The first written word about a land in the central en southern region of Africa was the work of dr. David Livingstone. This was around 1849. He was the one who baptized the Victoria Falls, named after the Queen of England at the time. It was him who travelled from eastern to western Africa through the current countries of Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and Angola.

After David's' expeditions coal and copper were discovered in the region and the "scramble for Africa" began. At that time the land was inhabited by a Lozi kingdom ruled by King Lewanika.

It was Cecil John Rhodes, a British colonist located in South Africa, that convinced King Lewanika to give the rights to exploid the land to the BSAC (the British South African Company) in 1890. In exchange his Kingdom became a British protectorate. He believed that this way he was able to protect his kingdom which was threatened by the Portuguese who wanted to expand their territory and a number of neighboring tribes. The BSAC however was only interested in exploiting the land.

In 1898, western fortune seekers, started settling in a "town" they called "The Old Drift". It was located on the side of the Zambezi river about 10 kilometers from the Victoria Falls in the South of the current nation of Zambia. The houses (huts) they built were made from clay, mud and wood. At the time a lot of the settlers died due to encounters with wild animals (mostly crocodiles and hippos), due to malaria or blackwater fever.

In 1905 they moved to a healthier space, north of the river on a ridge. Here they started building with metal and stone. They also started the construction of a Bridge over the cliffs at the Victoria Falls which connects the southern and northern parts of the Victoria Falls. This made it possible to travel much easier from South Africa to Zambia.

We know this location now as Livingstone, a city which became the capital of Northern Rhodesia.

In 1953 the British founded the federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, it included Northern Rhodesia (Zambia), Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and Nyasaland (Malawi).

The reason for creating this federation was two folded:

1. to decrease national movements in Northern-, Southern Rhodesia and Nyasaland

2. to prevent that the white farmers of Southern Rhodesia would have to much power

However in 1963 the federation was cancelled and the three countries split up.

Later in 1964 when Northern Rhodesia became independent, Lusaka became the capital and the nation was renamed Zambia.

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