African Research Project on Zambia

Zambia’s Struggle through Imperialism

Did you know that Zambia has the worst health care program in all of Africa (CIA World Factbook)? Imperialism is where this problem started. Even though the British brought education to Zambia they destroyed tribal beliefs and killed many Zambians. Imperialism had many overall effects on Africa, many of them occurring in Zambia. David Livingstone was the first European to step foot into Zambia. In the 19^th century when the British arrived in Zambia there was no specific Kingdom who could defend themselves against their power. The Zambians, after a long struggle for freedom finally got their independence on October 24^th 1964 (World Geography). Even though the British brought education to Zambia they destroyed tribal beliefs and killed many Zambians. Therefore the net effect of the British imperialism of Zambia was overall negative for several reasons, and they are; the British brought in their religion in result destroying the local ones, they conquering Zambia and many Zambians were mistreated and even killed, and finally Zambians no longer had a voice in their own country.

The first example of the negative effects of imperialism was that the British destroyed religion and culture in Africa. Even though Zambians speak a variety of Bantu languages, English is the official language because of British imperialism. And even though Zambians have some tribal beliefs, the majority of them are Christian because of the missionaries that came to Zambia when the country was being imperialized and forced them to become Christian (Cavendish, pg.2, 461). This breaks down culture and ruins countries distinctions from each other. Mission Christianity was one of the many missions brought in by the British to get all the Zambians to convert to Christianity, and it played a large roll in the shaping of Zambia (Geography and Economics). The British thought what they were doing was right even though it was quickly destroying the Zambian culture.

Secondly…, because of the British, the Zambians no longer had a voice in their own country. When Europeans first came to Zambia they gave Zambians no choice and they lead the government and the copper belt, taking all the money for the copper they found there. Then, when the Europeans left they left many forms of their culture such as religion language and forms of transportation (History World). In the 19^th century Zambia was part of the slave trade that was brought on by imperialism (World Encyclopedia). These events rapidly made sure that Zambians were being robbed of their rights.

Most importantly Zambians were mistreated and killed. One reason was because Zambia was a leading copper producer so it attracted many European engineers and administrators, forcing the Zambians to work the mines and do the hard jobs. Therefore many people were assaulted when revolting against the whites. In result workers who were not aloud to run unions, lead many strikes because they were being mistreated (World Geography). Even though in different ways, Zambians were mistreated several times.

In summary The British Imperialism on Zambia after looking over the main points was still negative. And the examples of these were that Zambians were being robbed of their freedom, that the British destroyed the Zambian religion, and that many Zambians were killed in the process. Now, to leave you something to think about, Kenneth Kaunda once wrote a quote on Zambia saying "The power which establishes a state is violence; the power which maintains it is violence; the power which eventually overthrows it is violence.” (Kenneth Kaunda pg. 1) What if this quote doesn’t only apply to imperialism in this country but maybe it even applies to the whole of Africa or maybe it also applies to the world, think about it. What does violence really accomplish?