This is a select bibliography of English-language books (including translations) and journal articles about the history of Zambia.

Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa. The territory of Zambia was known as Northern Rhodesia from 1911 to 1964. It was renamed Zambia in October 1964 on its independence from British rule. The name Zambia derives from the Zambezi River (Zambezi means "the grand river").

Zambia's history includes precolonial kingdoms such as the Bemba, Lozi, and Chewa, and links to the Luba-Lunda empires. In the late 1800s, British control began through the British South Africa Company, and in 1911, the area became the colony of Northern Rhodesia. The economy focused on copper mining, which relied on migrant labor and created deep inequalities. After growing nationalist movements, led by Kenneth Kaunda, Zambia gained independence in 1964. Kaunda led a one-party state until 1991, when the country shifted to multi-party democracy. Since then, Zambia has faced economic and political challenges but has remained relatively peaceful.

Works listed here are cited in the notes or bibliographies of scholarly sources. Each is published by an academic or major press, written by a recognized expert, or substantially reviewed in scholarly journals; borderline cases are omitted. A selection of primary sources are included. Many of the books below carry their own bibliographies; see Further reading for longer ones, and External links for historical sites and museums.

Citations follow APA style. Book have citations to academic journal or mainstream published reviews when available. For books only partly about the subject, give relevant chapter or section titles where useful and available. Translators of the original-language edition are included when possible. In cases where a title or name has appeared with more than one English spelling, use the most recent published form is used and a footnote documents any earlier title under which the work appeared.

General works about Zambian history

Phiri, B. J. (2006). A political history of Zambia: From the colonial period to the 3rd republic. Africa World Press. Roberts, A. D. (1976). A history of Zambia. Heinemann.

