Kabwe is the capital of the

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

n Central Province and the

Kabwe District Kabwe District is a Districts of Zambia, district of Zambia, located in Central Province, Zambia, Central Province. The capital lies at Kabwe. As of the 2010 Zambian Census, the district had a population of 299,206 people.

, with a population estimated at 288,598 at the 2022 census. Named Broken Hill until 1966, it was founded when

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

and

zinc Zinc is a chemical element; it has symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodic tabl ...

deposits were discovered in 1902. Kabwe also has a claim to being the birthplace of Zambian politics as it was an important political centre during the colonial period. Kabwe is an important transportation, farming and university centre. Kabwe is becoming a major agricultural hub for the country is the headquarters for

Zambia Railways Zambia Railways (ZR) is the national railway company of Zambia and 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 li ...

and prison services. Additionally the

mining industry Mining is the extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agricultural processes, or feasibly created artificially in a la ...

has been important to the economic development of the region. However, because of the exceptional contamination of the city with lead and other toxins, and the effects of these on local children's health, a March 2022 report by the

UN Special Rapporteur Special rapporteur (or independent expert) is the title given to independent human rights experts whose expertise is called upon by the United Nations (UN) to report or advise on human rights from a thematic or country-specific perspective. De ...

on Human Rights and the Environment identified the town as a

sacrifice zone A sacrifice zone or sacrifice area (often termed a national sacrifice zone or national sacrifice area) is a geographic area that has been permanently changed by heavy environmental alterations (usually to a negative degree) or economic disinvestme ...

for industry.

History

Headquarters of Zambia Railways

Rhodesian Railways under construction near Broken Hill Zambia

The first railway in the country, operated by

Rhodesian Railways The National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ), formerly Rhodesia Railways (RR), is a Bulawayo headquartered state-owned enterprise that operates the country's national railway system. It was established in 1893 and is governed by an Act of Parliament ...

when the territory was administered as

North-Western Rhodesia North-Western Rhodesia, in south-central Africa, was a territory administered from 1891 until 1899 under charter by the British South Africa Company. In 1890 the British South Africa Company signed a treaty with King Lewanika of the Barotse, on ...

the rail line reached 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 is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

industry. A locomotive maintenance facility was constructed there. In 1909 the railway reached

Ndola Ndola is the third largest city in Zambia in terms of size and population, with a population of 627,503 (''2022 census''), after the capital, Lusaka, and Kitwe, and the second largest in terms of infrastructure development after Lusaka. It is the I ...

in the Lambaland which was to become the

Copperbelt The Copperbelt () is a natural region in Central Africa which sits on the border region between northern Zambia and the south eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. It is known for copper mining and is the second largest global reserve of copper, ...

. The railway workers' unions played a large role in the politics of the country. In racially segregated colonial times before Africans had the vote, the town was the seat of

Roy Welensky Sir Roland "Roy" Welensky (''né'' Raphael Welensky; 20 January 1907 – 5 December 1991) was a Northern Rhodesian politician and the second and last Prime Minister of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. Born in Salisbury, Southern Rho ...

, leader of the powerful

Rhodesia Railway Workers Union The Rhodesian Railway Workers' Union (R.R.W.U.) was a trade union in Rhodesia which represented European railway workers employed by the Rhodesian Railways. History Trade union organisation on the Rhodesian railways had its origins in World Wa ...

(RRWU), who became

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

of the ill-fated

Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, also known as the Central African Federation (CAF), was a colonial federation that consisted of three southern African territories: the Self-governing colony, self-governing British colony of Southern ...

, which was opposed by the Northern Rhodesia Railway

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

(the black Africans' union) led by

Dixon Konkola Dixon may refer to: Places International * Dixon Entrance, part of the Inside Passage between Alaska and British Columbia Canada * Dixon, Ontario United States * Dixon, California * Dixon, Illinois * Dixon, Indiana and Ohio, an unincorporat ...

and also based in Kabwe. Today, the town is the headquarters of

but employment levels on the railway have been heavily cut.

Independence protest

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 Rock north of the city by the

Kaunda Kaunda is an African surname that may refer to the following notable people: * Betty Kaunda (1928–2012), First Lady of Zambia, wife of Kenneth * Billy Kaunda, Government minister of Malawi * John Kaunda, Zambian football goalkeeper * Kenneth Kaun ...

