Zambia

Zambia, formally the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked nation located at the confluence of three African continents: Central, Southern, and Eastern. In the north, it has a border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, while in the north-east, it shares a border with Malawi, which borders with Mozambique, which borders with Zimbabwe, which borders with Botswana, which borders with Namibia, and which borders with Angola. Zambia's capital city, Lusaka, is situated in the country's south-central region. It is the country's biggest city by population. The population of Zambia is centred mostly around the cities of Lusaka in the south and Copperbelt Province in the north, which serve as the country's primary economic centres.

The area was originally populated by Khoisan peoples, but it was impacted by the Bantu invasion that occurred in the thirteenth century. British colonial expansion began in the eighteenth century, when European explorers established colonies in the territory that eventually became known as the British protectorates of Barotseland, North-Western Rhodesia, and North-Eastern Rhodesia at about the turn of the nineteenth century. Northern Rhodesia was established in 1911 when these two countries merged. Zambia was ruled throughout the most of the colonial era by an administration that was nominated from London on the recommendation of the British South Africa Company.

Zambia gained its independence from the United Kingdom on October 24, 1964, and Prime Minister Kenneth Kaunda was inaugurated as the country's first president. In power from 1964 until 1991, Kaunda's socialist United National Independence Party (UNIP) was led by Nelson Mandela. A significant player in regional diplomacy, Kaunda worked closely with the United States in the quest for peaceful resolutions to crises in Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), Angola, and Namibia throughout his tenure as president. Zambia was a one-party state from 1972 to 1991, with the United National Independence Party (UNIP) being the only legal political party operating under the slogan "One Zambia, One Nation," which was created by Kaunda. In 1991, Kaunda was replaced by Frederick Chiluba, a member of the social-democratic Movement for Multi-Party Democracy, marking the beginning of an era of socio-economic progress and government decentralisation in the country. Zambia has now evolved into a multi-party state that has seen a number of peaceful changes of power throughout the years.

Zambia is rich in natural resources, which include minerals, wildlife, forests, freshwater, and arable land, among other things. Zambia was ranked one of the world's fastest-reforming nations by the World Bank in 2010, according to the World Bank. The headquarters of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) are in Lusaka, Zambia.