Archeology and prehistory

Barham, L. S. (2000). The Middle Stone Age of Zambia, South Central Africa. Journal of World Prehistory, 14(1), 1–72. Barham, L. S. (2002). Systematic pigment use in the Middle Pleistocene of south-central Africa. Current Anthropology, 43(1), 181–190. Barham, L. S. (2013). Current themes in Middle Stone Age research in eastern and central Africa. South African Archaeological Bulletin, 68(197), 59–62. Barham, L. S., Duller, G. A. T., Candy, I., Scott, C., & Cartwright, C. R. (2023). Evidence for the earliest structural use of wood at least 476,000 years ago. Nature, 621(7977), 312–316. Barham, L. S., Tooth, S., Duller, G. A. T., Plater, A. J., & Turner, S. D. (2015). Excavations at Site C North, Kalambo Falls, Zambia: New insights into the Mode 2/3 transition in south-central Africa. Journal of African Archaeology, 13(2), 187–214. Bisson, M. S. (1974). Prehistoric copper mining in northwestern Zambia. Archaeology, 27(4), 242–247. Bisson, M. S. (1992). A Survey of Late Stone Age and Iron Age Sites at Luano, Zambia. World Archaeology, 24(2), 234–248. Dart, R. A. (1953). Rhodesian Engravers, Painters and Pigment Miners of the Fifth Millennium B.C. The South African Archaeological Bulletin, 8(32), 91–96. de Luna, K. M. (2012). Surveying the Boundaries of Historical Linguistics and Archaeology: Early Settlement in South Central Africa. The African Archaeological Review, 29(2/3), 209–251. Derricourt, R. M. (1976). The Chronology of Zambian Prehistory. Transafrican Journal of History, 5(1), 1–31. Derricourt, R. M. (1976). Iron Age history and archaeology in Zambia. The Journal of African History, 17(2), 191–209. Derricourt, R. M. (1980). People of the Lakes: Archaeological studies in northern Zambia. Manchester University Press. Derricourt, R. M. (1985). Man on the Kafue: The archaeology and history of the Itezhitezhi area of Zambia. University of California Press. Derricourt, R. M., Peters, L. R., & Maluma, E. (1976). Itezhitezhi: Archaeology and Salvage in Zambia. Current Anthropology, 17(3), 497–500. Dombrowski, P., & Malipula, M. (2022). Archaeological survey in the Machili Valley, Zambia: A report on the 2019 preliminary field season. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa, 57(3), 332–349. Dombrowski, P., & Malipula, M. (2024). Magnetometry at two Iron Age villages in Western Zambia. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 49, 103956. Duller, G. A. T., Tooth, S., Barham, L., & Tsukamoto, S. (2015). New investigations at Kalambo Falls, Zambia: Luminescence chronology, site formation, and archaeological significance. Journal of Human Evolution, 85, 111–125. Fagan, B. M. (1961). Pre-European Ironworking in Central Africa with Special Reference to Northern Rhodesia. The Journal of African History, 2(2), 199–210. Fagan, B. M. (1966). The Iron Age of Zambia. Current Anthropology, 7(4), 453–462. Fagan, B. M. (1967). Iron Age Cultures in Zambia: Volume 1: Kalomo and Kangila. Chatto & Windus. Fagan, B. M., & Van Noten, F. L. (1971). The hunter-gatherers of Gwisho. Musée royal de l'Afrique centrale. Fagan, B. M., Phillipson, D. W., & Daniels, S. G. H. (1969). Iron Age cultures in Zambia, Volume Two: Dambwa, Ingombe Ilede, and the Tonga. Chatto & Windus. Inskeep, R. R. (1978). An Iron-Smelting Furnace in Southern Zambia. The South African Archaeological Bulletin, 33(128), 113–117. Mitchell, P. (2002). The archaeology of Southern Africa. Cambridge University Press. Musonda F. B. (1984). Late Pleistocene and Holocene Microlithic Industries from the Lunsemfwa Basin, Zambia. The South African Archaeological Bulletin, 39(139), 24–36. Musonda, F. B. (1987). The Significance of Pottery in Zambian Later Stone Age Contexts. The African Archaeological Review, 5, 147–158. Musonda, F. B. (2012). 100 years of archaeological research in Zambia: Changing historical perspectives. The South African Archaeological Bulletin, 67(195), 88–100. Musonda, F. B. (2014). Exploring differences and finding connections in archaeology and history practice and teaching in the Livingstone Museum and the University of Zambia, 1973 to 2016. Zambia Social Science Journal, 5(2), Article 6. Exploring Differences and Finding Connections in Archaeology and History Practice and Teaching in the Livingstone Museum and the University of Zambia, 1973 to 2016 Phillipson, D. W. (1968). The Early Iron Age in Zambia-Regional Variants and Some Tentative Conclusions. The Journal of African History, 9(2), 191–211. Phillipson, D. W. (1974). Iron Age History and Archaeology in Zambia. The Journal of African History, 15(1), 1–25. Phillipson, D. W. (1976). The Early Iron Age in Zambia—Regional variants and some tentative conclusions. The Journal of African History, 17(1), 43–65. Cambridge University Press. Phillipson, D. W. (1976). Iron Age history and archaeology in Zambia. The Journal of African History, 17(2), 197–209. Cambridge University Press. Phillipson, D. W. (1976). The Early Iron Age in eastern and southern Africa: A critical re-appraisal. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa, 11(1), 1–26. Phillipson, D. W. (1976). The Prehistory of Eastern Zambia. British Institute in Eastern Africa. Phillipson, D. W. (1977). The Later Prehistory of Eastern and Southern Africa. New York: Africana Publishing Company. Phillipson, D. W. (2000). Early Iron Age archaeology in central Zambia. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa, 35(1), 147–182. Phillipson, D. W. (2005). African archaeology (3rd ed.). Cambridge University Press. Shaw, T., Sinclair, P., Andah, B., & Okpoko, A. (Eds.). (1993). The archaeology of Africa: Food, metals and towns. Routledge. Vogel, J. O. (1976). The Early Iron Age in Western Zambia. Current Anthropology, 17(1), 153–154. Vogel, J. O. (1978). The Gokomere Tradition. The South African Archaeological Bulletin, 33(127), 12–17. Vogel, J. O. (1986). Subsistence Settlement Systems in the Prehistory of Southwestern Zambia. Human Ecology, 14(4), 397–414.

