The history of Zambia experienced many stages from colonisation to independence from Britain on 24 October 1964. Northern Rhodesia became a British sphere of influence in the present-day region of Zambia in 1888, and was officially proclaimed a British protectorate in 1924. After many years of suggested mergers, Southern Rhodesia, Northern Rhodesia, and Nyasaland were merged into the British Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.
In 1960, the British prime minister, Harold Macmillan, declared that the age of colonial rule in Africa was ending. Finally, in December 1963, the federation was dissolved, and the Republic of Zambia was formed out of Northern Rhodesia on 23 October 1964.
Prehistoric era Archaeological excavation work on the Zambezi Valley and Kalambo Falls show a succession of human cultures. In particular, ancient camping site tools near the Kalambo Falls have been radiocarbon dated to more than 36,000 years ago.
The fossil skull remains of Broken Hill Man, dated between 300,000 and 125,000 years BC, further shows that the area was inhabited by early humans.
Khoisan and Batwa
The area of modern Zambia is known to have been inhabited by the Khoisan and Batwa peoples until around AD 300 when migrating Bantu began to settle around these areas. It is believed that the Khoisan people groups originated in East Africa and spread southwards around 150,000 years ago. The Twa people were split into two groups: The Kafwe Twa lived around the Kafue flats while the other, The Lukanga Twa lived around the Lukanga Swamp. Many of the ancient rock arts in Zambia like the Mwela Rock Paintings, Mumbwa Caves, and Nachikufu Cave are attributed to these early hunter-gatherer groups. The Khoisan, and more especially the Twa, formed a patron-client relationship with farming Bantu peoples across central and southern Africa but were eventually either displaced by or absorbed into the Bantu groups.
Bantu (Abantu)
The Bantu people or Abantu (meaning people) are an enormous and diverse ethnolinguistic group that comprise the majority of people in much of East, Southern and Central Africa. Due to Zambia's location at the crossroads of Central Africa, Southern Africa, and the African Great Lakes, the history of the people that constitute modern Zambians is a history of these three regions.
Many of the historical events in these three regions happened simultaneously. Thus, Zambia's history, like many African nation's histories, cannot be presented perfectly chronologically. The early history of the peoples of modern Zambia is deduced from oral records, archaeology, and written records mostly from non-Africans.
Bantu origins The Bantu people originally lived in West/Central Africa around what is today Cameroon. Around 4000 to 3000 years ago, they began a millennia-long expansion into much of the continent. This event has been called the Bantu Expansion, which was one of the largest human migrations in history. The Bantu are believed to have been the first to have brought iron working technology into large parts of Africa. The Bantu Expansion happened primarily through two routes: one was western via the Congo Basin and the other was eastern via the African Great Lakes.
First Bantu settlement
According to recent scholarship by Nicholas Katanekwa, the earliest Bantu people in Zambia were the "New Kalundu" culture, arriving from the west along the Zambezi valley from the fourth century CE. These groups are associated with Guthrie group R, as well as the ancestors of the Shona, Venda, and especially Mbwela peoples. The next Bantu people to arrive in Zambia came through the eastern route via the African Great Lakes. They arrived later in the 1st millennium AD. Among them were the Tonga people (also called Ba-Tonga, "Ba-" meaning "men") and the Ba-Ila and other related groups who settled around Southern Zambia near Zimbabwe. According to Ba-Tonga oral records, they are believed to have come from the east near the "big sea".
They were later joined by the Ba-Tumbuka who settled around Eastern Zambia and Malawi.
These first Bantu people lived in large villages. They never had an organised unit under a chief or headman and worked as a community and help each other in times of field preparation for their crops. Villages moved around frequently as the soil became exhausted due to using the slash-and-burn technique of planting crops. They also kept large herds of cattle which formed an important part of their societies.
The first Bantu communities in Zambia were extremely self-sufficient. Many groups of people who encountered them were very impressed by this self-sufficiency. The early European missionaries that settled in Southern Zambia also noted the extreme independence of these Bantu societies, one of these missionaries noted:
"[If] weapons for war, hunting, and domestic purposes are needed, the [Tonga] man goes to the hills and digs until he finds the iron ore. He smelts it and with the iron thus obtained makes axes, hoes, and other useful implements. He burns wood and makes charcoal for his forge. His bellows are made from the skins of animals and the pipes are clay tile, and the anvil and hammers are also pieces of the iron he has obtained. He moulds, welds, shapes, and performs all the work of the ordinary blacksmith."
These early Bantu settlers also participated in the trade at the site Ingombe Ilede (which translates as "sleeping cow" in Chi-Tonga because the fallen baobab tree appears to resembles a cow) in Southern Zambia, at this trading site they met numerous Kalanga/Shona traders from Great Zimbabwe and Swahili traders from the East African Swahili Coast. Ingombe Ilede was one of the most important trading posts for rulers of Great Zimbabwe, others being the Swahili port cities like of Sofala.
The goods traded at Ingombe Ilede included: fabrics, beads, gold, and bangles. Some of these items came from what is today southern Democratic Republic of Congo and Kilwa Kisiwani while others as far away as India, China and the Arab World. The African traders were later joined by the Portuguese in the 16th century.
