The original inhabitants of Zambia were the Khoisan people. The region was eventually Colonized during a Bantu expansion in the 13th century. There are now 72 ethnic groups in Zambia, most of which speak Bantu.
Nearly 90% of Zambians belong to one of nine ethnolinguistic groups: Nyanja-Chewa, Bemba, Tonga, Tumbuka, Lunda, Luvale, Kaonde, Lozi, and Nkoya.
The territory of what is now Zambia was formally known as Northern Rhodesia. This period that Zambia was called Northern Rhodesia is known as the colonial era (1888 to 1964). It was renamed Zambia at independence in 1964.
Kenneth Kaunda whose is presently known to the people of Zambia today as the father of the Nation was the country’s first president and he ruled from 1964 until 1991 under one-party rule.
Since Zambia’s independence the Republic has had 5 presidents with the sixth being the Current president His Excellency Mr Edgar Chagwa Lungu.
Zambia’s Former Leaders
- E Mr Kenneth Kaunda President from 1964 to 1991
- E Mr. Fredrick Chiluba President from 1991 to 2002 (Deceased)
- E MR Levy Patrick Mwanawasa President from 2002 to 2008 (Deceased)
- E Mr. Rupia Banda President from 2008 to 2011
- E Mr. Michael Sata President from 2011 to 2014 (Deceased)
- E Mr. Guy Scott President from October 2014 to January 2015 .
Mr. Guy Scott was named acting President upon the death of His Excellency Mr. Michael Sata on 28 October 2014. He was the first white president of Zambia and the first white president in sub-Saharan Africa since F. W. de Klerk, South Africa last apartheid-era president, left office in 1994.
From 2015, the current President of the Republic of Zambia is His Excellency Edgar Chagwa Lungu.