This part of south central Africa comprises 752 thousand square kilometers, all of it plateau, most of it between 1,000 and 2,000 meters. The highest land is in the northeast and the lowest in the southeast and the Zambezi and Kafue valleys.
Three river systems cover the land: the Zambezi(1), the Congo(2) and the Chambeshi. The Zambezi starts in the northwest, and, after cutting through Angola, heads south across western Zambia. It then forms most of the nation's southern border--part of it as the artificial Lake Kariba(3). The river plunges over the famed Victoria Falls. A tributary, the Kwando(4), which joins its mainstream on the opposite bank from Zambia, forms the nation's southwest boundary. Its chief left bank tributaries are the Kafue, which is dammed southwest of the capital, and the Luangwa(5), which crosses the southeast.
The most southerly headwater of the Congo, the Luapula forms the west border of the northeast protuberance of Zambia, starting from Lake Bengwelu and flowing into Lake Mweru(6). The southern end of Lake Tanganyika, also part of the Congo system, sticks through Zambia's northern border.
The Chambeshi system, in northeastern Zambia, flows to the Bengwelu swamps (near the lake). It is arguably related to the Luapula but generally considered its own system.
More than ten million people live here. No one language is native to a majority. The M Group of Narrow Bantu languages accounts for nearly six in ten. In that group, Bemba(7) is spoken by more than three in ten at birth (and, in simplified form, by many more as a second language); Nyanja(8) by about three in 20 natively, but is learned by many more; and Tonga by somewhat less. English is spoken as a second or third language by some. All agree that the majority are Christian, often combining their professed affiliation with older ways. Estimates of Moslems vary wildly.(9)
There is only one city with a million residents, the capital, Lusaka. It has 2.4 million in its metropolis with just over half of them in the city proper. It is located in Zambia's south center, on a railway line from the Copperbelt mining area to the Kafue valley and beyond. The Anglican Protestant Christian Cathedral of the Holy Cross is its most famed building.
The Bantu language speakers probably arrived about 2,000 years ago from the north. It is speculated that Bushman(10) languages were spoken by some of their predecessors. Bemba speakers have a tradition of having moved to the Copperbelt from the southwest. The Nyanja have a tradition of moving to southeastern Zambia (and beyond) from the Congo basin. English and Christianity arrived with colonial rule starting in the late 19th century.
north
northeast
east
southeast
south
south, from just west of Victoria Falls
south and west, from the southwest
west, from all but the southwest
(1) Spelled Zambeze elsewhere. It is Africa's fourth longest river.
(2) This is, narrowly, the name of its lower course. The middle course is the Zaïre and the upper the Lualaba. It is Africa's second longest river, and the world's eighth.
(3) Perhaps Africa's ninth largest lake.
(4) Spelled Cuando in Angola.
(5) Called the Aruangua in Mozambique (Moçambique).
(6) Lake Mweru is Africa's sixth largest lake. It is drained by a tributary of the Congo.
(7) Including Taabwa, which some consider a separate language.
(8) The local dialect is Cewa or ChiChewa.
(9) www.thezambian.com/Zambia/religion.aspx (accessed 6/19/2007) puts Moslems, Hindus and Baha'i at 2% total; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/zambia (accessed 6/19/2007) puts Moslems at 5%; www.countryreports.org (accessed by a cache on 6/19/2007) puts Moslems and Hindus at 45% together.
(10) Bushman or San is a prejorative term; Khoisan is a label for a group of convenience that includes the Northern and Southern Bushman (San) groups and at least one other group. The Twa ethnic group, which now speaks Tonga or related languages, is thought to have once spoken Bushman.