Kabwe
Encyclopedia
Kabwe is the capital of the Zambia
n Central Province
with a population estimated at 210,000. Formerly named Broken Hill, it was founded when the Broken Hill lead
and zinc
deposits were discovered in 1902. Kabwe also has a claim to being the birthplace of Zambian politics. It is an important transportation and mining centre.
, Australia. The mine became the largest in the country until overtaken in the early 1930s by larger copper mining complexes on the Copperbelt. Apart from lead and zinc it also produced silver
, manganese
and heavy metals such as cadmium
, vanadium
, and titanium
in smaller quantities.
In 1921 a human fossil (a skull) called Broken Hill Man or Rhodesian Man
(classified as Homo rhodesiensis
or Homo heidelbergensis
) was found in the mine.
The mine, which occupies a 2.5 km² site just 1 km south-west of the town centre, is now closed but metals are still extracted from old tailings. A study by the Blacksmith Institute
found Kabwe to be one of the ten worst polluted places in the world due mostly to heavy metal (mostly zinc and lead) tailings making their way into the local water supply.
and North-Eastern Rhodesia
) reached the Broken Hill mine as early as 1906, and the town became the northern base for the railway, which was the second biggest employer after the mining
industry. A locomotive maintenance facility was constructed there. In 1909 the railway reached Ndola
in what was to become the Copperbelt in the late 1920s.
The railway workers' unions played a large role in politics of the country. In racially-segregated colonial times before Africans had the vote, the town was the seat of Roy Welensky
, leader of the powerful Rhodesia Railway Workers Union (RRWU), who became Prime Minister
of the ill-fated Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland
, which was opposed by the Northern Rhodesia Railway Trade Union (the black Africans' union) led by Dixon Konkola and also based in Kabwe.
Today the town is the headquarters of Zambia Railways
but employment levels on the railway have been heavily cut back.
north of the city by the Kaunda
-Kapwepwe
breakaway group from the Zambian African National Congress
. Later, they founded the political party UNIP which led the successful independence movement and continued to hold conferences at Mulungushi Rock, which became known as the 'birthplace of independence' in Zambia.
-Copperbelt railway line it lies on the Great North Road
. To the east of the city are the hydro-electric power stations of the Mulungushi Dam, Mita Hills Dam
and Lunsemfwa Falls
, built to power the mine and town.
industries including the Zambia-China Mulungushi Textiles plant established with Chinese investment in the 1980s, but after suffering large losses this plant has closed (temporarily according to management) at the beginning of 2007.
Other industries include pharmaceuticals, milling and cotton ginning, and leather tanning.
Commercial farming areas surround the city about 10 km from the centre, and the road and rail links provide ready access to markets of the Copperbelt and Lusaka.
Source
Zambia
Zambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the 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....
n Central Province
Central Province, Zambia
Central Province is one of Zambia's nine provinces. The provincial capital is Kabwe, home of the Mulungushi Rock of Authority, founder home of UNIP, the ruling political party in the second republic ....
with a population estimated at 210,000. Formerly named Broken Hill, it was founded when the Broken Hill lead
Lead
Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...
and zinc
Zinc
Zinc , or spelter , is a metallic chemical element; it has the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is the first element in group 12 of the periodic table. Zinc is, in some respects, chemically similar to magnesium, because its ion is of similar size and its only common oxidation state is +2...
deposits were discovered in 1902. Kabwe also has a claim to being the birthplace of Zambian politics. It is an important transportation and mining centre.
Broken Hill Mine and its legacy of pollution
The name Kabwe or Kabwe-Ka Mukuba means 'ore' or 'smelting' but the European/Australian prospectors named it after a similar mine in Broken Hill, New South WalesBroken Hill, New South Wales
-Geology:Broken Hill's massive orebody, which formed about 1,800 million years ago, has proved to be among the world's largest silver-lead-zinc mineral deposits. The orebody is shaped like a boomerang plunging into the earth at its ends and outcropping in the centre. The protruding tip of the...
