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Livingstone: Difference between revisions
From Chalo Chatu, Zambia online encyclopedia
→Colonial history
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In the mid-1890s [[Rhodesian Railways]] had reached [[Bulawayo]] in [[Southern Rhodesia]] spurring industrial development there, fuelled by the coal mines at [[Hwange]] just {{convert|110|km|mi|abbr=on}} south-east of Mosi-oa-Tunya. The railway was extended to Hwange for the coal, but Rhodes' vision was to keep pushing north to extend the [[British Empire]], and he would have [[Cape-Cairo railway|built it to Cairo]] if he could. In 1904 the railway reached the Falls on the southern side and construction of the [[Victoria Falls Bridge]] started. Too impatient to wait for its completion, Rhodes had the line from Livingstone to [[Kalomo]] built and operations started some months in advance of the bridge using a single locomotive which was conveyed in pieces by temporary cableway across the gorge next to the bridge building site.<ref>[http://www.nrzam.org.uk/Railway/Rail.html ''Horizon'' magazine: "Zambia's Second Industry", February 1965, pp4-11.]</ref> | In the mid-1890s [[Rhodesian Railways]] had reached [[Bulawayo]] in [[Southern Rhodesia]] spurring industrial development there, fuelled by the coal mines at [[Hwange]] just {{convert|110|km|mi|abbr=on}} south-east of Mosi-oa-Tunya. The railway was extended to Hwange for the coal, but Rhodes' vision was to keep pushing north to extend the [[British Empire]], and he would have [[Cape-Cairo railway|built it to Cairo]] if he could. In 1904 the railway reached the Falls on the southern side and construction of the [[Victoria Falls Bridge]] started. Too impatient to wait for its completion, Rhodes had the line from Livingstone to [[Kalomo]] built and operations started some months in advance of the bridge using a single locomotive which was conveyed in pieces by temporary cableway across the gorge next to the bridge building site.<ref>[http://www.nrzam.org.uk/Railway/Rail.html ''Horizon'' magazine: "Zambia's Second Industry", February 1965, pp4-11.]</ref> | ||
With the new Bridge open in September 1905, Livingstone boomed. | With the new Bridge open in September 1905, Livingstone boomed. The [[British South Africa Company]] moved the capital of the territory there in 1907.<ref name="NRJ">[http://www.nrzam.org.uk/NRJ/V4N1/V4N1.html ‘’The Northern Rhodesia Journal" online], B. L. Hunt: "Kalomo to Livingstone in 1907". Vol IV No 1 (1959) p16. Accessed 28 February 2007.</ref> In 1911 the company merged the territory with [[North-Eastern Rhodesia]] as [[Northern Rhodesia]]. Livingstone prospered from its position as a gateway to trade between north and south sides of the Zambezi, as well as from farming in the Southern Province and commercial timber production from forests to its north-west. A number of colonial buildings were erected which still stand.<ref name="Spectrum"/> Although the capital was moved to [[Lusaka]] in 1935 to be closer to the economic heartland of the [[Copperbelt]], industries based on timber, hides, tobacco, cotton (including textiles) and other agricultural products grew. A hydroelectric plant was built taking water from the Eastern Cataract of the Falls. The town of [[Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe|Victoria Falls]] in [[Southern Rhodesia]] had the tourist trade, but many supplies were bought from Livingstone. | ||
Of all the towns in Northern Rhodesia, colonial Livingstone took on the most British character. | Of all the towns in Northern Rhodesia, colonial Livingstone took on the most British character. Surrounded by large numbers of African settlements, it had a strongly marked [[Racial segregation|segregation]] which while not being officially enshrined as an [[apartheid]] policy, had similar practical effects. The north and western areas of the town and the town centre were reserved for the colonial government and white-owned businesses and associated residential areas, while African townships such as Maramba (named after the small Maramba River flowing nearby) were in the east and south and were inhabited by working [[servant]]s, [[Artisan|craftsman]], [[tradesman]], as well as large numbers of non-working black families suffering under [[welfare dependency]]. Asians and people of mixed race owned businesses in the middle, on the eastern side of the centre. | ||
As the British government began publicly discussing independence, and news of the large scale [[genocide]] of white colonials in nearby [[Belgian Congo]] was heard, many white residents feared abandonment by the British colonial government. Consequently, many began making moves to migrate south toward [[Southern Rhodesia]] or South Africa. When Northern Rhodesia obtained independence as Zambia, many more whites continued to leave. | As the British government began publicly discussing independence, and news of the large scale [[genocide]] of white colonials in nearby [[Belgian Congo]] was heard, many white residents feared abandonment by the British colonial government. Consequently, many began making moves to migrate south toward [[Southern Rhodesia]] or South Africa. When Northern Rhodesia obtained independence as Zambia, many more whites continued to leave. At the end of British rule in 1964, Africans were handed a country in which there were only 100 black college graduates, almost all in social sciences from the [[University of Fort Hare]] in South Africa. In 1968, a one party state had been established which seized most remaining non-black property, especially those of whites. Consequently, most of the remaining Northern Rhodesians left after an official policy of [[nationalisation]] in Zambia was announced. | ||
=== Post-independence === | === Post-independence === | ||
