Northern Rhodesia

Northern Rhodesia was a British protectorate in southern Africa between 1924 and the independence of the region under the name of Zambia on October 24 1964 .

In the last two decades of the 19th century attracted the British, led by Cecil John Rhodes river Zambezi northward. The aim was to copper reserves of Katanga and goldbetween the rivers Limpopo and Zambezi to control for the purpose of mining activities . The British government signed in 1889 an agreement with the newly formedBritish South Africa Company (BSA) with the BSA the east of the current Zimbabwe could occupy. The BSA also concluded treaties with tribal chiefs north of the Zambezi and spent most of the later Northern Rhodesia under British influence.

In 1924, the BSA instructed the administration of Northern Rhodesia for economic reasons on the British government. Global demand for copper increased sharply in those years by the worldwide construction of electricity grids and the British began a large-scale exploitation of the copper reserves of Northern Rhodesia.

Only after the arrival of the Labour -regering in the UK in 1945 were black miners the right to organize in unions. When a strike in 1952, they achieved a significant pay rise for miners.

In the country were, like in Southern Rhodesia, tensions between the British colonial government, white settlers and the black population. Much of the revenue from copper mining ran off to the UK.

On August 1, 1953, Northern Rhodesia became part of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland . On 31 December 1963, the federation was dissolved, after Zambia became independent in 1964.