Mufulira, is a town in the

Copperbelt Province Copperbelt Province is a province in Zambia which covers the mineral-rich Copperbelt, and farming and bush areas to the south. It was the backbone of the Northern Rhodesian economy during British colonial rule and fuelled the hopes of the immed ...

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...

. Mufulira means "Place of Abundance and Peace". The town developed around the Mufulira Copper Mine in the 1930s. The town also serves as the administrative capital of

Mufulira District Mufulira District is a district of Zambia, located in Copperbelt Province. The capital lies at Mufulira. As of the 2000 Zambian Census, the district had a population of 143,930 people. It is divided into three constituencies, namely Mufulira M ...

Location

Mufulira is located approximately southwest of the town of Mokambo, at the international border with the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

. A tarmac highway to the south-west (the M4 Road) connects Mufulira to

Kitwe Kitwe is the third largest city in terms of infrastructure development (after Lusaka and Ndola) and second largest city in terms of size and population (after Lusaka) in Zambia. With a population of 517,543 (''2010 census provisional'') Kitwe is ...

, away. The city of

Ndola Ndola is the third largest city in Zambia and third in terms of size and population, with a population of 475,194 (''2010 census provisional''), after the capital, Lusaka, and Kitwe, and the second largest in terms of infrastructure development aft ...

, the commercial and transport hub of the Copperbelt, lies approximately , by road, southeast of Mufulira. A shorter, less well-maintained road (the M4 Road) exists and measures . Mufulira is connected to the Mokambo Border and eventually the

Luapula Province Luapula Province is one of Zambia's ten provinces located in the northern part of the country. Luapula Province is named after the Luapula River and its capital is Mansa. As per the 2010 Zambian census, the Province had a population of 991,92 ...

of Zambia by the

Congo Pedicle road The Congo Pedicle road (at one time referred to as the 'Zaire Pedicle road') crosses the Congolese territory of the Congo Pedicle and was constructed by and is maintained by Zambia to connect its Copperbelt and Luapula Provinces. Both the road ...

. The section from Mufulira to Mokambo is designated as the M5 Road while the route through the

Congo Pedicle The Congo Pedicle (at one time referred to as the Zaire Pedicle; in French ', meaning 'Katanga boot') is the southeast salient of the Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which divides neighbouring Zambia into two lobes. In a ...

to the

Chembe Chembe is a border town in Chembe District in the Luapula Province of Zambia. It once had the Chembe Ferry as a means of crossing the Luapula River from DR Congo to Zambia; but now, it is the home of the Mwanawasa Bridge, named after former preside ...

Border is named the Congo Pedicle road. The

geographical coordinates The geographic coordinate system (GCS) is a spherical or ellipsoidal coordinate system for measuring and communicating positions directly on the Earth as latitude and longitude. It is the simplest, oldest and most widely used of the various ...

of Mufulira are:12°32'08.0"S, 28°14'31.0"E (

Latitude In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north pol ...

:-12.535556;

Longitude Longitude (, ) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east–west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek letter l ...

:28.241944). Mufulira sits at an average

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...

of above

mean sea level There are several kinds of mean in mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. ...

Overview

The town of Mufulira developed around the Mufulira Copper Mine in the 1930s. A branch of

Zambia Railways Zambia Railways (ZR) is the national railway company of Zambia, one of the two major railway organisations in Zambia. The other system is the binational TAZARA Railway (TAZARA) that interconnects with the ZR at Kapiri Mposhi and provides a link to ...

, carrying freight only, serves the mine. Mufulira is the south-western end of the

connecting the Copperbelt Province to the

, making that province Mufulira's commercial

hinterland Hinterland is a German word meaning "the land behind" (a city, a port, or similar). Its use in English was first documented by the geographer George Chisholm in his ''Handbook of Commercial Geography'' (1888). Originally the term was associated ...

Population

In 1990, the population of Mufulira was 123,936 people. In 2000, there were 122,336 people. The 2010 population

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

and household survey enumerated the population of the town at 151,309 inhabitants. The table below illustrates the same data in

tabular Table may refer to: * Table (furniture), a piece of furniture with a flat surface and one or more legs * Table (landform), a flat area of land * Table (information), a data arrangement with rows and columns * Table (database), how the table data ...

format.

