Zambia occupies 752,612 square kilometers in south-central Africa without ocean access. The Zambezi River forms the entire southern boundary with Zimbabwe and Namibia. The Congo River basin defines the northern watershed. Eight countries share borders with Zambia: Tanzania and Malawi to the east, Mozambique to the southeast, Zimbabwe and Botswana to the south, Namibia and Angola to the west, and the Democratic Republic of Congo to the north. The Muchinga Escarpment runs along the eastern plateau edge, rising above the Luangwa Valley. The country sits primarily on a plateau between 1,000 and 1,400 meters above sea level.
Lake Tanganyika touches Zambia's northeastern tip, extending 673 kilometers in total length as Africa's second-deepest lake at 1,470 meters maximum depth. Lake Mweru lies on the northern Congo border. Lake Kariba on the Zambezi formed behind Kariba Dam between 1958 and 1963, creating 5,580 square kilometers of surface area. Lake Bangweulu in the northeast connects to extensive swamp systems covering approximately 15,000 square kilometers seasonally. The Kafue Flats spread across 6,500 square kilometers of seasonal floodplain in the south-central region. The Bangweulu Swamps remain permanently waterlogged across much of their extent. Victoria Falls, known locally as Mosi-oa-Tunya meaning "The Smoke That Thunders," drops 108 meters along a 1,708-meter width on the Zambezi.
Zambia's 2022 census recorded 19,610,769 people. Lusaka contained 3,079,964 residents in that count. Kitwe held 738,319 people. The urban population reached 45.2 percent of the total in 2022 estimates. Population density averages 26 people per square kilometer nationally. The median age stands at 16.9 years according to 2022 data.
English serves as the official language. Bemba speakers concentrate in the northern and Copperbelt regions. Nyanja speakers dominate in the east and in Lusaka. Tonga speakers occupy the southern provinces. Lozi speakers predominate in Western Province. The 2010 census identified 73 distinct languages spoken within Zambia. Seven languages hold official recognition for government broadcasting: Bemba, Nyanja, Tonga, Lozi, Luvale, Kaonde, and Lunda.
Archaeological evidence at Ing'ombe Ilede near the Zambezi-Kafue confluence shows a trading settlement from the 14th and 15th centuries with goods indicating long-distance trade networks. Excavations revealed copper cross-ingots, gold beads, Indian Ocean shells, and cotton cloth. Iron-working sites across the plateau date from the first millennium CE. The Nachikufu Cave in Muchinga Province contains rock art from Late Stone Age populations.
The Luba-Lunda kingdoms of the Congo basin expanded southward between the 16th and 18th centuries, establishing political structures that influenced present-day northern Zambian societies. The Bemba kingdom developed in the northeast by the 18th century under the Chitimukulu royal line. The Lozi kingdom in the western Zambezi floodplain operated a centralized state with the Litunga as paramount chief by the 17th century. The annual Kuomboka ceremony, in which the Litunga moves from the flood-season capital to higher ground, continues today. Tonga-speaking peoples in the south maintained decentralized clan-based organization without paramount chiefs. Arab and Swahili traders from the east coast reached the Luangwa Valley by the 1840s, establishing ivory and slave trade routes.
The British South Africa Company, chartered in 1889, extended control over the territory through treaties and force during the 1890s. The company administered the region as North-Western Rhodesia and North-Eastern Rhodesia until combining them as Northern Rhodesia in 1911. Copper deposits in the north-central region attracted industrial mining from the 1920s. The Roan Antelope mine opened near Luanshya in 1927. Nkana mine began production near Kitwe in 1931. By 1938, Northern Rhodesia supplied 13 percent of world copper output. The colonial government moved the capital from Livingstone to Lusaka in 1935.
African mineworkers formed labor organizations during the 1930s. A strike at Nkana mine in 1935 resulted in six workers killed by police. The African Mineworkers' Union formed in 1949. The British Colonial Office assumed direct administration from the company in 1924. In 1953, Britain created the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, combining Northern Rhodesia with Southern Rhodesia and Nyasaland against African opposition. The federation dissolved on December 31, 1963.