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Zambia
UNIP's mass campaigns helped break the Central African Federation, and Zambia became independent as a republic in 1964.
- Independence
- October 24, 1964
- Before
- Northern Rhodesia
- Metropole
- United Kingdom
- Leader
- Kenneth Kaunda
- Transition
- Negotiated
- Movement
- United National Independence Party (UNIP)
Company Rule and the Copperbelt
Northern Rhodesia was first administered by the British South Africa Company before passing to direct British rule as a protectorate. Copper mining on the Copperbelt made it economically central to the region and drew large numbers of African workers, and Lusaka became the capital in 1935. By the early 1950s Africans in the towns and the rural north were organising politically, above all through Harry Nkumbula's African National Congress.
Against Federation
In October 1953 the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland was created despite African opposition. Nkumbula's willingness in 1958 to take part in elections that enfranchised few Africans split the ANC: Kenneth Kaunda, Simon Kapwepwe and others formed the Zambia African National Congress in October 1958. It was banned in March 1959 and Kaunda imprisoned. Released on 8 January 1960, Kaunda was elected president of UNIP later that month and led the 'Cha-cha-cha' civil disobedience campaign in Northern Province.
Coalition to Republic
The October 1962 elections produced a UNIP–ANC coalition government. The Federation was dissolved on 31 December 1963, and Kaunda became Prime Minister in 1964. Under the Zambia Independence Act, Northern Rhodesia ceased to be a protectorate on 24 October 1964 and became the independent Republic of Zambia within the Commonwealth, with Kaunda as its first President.
Chronology
- October 1953 — Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland created
- October 1958 — Zambia African National Congress formed
- March 1959 — ZANC banned
- January 1960 — Kaunda released and elected UNIP president
- October 1962 — Elections produce UNIP–ANC coalition
- 31 December 1963 — Federation dissolved
- 24 October 1964 — Independence as a republic
Aftermath
Kaunda led southern African states in confronting the white-minority governments of Rhodesia and South Africa, at considerable economic cost. After political violence around the 1968 elections, he imposed one-party rule in 1972 and a new constitution in 1973. He legalised opposition parties in 1990 and lost the 1991 election; Frederick Chiluba took office on 2 November 1991.
Legacy
Zambia's confrontation with white-minority rule in Rhodesia and South Africa, pursued at heavy cost to its own economy, made Kaunda a leading figure of southern African liberation. The one-party state he built lasted until 1991.