Zambia is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Zambia’s neighbors are the DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo to the North), Tanzania to the North East, Malawi to the East, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Namibia to the South, and Angola to the West.

Here are 10 facts about Zambia

1. The country was formerly known as Northern Rhodesia and gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1964.

2. The country declared its independence on the day of the closing ceremony of the 1964 Summer Olympics, thereby becoming the first country ever to have entered an Olympic games as one country, and left it as another.

3. It gets its name from the Zambezi river.

4. Kenneth Kaunda was the first president of the country. He was in power from 1964 until 1991.

5. Ruphiah Banda is the current president of the country and has been in office since 2008.

6. David Livingstone saw the Victoria Falls on the current Zimbabwe border for the first time in 1855. Victoria Falls is known as locally as “Mosi-oa-Tunya” (meaning “the thundering smoke”)

7. Lusaka is the capital and largest city in the country with an estimated population of more than 3 million people.

8. The country has an estimated population of almost 12 million people.

9. Former Springbok captain Corné Krige was born in Lusaka in the country in 1975.

10. The Kwacha is the Zambian monetary unit.

Well, there you have it, 10 facts you might not have known about Zambia. If I’ve left out anything important about Zambia, please comment on this post.

Watch this space for updates in the Facts category on Running Wolf’s Rant.