A Brief History of Central Africa
Bushmen are the earliest known inhabitants of Central Africa. Round about the 4th century A.D. the Bantu speaking people immigrated into the region from the North. Society evolved from a nomadic one to a more stable one, with long-distance trade practices. Portuguese explorers and traders were active along the African coasts as early as 1419. Africa was a source of raw materials for their industries and a lucrative market for their finished goods.
The trading success of the Portuguese encouraged the Dutch, English and French to take an active interest in Africa. This culminated in the Scramble for Africa between 1870 and 1914. Rather than continue fighting, European powers agreed to phase out slave trade and to share out African territories. The resulting borders isolated some people from their relatives and, in some cases, trapped people from different cultures in the same country.
Colonial Africa
Colonial Africa key
Independence
In the 1950s, there was increasing pressure on colonial powers to step back. This pressure came from African World War II veterans, growing local political parties, trade unions, changing attitudes within the colonial powers and from the growth of the Civil Rights Movement in America.
Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula and Kenneth David Kaunda were among the early agitators for Zambian Independence. They opposed the attempts of the British government to hand over power to a white-dominated Central African Federation. They were imprisoned for their efforts.
UNIP (United National Independence Party) was formed in 1959. After coming out of prison, Kenneth Kaunda took over the presidency of the party from Harry Nkumbula and led Northern Rhodesia to independence from Britain on 24th October, 1964.
Northern Rhodesia was re-named Zambia at independence. The name is derived from the Zambezi River. The Zambezi is the largest river to flow into the Indian Ocean from Africa. It runs for 2,574 kilometres from north-western Zambia and swings eastwards into the ocean.
Zambian Presidents
Kenneth Kaunda
Dr Kenneth David Kaunda
1st Zambian President
Term of Office: 24 October, 1963 – 2 November 1991
Born: 1924 to –
Party: United National Independence Party (UNIP)
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Frederick Chiluba
Frederick Jacob Titus Chiluba
2nd Zambian President
Term of Office: 2nd November, 1991 – 2nd January, 2002
Born: 30th April, 1943 – Died 18th June, 2011
Party: Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD)
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Levy Mwanawasa
Levy Patrick Mwanawasa
3rd Zambian President
Term of Office: 2nd January, 2002 – 19th August 2008
Born: 3 September, 1948 – Died 19 August 2008 (59years)
Party: Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD)
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Rupiah Banda
Rupiah Bwezani Banda
4th Zambian President
Term of Office: 29th June, 2008 – 23rd September, 2011
Born: 13th February, 1937 –
Party: Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD)
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Michael Chilufya Sata
Michael Chilufya Sata
5th Zambian President
Term of Office: 23rd September, 2011 – 28th October, 2014
Born: 6th July,1937 – Died 28th October, 2014
Party: Patriotic Front (PF)
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REFERENCES
- http://www.localhistories.org/zambia.html
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scramble_for_Africa
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Nkumbula
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zambia
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