The decline of Great Zimbabwe, due to increasing trade competition from other Kalanga/Shona kingdoms like Khami and Mutapa, spelt the end of Ingombe Ilede.
Further Bantu settlement The third mass settlement of Bantu people into Zambia was of people groups that are believed to have taken the central-western route of the Bantu migration through the Congo Basin. These Bantu people spent the majority of their existence in what is today the Democratic Republic of Congo and are ancestors of the majority of modern Zambians.
While it was previously speculated that the Bemba people or AbaBemba have a strong ancient connection to the Kongo Kingdom through BaKongo ruler Mwene Kongo VIII Mvemba this, is not supported by evidence.
Luba-Lunda States
The Bemba, along with other related groups like the Lamba, Bisa, Senga, Kaonde, Swaka, Nkoya and Soli, formed integral parts of the Luba Kingdom in Upemba part of the Democratic Republic of Congo and have a strong relation to the BaLuba people. The area which the Luba Kingdom occupied has been inhabited by early farmers and iron-workers since the 300's AD. Over time these communities learned to use nets, harpoons, make dugout canoes, clear canals through swamps and make dams as high as 2.5 meters.
As a result, they grew a diverse economy trading fish, copper and iron items, and salt for goods from other parts of Africa like the Swahili Coast and, later on, the Portuguese. From these communities arose the Luba Kingdom in the 14th century.
The Luba Kingdom was a large kingdom with a centralised government and smaller independent chiefdoms. It had large trading networks that linked the forests in the Congo Basin and the mineral-rich plateaus of what is today Copperbelt Province and stretched from the Atlantic Coast to the Indian Ocean Coast. The arts were also held in high esteem in the kingdom and artisans where held in high regards.
The Luba Kingdom literature was also well developed. One renowned Luba genesis story that articulated the distinction between two types of Luba emperors as follows:
"Nkongolo Mwamba, the red king, and Ilunga Mbidi Kiluwe, a prince of legendary black complexion. Nkongolo Mwamba is the drunken and cruel despot, Ilunga Mbidi Kiluwe, the refined and gentle prince. Nkongolo the red is a man without manners, a man who eats in public, gets drunk, and cannot control himself, whereas [Ilunga] Mbidi Kiluwe is a man of reservation, obsessed with good manners; he does not eat in public, controls his language and his behaviour, and keeps a distance from the vices and modus vivendi of ordinary people. Nkongolo Mwamba symbolizes the embodiment of tyranny, whereas Mbidi Kiluwe remains the admired caring and compassionate kin."
In the same region of Southern Congo the Lunda people were made into a satellite of the Luba empire and adopted forms of Luba culture and governance and thus became the Lunda empire to the south. According to Lunda genesis myths, a Luba hunter named Chibinda Ilunga son of Ilunga Mbidi Kiluwe introduced the Luba model of statecraft to the Lunda sometime around 1600 when he married a local Lunda princess named Lueji and was granted control of her kingdom. Most rulers who claimed descent from Luba ancestors were integrated into the Luba empire. The Lunda kings, however, remained separate and actively expanded their political and economic dominance over the region.
The Lunda, like its parent state Luba, also traded with both coasts, the Atlantic and Indian Ocean. With ruler Mwaant Yaav Naweej had established trade routes to the Atlantic coast and initiated direct contact with European traders eager for slaves and forest products and controlling the regional copper trade, and settlements around Lake Mweru regulated commerce from the East African coast.
The Luba-Lunda states eventually declined as a result of both Atlantic slave trade in the west and Indian Ocean slave trade in the east and wars with breakaway factions of the kingdoms. The Chokwe, a group that is highly related to the Luvale and formed a Lunda satellite state, initially suffered from the European demand for slaves but once the broke away from the Lunda State, they defeated the previous parent state and became notorious slave traders, exporting slaves to both coasts. The Chokwe eventually were defeated by the other ethnic groups and the Portuguese.
This instability caused the collapse of the Luba-Lunda States and a dispersal of people into various parts of Zambia from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The majority of Zambians trace their ancestry to the Luba-Lunda and surrounding Central African states.
Maravi Confederacy
In the 1200s, before the founding of the Luba-Lunda states, a group of Bantu people started migrating from the Congo basin to Lake Mweru then finally settled around Lake Malawi. These migrants are believed to have been one of the inhabitants around the Upemba area in the Democratic Republic of Congo. By the 1400s these groups of migrants collectively called the Maravi, most prominently among them was the Chewa people, started assimilating other Bantu groups like the Tumbuka.
In 1480 the Maravi Empire was founded by the Kalonga (paramount chief of the Maravi) from the Phiri clan one of the main clans with the others being Banda, Mwale and Nkhoma. The Maravi Empire stretched from the Indian Ocean through what today is Mozambique to Zambia and large parts of Malawi. The political organization of the Maravi resembled the Luba and is believed to have originated from there, the primary export of the Maravi was Ivory which was transported to Swahili brokers.