Lusaka

Lusaka is the capital of Zambia, on a limestone plateau in the south-central part of the country. It is named after Lusaaka, the headman of a Lenje village that stood on the site before the town grew up.

Zambeef, based in Lusaka, raises cattle and chickens and sells beef and milk through its own butcheries across Zambia. Zambian Breweries brews Mosi lager, named after Mosi-oa-Tunya, the local name of Victoria Falls, at its plant in the city. Trade Kings, also headquartered in Lusaka, makes Boom washing paste and other soaps and drinks.

The railway from Livingstone to the copper mines passed the village in the early 20th century, and a siding and farm trading post grew around it. Lusaka replaced Livingstone as the capital of Northern Rhodesia in 1935, and the new government quarter was planned as a garden city with wide avenues and green belts. With independence in 1964 it became the capital of Zambia under Kenneth Kaunda, its first president. The University of Zambia opened soon after, paid for in part by gifts from citizens across the country.

The Lusaka National Museum shows Zambian history and contemporary art on its upper floors. At the Kabwata Cultural Village, carvers and basket weavers from many regions work in thatched huts built in the 1930s as early housing in the town. Lusaka National Park, opened in the 2010s on the southeastern edge of the city, keeps white rhinoceros and giraffes. The Anglican Cathedral of the Holy Cross, consecrated in the early 1960s, has a tall spire of concrete over its main door.