Economy

The Mufulira Mine is now owned and operated by ''Mopani Copper Mines'', which employs 10,000 permanent workers and produced about of copper bars in 2007. The Mufulira Copper

Smelter Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including Silver mining#Ore processing, silver, iron-making, iron, copper extracti ...

was rehabilitated by SMEC

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. Production and employment levels went down from the 1969 peak when the Copperbelt made Zambia the world's 4th largest copper producer.

Sports

In Zambia, Mufulira is well known for being the home of the successful

Mufulira Wanderers F.C. Mufulira Wanderers are Zambia's most successful football club, based in the Copperbelt town of Mufulira and currently playing in the Zambia National Division One after their 2019/2020 season relegation. Popularly known as Mighty Mufulira Wan ...

, a professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

club.

Notable people

Abe Bekker Abe Bekker (born 10 June 1935) was a boxer who competed in the flyweight class at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Vancouver and in the bantamweight class at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff representing ...

, boxer, lived here *

Kalusha Bwalya Kalusha Bwalya (born 16 August 1963) is a Zambian former international association football, footballer. He is Zambia national football team, Zambia's Zambia national football team#Most capped players, eighth-most Cap (sport), capped player and t ...

, national soccer player and

African Footballer of the Year African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** Ethn ...

winner, in 1988, was born here. * Frederick Jacob Titus Chiluba (1943–2011), who served as the second president of Zambia, from 1991 until 2001, lived in Mufulira in the 1960s. *

Robert Earnshaw Robert Earnshaw (born 6 April 1981) is a Welsh former international footballer who played as a forward. He is the only player to have scored a hat-trick in the Premier League, all three divisions of the English Football League, the League Cup, ...

, soccer player *

Mike Harris Michael Deane Harris (born January 23, 1945) is a Canadian retired politician who served as the 22nd premier of Ontario from 1995 to 2002 and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC Party) from 1990 to 2002. During his time ...

, racing driver who competed in the 1962 South African Grand Prix. *

Dafydd James Dafydd Rhys James (born 24 July 1975) is a Welsh former rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes o ...

, international

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

player * Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe (1922–1980), who served as Vice President of Zambia from 1967 until 1970. He served as member of parliament for Mufulira West Constituency from December 1971 until February 1972, under the UPP political party, the only UPP MP elected. *

Christopher Katongo Christopher Katongo (born 31 August 1982) is a Zambian former professional association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), striker. At international level, he amassed over 100 caps between 2003 and 2016 for the Z ...

, soccer player *

Felix Katongo Felix Katongo (born 18 April 1984) is a Zambian professional footballer who plays for as a midfielder for Green Buffaloes. Between 2004 and 2016, he made 68 FIFA-official appearances scoring 5 goals for the Zambia national team. His older broth ...

, soccer player *

Kenneth Kaunda Kenneth David Kaunda (28 April 1924 – 17 June 2021), also known as KK, was a Zambian politician who served as the first President of Zambia from 1964 to 1991. He was at the forefront of the struggle for independence from British rule. Dissat ...

(born 1924), the founder President of Zambia, in office from 1964 until 1991. In 1948, he served as a teacher and boarding master at Mufulira Upper School. *

Robert John "Mutt" Lange Robert John "Mutt" Lange (born 11 November 1948) is a South African record producer and songwriter, mainly known for his work in rock music as well as his previous marriage to Canadian singer Shania Twain, for whom he wrote and produced several ...

, songwriter and record producer * Levy Patrick Mwanawasa (1948–2008), who served as President of Zambia from 2001 until 2008, was born in Mufulira. * Samuel "Zoom" Ndhlovu, soccer player and Zambia Soccer Team coach *

Stevie Vann Stevie Vann (born Stevie van Kerken), also known as Stevie Lange, is a Zambian singer and vocal coach. She is best known for her work as a backing vocalist and studio singer for many groups and solo performers in the 1970s and 1980s. As lead vocal ...

, singer * Kåre Becker

References

External links

Malachite Plant Extension in Mufulira
*https://www.britannica.com/place/Mufulira *https://www.zambia-info.org/country/town/1340/mufulira *https://www.mindat.org/loc-4345.html *https://www.airbnb.com/mufulira-zambia/stays {{Commons category, Mufulira Mufulira District Populated places established in the 1930s Populated places in Copperbelt Province

Location

Overview

Population

Economy

Sports

Notable people

See also

References

External links