, Australia. The mine became the largest in the country until overtaken in the early 1930s by larger copper mining complexes on the Copperbelt. Apart from lead and zinc it also produced silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
, manganese
Manganese
Manganese is a chemical element, designated by the symbol Mn. It has the atomic number 25. It is found as a free element in nature , and in many minerals...
and heavy metals such as cadmium
Cadmium
Cadmium is a chemical element with the symbol Cd and atomic number 48. This soft, bluish-white metal is chemically similar to the two other stable metals in group 12, zinc and mercury. Similar to zinc, it prefers oxidation state +2 in most of its compounds and similar to mercury it shows a low...
, vanadium
Vanadium
Vanadium is a chemical element with the symbol V and atomic number 23. It is a hard, silvery gray, ductile and malleable transition metal. The formation of an oxide layer stabilizes the metal against oxidation. The element is found only in chemically combined form in nature...
, and titanium
Titanium
Titanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. It has a low density and is a strong, lustrous, corrosion-resistant transition metal with a silver color....
in smaller quantities.
In 1921 a human fossil (a skull) called Broken Hill Man or Rhodesian Man
Rhodesian Man
Kabwe skull or Kabwe cranium, or Broken Hill 1 is a hominin fossil that was frequently classified as belonging to Homo rhodesiensis. The cranium was found in an lead and zinc mine in Broken Hill, Northern Rhodesia in 1921 by Tom Zwiglaar, a Swiss miner...
(classified as Homo rhodesiensis
Homo rhodesiensis
Homo rhodesiensis is a hominin species described from the fossil Kabwe skull. Other morphologically-comparable remains have been found from the same, or earlier, time period in southern Africa , East Africa and North Africa...
or Homo heidelbergensis
Homo heidelbergensis
Homo heidelbergensis is an extinct species of the genus Homo which may be the direct ancestor of both Homo neanderthalensis in Europe and Homo sapiens. The best evidence found for these hominins date between 600,000 and 400,000 years ago. H...
) was found in the mine.
The mine, which occupies a 2.5 km² site just 1 km south-west of the town centre, is now closed but metals are still extracted from old tailings. A study by the Blacksmith Institute
Blacksmith Institute
Founded in 1999, Blacksmith Institute is an international non-for-profit organization dedicated to eliminating life-threatening pollution in the developing world. Blacksmith identifies and cleans up the world's worst polluted places, focusing on communities where children are most at risk. Based in...
found Kabwe to be one of the ten worst polluted places in the world due mostly to heavy metal (mostly zinc and lead) tailings making their way into the local water supply.
Headquarters of Zambia Railways
The first railway in the country, operated by Rhodesian Railways (when the territory was administered as North-Western RhodesiaNorth-Western Rhodesia
North-Western Rhodesia in south central Africa was formed and administered from 1891 under charter by the British South Africa Company which in 1890 had signed a treaty with King Lewanika of the Barotse, the most powerful traditional ruler in the territory...
and North-Eastern Rhodesia
North-Eastern Rhodesia
North-Eastern Rhodesia in south central Africa was formed by and administered by the British South Africa Company as the other half, with North-Western Rhodesia, of the huge territory lying mainly north of the Zambezi River into which it expanded its charter in 1891...
) reached the Broken Hill mine as early as 1906, and the town became the northern base for the railway, which was the second biggest employer after the mining
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
industry. A locomotive maintenance facility was constructed there. In 1909 the railway reached Ndola
Ndola
Ndola is the third largest city in Zambia, with a population of 495,000 . It is the industrial, commercial, on the Copperbelt, Zambia's copper-mining region, and capital of Copperbelt Province. It is also the commercial capital city of Zambia and has one of the three international airports, others...
in what was to become the Copperbelt in the late 1920s.
The railway workers' unions played a large role in politics of the country. In racially-segregated colonial times before Africans had the vote, the town was the seat of Roy Welensky
Roy Welensky
Sir Raphael "Roy" Welensky, KCMG was a Northern Rhodesian politician and the second and last prime minister of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland...
, leader of the powerful Rhodesia Railway Workers Union (RRWU), who became Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
of the ill-fated Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland
Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland
The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, also known as the Central African Federation , was a semi-independent state in southern Africa that existed from 1953 to the end of 1963, comprising the former self-governing colony of Southern Rhodesia and the British protectorates of Northern Rhodesia,...
, which was opposed by the Northern Rhodesia Railway Trade Union (the black Africans' union) led by Dixon Konkola and also based in Kabwe.
