Lusaka is the largest city in the Republic of Zambia with a population of 3,079,964 million. It serves as Zambia’s capital and the country’s commercial centre. The city is located in the agricultural region of central Zambia and is connected through train and road to all major parts of the country. Lusaka Province was the most densely populated with a density of 140.1 persons per square kilometer.

The British government established Lusaka in 1913 as a further outpost for British administrators and ranchers. The Soli People were the original inhabitants of the land but within the 1890s the British South African Company seized the domain which had been called “Lusaaka” in honor of the ancient Soli state. In 1935 Lusaka got to be the capital of what was presently the Northern Rhodesia Colony. Capital designation brought major improvement and foundation to the city. The British colonial government commissioned John A. Hoogterp, a South African, to construct the city’s Government House and other major authoritative buildings. Trees were planted nearby the boulevards, and houses with gardens were built to accommodate new white settlers. This unused green foliage earned Lusaka the epithet the “Garden City.”

The majority of Lusaka’s inhabitants were European or Asian. Indigenous Africans who worked within the city were constrained to live in compounds on the edges of town or instantly following their put of work. Their spouses and children were not permitted to live with them or go with them into the city. The racial hierarchy of Lusaka emphasized white authority and black inferiority in a colony where blacks outnumbered whites ten to one.

By the time Zambia gained independence in 1964, innate Africans were permitted to live within the city but for the most part in ghettos. Upon independence, the new Zambian government built “council houses” to accommodate black residents, many of whom worked for the government or within the copper industry. Public utilities were introduced and these houses represented a tremendous change compared to homes built for blacks during the colonial period.

Lusaka emerged as the centre of anti-colonial resistance for Southern Africa by 1966. The city became a safe haven for African nationalists who organized independence movements in neighbouring Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Angola, and South Africa. In 1969 Lusaka hosted the Fifth Summit Conference of East and Central African States. At this meeting the Lusaka Manifesto on Southern Africa was signed condemning the presence of colonial regimes in Southern Africa. From the early 1970s through the mid-1980s the African National Congress (ANC), South Africa’s major anti-apartheid organization, was headquartered in Lusaka.

Lusaka is Zambia’s largest city. It produces textiles, shoes, processed foods, and cement. It is home to numerous striking institutions such as the Zambian National Assembly Building, the Lusaka National Museum, the Mulungushi International Conference Centre, the Kenneth Kaunda International Airport, and the University of Zambia. The city, is represented by a mayor and city council.