Allies in Burma.
By the end of the 1940’s, the Northern Rhodesia African
NationalistCongress, led by Harry Nkumbula, had been
formed out of various WelfareAssociations.
1951 – UNIP was founded
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Session One - Zambia's Historical
Background
32. In 1953 the British Colonial Office decided to unite
Nyasaland (Malawi), Southern Rhodesia
(Zimbabwe), and Northern Rhodesia into the Central
African Federation. There was strong opposition to
the federation because a substantial amount of
money was funneled out of Northern Rhodesia to
support Southern Rhodesia.
The Federation was also seen as an attempt to
extend white rule from S. Rhodesia to N. Rhodesia
and Nyasaland and was later rejected.
Session One - Zambia's Historical
Background 32
33. Tribal migrations in only the past three hundred years
have determined the makeup of present-day Zambia.
Between 1500 and 1800 the Lunda and Luba people
traveled from the Congo and became a powerful group.
The Ngoni, originally from South Africa, escaped from
the Boers and Zulus and settled in Eastern Zambia
around 1850–1870. Another powerful tribe, the Lozi,
dominated western Zambia and also originated from the
Congo in the late seventeenth century. By the beginning
of the twentieth century, these tribal migrations had
transformed the area into a complex society tied
together by conflicts and trade.
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Session One - Zambia's Historical
Background
34. Move away from vernacular building styles and
techniques to more modern or Western ways of
construction.
Construction also depends on the tribe's
customs. The Lozi in the southwest build
rectangular houses, while the Chewa favor
circular structures. Most of the roofs are made of
poles and thatch.
Session One - Zambia's Historical
Background 34
35. Britain established British Overseas
Management Areas (BOMAs), or small towns
that were seats of government and business.
Towns were laid out using a grid system.
Pictures taken from the 1958 Handbook to the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland 35
37. 24th October, 1964 is also United Nations Day.
The new government wanted to weave development
around people and developed a political philosophy
called Humanism in 1967.
At independence in 1964, the BSA retained commercial
assets and mineral rights that it acquired from a
concession signed with the Litunga of Bulozi in 1892 (the
Lochner Concession). Only by threatening to expropriate
the BSAC, on the eve of independence, did the incoming
Zambian government manage to get the BSAC to
relinquish the mineral rights.
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Session One - Zambia's Historical
Background
38. 1967
Man at the center
"...This MAN is not defined according to his color, nation, religion, creed, political leanings, material
contribution or any matter..."
The dignity of Man
"Humanism teaches us to be considerate to our fellow men in all we say and do..."
Non-exploitation of Man by Man
"Humanism abhors every form of exploitation of MAN by man."
Equal opportunities for all
"Humanism seeks to create an egalitarian society--that is, society in which there is equal opportunity for
self-development for all..."
Hard work and Self-reliance
"Humanism declares that a willingness to work hard is of prime importance without it nothing can be
done anywhere..."
Working together
"The National productivity drive must involve a communal approach to all development programs.This
calls for a community and team spirit..."
The extended family
"...under extended family system; no old person is thrown to the dogs or to the institutions like old
people's homes..."
Loyalty and Patriotism
"...It is only in dedication and loyalty can unity subsist." 38
39. A major switch in the structure of Zambia's economy
came with the Mulungushi Reforms of April 1968: the
government declared its intention to acquire equity
holdings (usually 51% or more) in a number of key
foreign-owned firms, to be controlled by a parastatal
conglomerate named the Industrial Development
Corporation (INDECO).
In 1971, INDECO, MINDECO, and FINDECO were
brought together under Zambia Industrial and Mining
Corporation (ZIMCO), to create one of the largest
companies in sub-Saharan Africa, with the country's
president as Chairman of the Board
Session One - Zambia's Historical
Background 39