Pre-colonial era Langworthy, H. W. (1972). Zambia before 1890: Aspects of pre-colonial history. Longman. Mainga, M. (2010). Mainga: Bulozi under the Luyana Kings: Political Evolution and State Formation in Pre-Colonial Zambia. Gadsden Publishers. Roberts, A. D. (1973). A history of the Bemba: Political growth and change in north-eastern Zambia before 1900. University of Wisconsin Press.

Colonial Rhodesia era

Allen, R. (1981). Reassessing African Political Activity in Urban Northern Rhodesia. African Affairs, 80(319), 239–258. Ault, J. M. (1983). Making “Modern” Marriage “Traditional”: State Power and the Regulation of Marriage in Colonial Zambia. Theory and Society, 12(2), 181–210. Baldwin, R. E. (1966). Economic development and export growth: A study of Northern Rhodesia, 1920–1960. University of California Press. Brown, R. (1973). Anthropology and Colonial Rule: Godfrey Wilson and the Rhodes-Livingstone Institute. In T. Asad (Ed.), Anthropology and the Colonial Encounter, 173–198. Humanities Press. Caplan, G. L. (2022). The Elites of Barotseland 1878–1969: A Political History of Zambia's Western Province. University of California Press. Chipungu, S. N. (1986). Locusts, peasants, settlers and the state in Northern Rhodesia (Zambia), 1929 to 1940. Transafrican Journal of History, 15, 54–80. Datta, K. (1988). The Political Economy of Rural Development in Colonial Zambia: The Case of the Ushi-Kabende, 1947-1953. The International Journal of African Historical Studies, 21(2), 249–272. Gann, L. H. (1964). The birth of a plural society: The development of Northern Rhodesia under the British South Africa Company, 1894–1914. Manchester University Press. Gewald, J. B. (2015). Forged in the Great War: People, transport, and labour, the establishment of colonial rule in Zambia, 1890–1920. Brill. Gordon, D. (2001). Owners of the Land and Lunda Lords: Colonial Chiefs in the Borderlands of Northern Rhodesia and the Belgian Congo. The International Journal of African Historical Studies, 34(2), 315–338. Gordon, D. M. (2009). The Abolition of the Slave Trade and the Transformation of the South-Central African Interior during the Nineteenth Century. The William and Mary Quarterly, 66(4), 915–938. Gray, R. (1961). The Two Nations: Aspects of the Development of Race Relations in the Rhodesias and Nyasaland. Oxford University Press. Heisler, H. (1971). The Creation of a Stabilized Urban Society: A Turning Point in the Development of Northern Rhodesia/Zambia. African Affairs, 70(279), 125–145. Henderson, I. (1970). The Origins of Nationalism in East and Central Africa: The Zambian Case. The Journal of African History, 11(4), 591–603. Isaacman, A., & Isaacman, B. (1977). Resistance and Collaboration in Southern and Central Africa, c. 1850-1920. The International Journal of African Historical Studies, 10(1), 31–62. Kalusa, W. T. (2011). The Killing of Lilian Margaret Burton and Black and White Nationalisms in Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) in the 1960s. Journal of Southern African Studies, 37(1), 63–77. Larmer, M. (2011). Rethinking African Politics: A History of Opposition in Zambia. Ashgate. Lungu, G. F. (1993). Educational Policy-Making in Colonial Zambia: The Case of Higher Education for Africans from 1924 to 1964. The Journal of Negro History, 78(4), 207–232. Macmillan, H. (1993). An African Trading Empire: The Story of Susman Brothers and Wulfsohn, 1901–2005. I.B. Tauris. Macola, G. (2008). The Kingdom of Kazembe: History and Politics in North-Eastern Zambia and Katanga to 1950. Verlag.<