Today the town is the headquarters of Zambia Railways
Zambia Railways
Zambia Railways is the national railway of Zambia, one of the two major railroad organizations in Zambia, which may also be referred to as Railway Systems of Zambia...
but employment levels on the railway have been heavily cut back.
Kabwe's role in Zambia's independence
Reflecting Kabwe's central location and railway union base, it was chosen as the site for a rally held on October 26, 1958 at Mulungushi RockMulungushi
Mulungushi is the name of a river in central Zambia which has taken on a symbolic and historical meaning synonymous with the independence and identity of the nation, and has been given to a number of events, localities, buildings and organisations, including:*the Mulungushi Rock of Authority ;*the...
north of the city by the Kaunda
Kenneth Kaunda
Kenneth David Kaunda, known as KK, served as the first President of Zambia, from 1964 to 1991.-Early life:Kaunda was the youngest of eight children. He was born at Lubwa Mission in Chinsali, Northern Province of Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia...
-Kapwepwe
Simon Kapwepwe
Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe was the first vice-president of Zambia from 1967 to 1970.- Early life :Simon Kapwepwe was born on 12 April 1922 in the Chinsali district of the Northern Province of Northern Rhodesia...
breakaway group from the Zambian African National Congress
Zambian African National Congress
The Zambian African National Congress was a political organisation dedicated to promoting the rights of black people in Zambia. ZANC was formed in 1958, following a split from the Northern Rhodesian African National Congress. The president of ZANC was Kenneth Kaunda. In 1959 the party was banned...
. Later, they founded the political party UNIP which led the successful independence movement and continued to hold conferences at Mulungushi Rock, which became known as the 'birthplace of independence' in Zambia.
Transport links
The name was changed to Kabwe in 1966, shortly after independence. As well as being on the main LusakaLusaka
Lusaka is the capital and largest city of Zambia. It is located in the southern part of the central plateau, at an elevation of about 1,300 metres . It has a population of about 1.7 million . It is a commercial centre as well as the centre of government, and the four main highways of Zambia head...
-Copperbelt railway line it lies on the Great North Road
Great North Road (Zambia)
The Great North Road is a major route in Zambia, running north from Lusaka through Kabwe, Kapiri Mposhi Serenje, Mpika, Kasama, Mbala and Mpulungu. 82km North of Mpika is a signposted left turn onto a well maintained gravel road leading to Shiwa Ng'andu and Kapishya Hot Springs...
. To the east of the city are the hydro-electric power stations of the Mulungushi Dam, Mita Hills Dam
Mita Hills Dam
Mita Hills Dam is an embankment dam with a hydroelectric power station and man-made lake near Kabwe, Zambia. It was constructed on the Lunsemfwa River by the Anglo American Corporation in the 1950s to supply the Broken Hill Mine at Kabwe....
and Lunsemfwa Falls
Lunsemfwa River
The Lunsemfwa River is a tributary of the Lukasashi and Luangwa Rivers in Zambia and part of the Zambezi River basin. It is a popular river for fishing, containing large populations of tigerfish and bream....
, built to power the mine and town.
Industries and agriculture
Closure of the mine led to economic decline for Kabwe. It has a number of manufacturingManufacturing
Manufacturing is the use of machines, tools and labor to produce goods for use or sale. The term may refer to a range of human activity, from handicraft to high tech, but is most commonly applied to industrial production, in which raw materials are transformed into finished goods on a large scale...
industries including the Zambia-China Mulungushi Textiles plant established with Chinese investment in the 1980s, but after suffering large losses this plant has closed (temporarily according to management) at the beginning of 2007.
Other industries include pharmaceuticals, milling and cotton ginning, and leather tanning.
Commercial farming areas surround the city about 10 km from the centre, and the road and rail links provide ready access to markets of the Copperbelt and Lusaka.
Tourism potential
To the east and west of Kabwe are areas with good but so-far undeveloped tourist potential, advantaged by Kabwe's central location and proximity to Lusaka and its international airport:,- Lukanga SwampLukanga SwampLukanga Swamp is a major wetland in the Central Province of Zambia, about 50 km west of Kabwe. Its permanently swampy area consists of a roughly circular area with a diameter of 40 to 50 km covering 1850 km², plus roughly 250 km² in the mouths of and along rivers discharging...
