Time Travel ~ Northern Rhodesia
By Derek Mwale
Before the flag of a different colours and the eagle high above the sky, there was Northern Rhodesia. Northern Rhodesia was a British colony with Lawrence Aubrey Wallace as the first governor. It was founded in 1911 . Sit back and relax as we take you back in time to see the past, present and the future of once a colony but now a country with sovereign and freedom in governance.
Northern Rhodesia was a second world country industrialized with a strong economy. Existing as a landlocked but was still able get the necessary goods and raw materials. This was due to revolution ways of transport such railway and road connected to all parts of Africa. In Spite of having a good standard of living, segregation existed as the white population benefited more from the economy as compared to the Bantu people. The level of discrimination or inequality that existed between the white and the Bantu people is compared to the Jim Crows in the USA and Apartheid in South Africa.
As we can see from the past, Northern Rhodesia laid out a good ground for economic development. This is one of the silver lining of Northern Rhodesia existing as it gave Zambia the foundation to start from. Not ignoring the evils of colonization but celebrating and accepting each and every part of our history cause it led as to today. From this dark history the other bright side is the cultural heritage that Zambia got from Northern Rhodesia. It is evident because Zambians can easily relate with someone from western countries.
A moment in history where a country enters the Olympics and comes out as a new country. On 24th October 1964 Zambia was born. The first president was Dr. Kenneth Kaunda. Presently, Zambia did not end so bad. As it still benefits from Infrastructures built in the time of Northern Rhodesia. Furthermore, Zambia continued to massively develop. It has since seen economic growth from each leader since independence.
The future for Zambia or former Northern Rhodesia is full of diamonds, the shine is too bright, it’s very very slightly. Though it’s still a developing nation the economy growths by a good percentage each year. The also has a young labour force will positive work culture. Lastly, the country has serious plans to continue diversifying the economy and develop other industries. As we can see from the past Northern Rhodesia was a prosperous nation though it had some shortcomings. It’s also evident that the successor Zambia is a flourishing country as well. I strongly believe Zambia will be a very wealthy nation soon.
