Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa. Its diverse ecosystems support a wide array of plant life, contributing to the region's rich biodiversity. However, this natural heritage is increasingly threatened by invasive species, which pose a significant challenge to native flora and fauna.
A Historical Perspective
Originally inhabited by Khoisan peoples, the region was affected by the Bantu expansion of the thirteenth century. Following European expeditions in the eighteenth century, Britain colonised the region, forming the British protectorates of Barotziland-North-Western Rhodesia and North-Eastern Rhodesia towards the end of the nineteenth century. These were merged in 1911 to form Northern Rhodesia. On 24 October 1964, Zambia became independent of the United Kingdom as a republic in the Commonwealth, and prime minister Kenneth Kaunda became the inaugural president.
Archaeological excavation work on the Zambezi Valley and Kalambo Falls shows a succession of human cultures. Modern Zambia once was inhabited by the Khoisan and Batwa peoples until around AD 300, when migrating Bantu began to settle the areas. Many of the historical events in these three regions happened simultaneously. Thus, Zambia's history, like that of many African nations, cannot be presented perfectly chronologically.
The Bantu people originally lived in West and Central Africa around what is today Cameroon and Nigeria. Approximately 5000 years ago, they began a millennia-long expansion into much of the continent. This event has been called the Bantu expansion; it was one of the largest human migrations in history. The Bantu are believed to have been the first to have brought iron working technology into large parts of Africa.
The first Bantu people to arrive in Zambia came through the eastern route via the African Great Lakes. They arrived around the first millennium C.E, and among them were the Tonga, Ila and Namwanga people and other related groups, who settled around Southern Zambia near Zimbabwe. These first Bantu people lived in large villages. They lacked an organised unit under a chief or headman and worked as a community and helped each other in times of field preparation for their crops.
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The second mass settlement of Bantu people into Zambia was of people groups that are believed to have taken the western route of the Bantu migration through the Congo Basin. The Bemba, along with other related groups such as the Lamba, Bisa, Senga, Kaonde, Swaka, Nkoya and Soli, formed integral parts of the Luba Kingdom in Upemba part of the Democratic Republic of Congo and have a strong relation to the Luba people.
In the 1200s, before the founding of the Luba-Lunda states, a group of Bantu people started migrating from the Congo Basin to Lake Mweru then finally settled around Lake Malawi. These migrants are believed to have been one of the inhabitants around the Upemba area in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In 1480 the Maravi Empire was founded by the kalonga (paramount chief of the Maravi) from the Phiri clan, one of the main clans, with the others being Banda, Mwale and Nkhoma.
As Great Zimbabwe was in decline, one of its princes, Nyatsimba Mutota, broke away from the state forming a new empire called Mutapa. The Mutapa Empire ruled territory between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers, in what is now Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, from the 14th to the 17th century.
In the western part of Zambia, another Southern African group of Sotho-Tswana heritage called the Kololo manage to conquer the local inhabitants who were migrants from the fallen Luba and Lunda states called the Luyana or Aluyi. The Luyana established the Barotse Kingdom on the floodplains of the Zambezi upon their arrival from Katanga.
One of the earliest recorded Europeans to visit the area was the Portuguese explorer Francisco de Lacerda in the late 18th century. Other European visitors followed in the 19th century. The most prominent of these was David Livingstone, who had a vision of ending the slave trade through the "3 Cs": Christianity, Commerce, and Civilisation. He was the first European to see the magnificent waterfalls on the Zambezi River in 1855, naming them the Victoria Falls after Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.
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North-Eastern Rhodesia and Barotziland-North-Western Rhodesia were administered as separate units until 1911 when they were merged to form Northern Rhodesia, a British protectorate. In 1953, the creation of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland grouped together Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia, and Nyasaland (now Malawi) as a single semi-autonomous region. The federation was dissolved on 31 December 1963, and in January 1964, Kaunda won the only election for Prime Minister of Northern Rhodesia. Northern Rhodesia became the Republic of Zambia on 24 October 1964, with Kenneth Kaunda as the first president.
The Threat of Invasive Species
Invasive species pose a significant threat to native plants and animals throughout the world. In the Kafue Flats of Zambia on the Kafue River, a tributary of the Zambezi River in Southern Africa, teams are working to remove Mimosa pigra, an invasive, tropical prickly shrub that is choking wetlands needed by Wattled Cranes and other wildlife.
Mimosa pigra
European Workshop on Control and Eradication of Invasive Alien Plant Species 20/30
Eradication Efforts: A Case Study of Mimosa pigra
The target is to remove 95 percent of the weed. To achieve this goal, a team have employed 150 workers from local communities to physically cut mimosa using hand-held tools such as machetes and slashers. The strategy adopted for the physical removal of the shrub is to start clearing mimosa on its invasion front first, targeting small, founder populations and then advancing toward larger, well-established infestations.
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The workers clear the growths of mimosa using a procedure that removes the plants and reduces the seed bank. Mimosa plants are cut to ground level. The cut stems with foliage are left to dry and later burned. Following burning, an average of 1,100 seedlings were counted in a one meter by one meter quadrant, which illustrates how mimosa can rapidly regenerate.
Burning and cutting stimulate seed germination and regrowth, hence the adoption of an integrated approach, which includes physical, chemical and biological control.
Here is a table summarizing the integrated approach to controlling Mimosa pigra:
| Control Method | Description | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Physical Control | Cutting mimosa plants to ground level using machetes and slashers. | Removes existing plants and reduces seed bank. |
| Chemical Control | (Not detailed in provided text) | Potentially used to kill remaining plants or prevent regrowth. |
| Biological Control | Importing a species of moth (Carmenta mimosa) whose larvae feed on the plant tissue. | Weakens and eventually kills the mimosa plants. |
Area cleared of Mimosa (in yellow-green)
Biological Control: The Introduction of Carmenta mimosa
The next step is to import a species of moth - Carmenta mimosa - that will be used as a future biological control agent for mimosa in Zambia. The moth larvae burrow into the mimosa plant, feeding on the plant tissue and eventually weakening and killing it. A permit has been secured to import the moths from the Zambia Agricultural Research Institute.
Through this project, the aim is to develop effective techniques for controlling the spread of mimosa, which can be applied in other areas. This project is led by Griffin Shanungu, Zambia Country Coordinator, and Mwape Sichilongo, Southern African Floodplains Regional Manager.
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