, 50 km west, with a wildlife area (currently a Game Management Area) on the other side of the Kafue River, 120 km from Kabwe — but road access is very poor.
- Mulungushi RiverMulungushi RiverThe Mulungushi River in central Zambia is a tributary of the Lunsemfwa River and the Luangwa River, and a part of the Zambezi River basin. It rises on the plateau north-west of Kabwe and flows south-east into the Luangwa Rift Valley where it joins the Lunsemfwa.The river is the site of the...
& Lunsemfwa RiverLunsemfwa RiverThe Lunsemfwa River is a tributary of the Lukasashi and Luangwa Rivers in Zambia and part of the Zambezi River basin. It is a popular river for fishing, containing large populations of tigerfish and bream....
valleys, including Lunsemfwa Wonder Gorge: these two rivers flow into the western end of the Luangwa Rift Valley just over 50 km south-east of Kabwe, and just south of the Mulungushi Dam and lake which offers good boating and game fishing activities. The valleys are very scenic wilderness with good wildlife potential. Again, there is no proper road access to the area.
- Chifunkunya Hills — 150 km east, a wilderness area of rugged granite mountains rising 1000 m above the Luangwa ValleyLuangwa RiverThe Luangwa River is one of the major tributaries of the Zambezi River, and one of the four biggest rivers of Zambia. The river generally floods in the rainy season and then falls considerably in the dry season...
, just to the north-west of the confluence of the Lunsemfwa and Lukusashi Rivers, with no road access.
Institutions and attractions
- Mulungushi Rock of Authority, north of the city
- Mulungushi University
- Radio Maranatha 103.3 FM, run by the Zambia Union Conference of the SDA Church
- Kabwe Warriors football club, one of the top three teams in the country
- Bwacha House National Monument: Number E1376 Musuku Road, Bwacha Township, where on 8 March 1958 Kenneth Kaunda was elected President of the Zambian African National CongressZambian African National CongressThe Zambian African National Congress was a political organisation dedicated to promoting the rights of black people in Zambia. ZANC was formed in 1958, following a split from the Northern Rhodesian African National Congress. The president of ZANC was Kenneth Kaunda. In 1959 the party was banned...
- Big Tree National Monument: a fig tree with a 50 m wide canopy on the east side of Broadway, which served as a meeting place on many occasions during the early years of the town's history
- Broken Hill Man memorial at Kabwe municipal offices
- Zambia National ServiceZambian Defence ForceThe Zambian Defence Force consists of the army, the air force, and Zambian National Service . The ZNS, while operating under the Ministry of Defence, is responsible primarily for public works projects. The ZDF is designed primarily for internal defence in Zambia...
Training School - Chindwin Barracks and Kohima Barracks (Zambian Defence ForceZambian Defence ForceThe Zambian Defence Force consists of the army, the air force, and Zambian National Service . The ZNS, while operating under the Ministry of Defence, is responsible primarily for public works projects. The ZDF is designed primarily for internal defence in Zambia...
) - Nkrumah University
- Mukobeko Trades Training Institute
- National Fire Fighting Services Training School
- Kabwe golf courseGolf courseA golf course comprises a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, fairway, rough and other hazards, and a green with a flagstick and cup, all designed for the game of golf. A standard round of golf consists of playing 18 holes, thus most golf courses have this number of holes...
- Mulungushi Boat Club, Mulungushi Dam
Source
Trivia
- Best selling novelist Wilbur SmithWilbur SmithWilbur Addison Smith is a best-selling novelist. His writings include 16th and 17th century tales about the founding of the southern territories of Africa and the subsequent adventures and international intrigues relevant to these settlements. His books often fall into one of three series...
was born in Broken Hill on January 9, 1933. - The remains of an extinct hominid referred to as Rhodesian manRhodesian ManKabwe skull or Kabwe cranium, or Broken Hill 1 is a hominin fossil that was frequently classified as belonging to Homo rhodesiensis. The cranium was found in an lead and zinc mine in Broken Hill, Northern Rhodesia in 1921 by Tom Zwiglaar, a Swiss miner...
or Kabwe cranium were found in a cave located in Kabwe by miners in 1921. At that time it was the oldest hominid fossil ever found.