Zambia



"”Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”"

- H. M. Stanley

The Republic of Zambia is a southern African nation, home of the Victoria Falls (one of the World’s Seven Natural Wonders) and, as the quote indicates, one of the places seen by Dr. Livingstone.

The country was an English colony for a long time, then known as Northern Rhodesia (there was a Southern Rhodesia, now named Zimbabwe, infamously known for its president, Robert Mugabe, and his unlikely politics). It achieved its independence in 1964 and it was renamed Zambia (after the Zambezi river). Kenneth Kaunda assumed the presidency, holding onto it firmly until 1991.

Zambia had a lot of troubles, most of them coming from the civil wars, communist regimes and political pressures from its neighboring countries. All that, combined with the fall of the copper prices in the ‘70s threw the country into an economical hellhole, which eventually brought the downfall of Kaunda’s government.

Zambia finally managed to recover itself by the turn of the millennium, controlling the inflation and starting to exploit the mining resources. Which makes you wonder if Zimbabwe’s problems would be resolved with a competent presidency... and speaking of Zimbabwe, there has been a large influx of Zimbabweans fleeing their country in Zambia. The Zambian government has begun offering land to white Zimbabwean farmers who were chased off their original lands by Mugabe's thugs.

The main problem Zambia has today is the presence of AIDS in the population, near 17%.

The society is highly patriarchal, with older men receiving more respect than younger men and men receiving more than women. Curiously, as a colonial remnant, it's possible for a white man to receive even more respect.