Zambia Independence Day

Oct 24, 2020 08:00AM ● By Oga Africa

Happy Independence Day, Zambia! Today we are celebrating this country’s independence from the British, which occurred on October 24th, 1964.

This Southern-Central African country, named after the Zambezi River in the country, is Africa’s second largest producer of copper. In precolonial times, the major exports of what is now known as Zambia were copper, enslaved people and ivory. Today, Chinese investors have made arrangements with this resource rich country, and the economic growth the country has experienced due to copper has not made much of a difference in the citizens’ lives, as many of them struggle financially. The country is bordered by Zimbabwe, Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Botswana, Namibia and Tanzania.

(Zambian schoolchildren)

More than 70 tribes can be found in the country. The Bemba group make up a fifth of the population. Other tribes include the Tonga, Chewa, Losi, Nsenga and more. More than two thirds of Zambians in the country live in poverty.

Zambia has a reputation for being a politically peaceful country, as it has managed to avoid a certain amount of turmoil that many newly independent African states experienced. The president, Edgar Lungu, has been in office since 2015.

(President Edgar Lungu)

The country’s capital is Lusaka. In 2019, the population was estimated at 17,381,000.

Nshima is a main component of Zambian cuisine, which consists of ground and mashed maize. It is often paired with a vegetable or two and a meat or protein.