Zambia is a landlocked country in southern Africa that is bordered by eight other countries: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, and Angola. The capital, Lusaka, is located in the Copperbelt Province in the northwest. The climate is tropical with mostly high plateau and some hills and mountains. The highest point is in the Mafinga Hills, at 2,301 meters, and the lowest point is the Zambezi River, at 329 meters.

Beginning in 1911, the country was known as Northern Rhodesia, but it was renamed Zambia once it became an independent nation in 1964. Zambia sympathized with other forces who historically opposed colonial or White-dominated rule, especially Southern Rhodesia (later Zimbabwe). The country during the Cold War was a member of ...