- Kapwepwe breakaway group from the

Zambian African National Congress The Northern Rhodesia Congress was a political party in Zambia. History In 1940, as the Northern Rhodesia Congress (NRC), also known as the Northern Rhodesia African Congress (NRAC), was formed. Godwin Lewanika, a Barotseland native from an ar ...

. Later, they founded the political party

UNIP The United National Independence Party (UNIP) is a political party in Zambia. It governed the country from 1964 to 1991 under the socialist presidency of Kenneth Kaunda, and was the sole legal party in the country between 1973 and 1990. On 4 Ap ...

which led the successful independence movement and continued to hold conferences at Mulungushi Rock, which became known as the 'birthplace of independence' in Zambia.

Demographics

Districts

Makululu

A large informal settlement on the outskirts of the city, Makululu is an important district in the town. The settlement is on the edge of the

Lukanga Swamp Lukanga Swamp is a major wetland in the Central Province of Zambia, about 50 km west of Kabwe.Terracarta/International Travel Maps, Vancouver Canada: "Zambia, 2nd edition", 2000 Its permanently swampy area consists of a roughly circular are ...

, and is thus vulnerable to flooding. Similarly, the water is highly contaminated from both poor sanitation and the broader industrial pollution from the mine.

Environmental issues

Mine pollution

A study by the

Blacksmith Institute Pure Earth (originally Blacksmith Institute) is a New York City–based international nonprofit founded in 1999 that works to identify and address pollution-related issues in low- and middle-income countries. Pure Earth's work focuses on two key p ...

found Kabwe to be one of the ten most polluted places in the world due mostly to heavy metal (mostly zinc and lead) tailings making their way into the local water supply. A 2014 report indicates that children's blood lead levels continue to be elevated even though mining has stopped. A 2020 study, found high levels of lead and cadmium in blood levels. A March 2022 report by the

on Human Rights and the Environment identified the town as a

for industry. Other studies, have found high potential for copper, cobalt and other non-lead materials in leachate from the mine. A

class action A class action is a form of lawsuit. Class Action may also refer to: * ''Class Action'' (film), 1991, starring Gene Hackman and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio * Class Action (band), a garage house band * "Class Action" (''Teenage Robot''), a 2002 e ...

lawsuit was launched against

Anglo American plc Anglo American plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational mining company with headquarters in London, England. It is the world's largest producer of platinum, with around 40% of world output, as well as being a major producer of ...

, alleging that it ignored the required safety standards despite knowing about the harms caused. Anglo-American was the majority owner of the mine from 1925 until its 1974 nationalization by the Zambian government. A certification hearing was held at the

High Court of South Africa The High Court of South Africa is a superior court of law in South Africa. It is divided into nine provinces of South Africa, provincial divisions, some of which sit in more than one location. Each High Court division has general jurisdiction ov ...

's Johannesburg branch in February 2023.

Transportation

Kabwe is on the T2 road ( Great North Road) to

Kapiri Mposhi Kapiri Mposhi is a Zambian town and the seat of the Kapiri Mposhi District in Central Province. Located north of Lusaka, it stands on the Great North Road and is significant for the railway connection between the Zambia Railways line from Kitw ...

in the north (with a branch route to

) and

Lusaka Lusaka ( ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zambia. It is one of the fastest-developing cities in southern Africa. Lusaka is in the southern part of the central plateau at an elevation of about . , the city's population was abo ...

in the south. It is also on the

line.

Accidents and incidents

On February 7, 2013, a bus collided with two cars south of Kabwe, killing 53 people.

Industries and agriculture

Historically the economy of Kabwe has been dominated by the mine. Other industries include pharmaceuticals, milling and cotton ginning, and Kabwe's first Drinking Water Plant (Aquador Purifed Water) and

leather tanning Tanning may refer to: *Tanning (leather), treating animal skins to produce leather *Sun tanning, using the sun to darken pale skin **Indoor tanning, the use of artificial light in place of the sun **Sunless tanning, application of a stain or dye t ...

.Zamnet Online News:
"Kabwe: From discovery to recovery" (Zambia Daily Mail), website accessed 7 March 2007. To the east of the city are the hydro-electric power stations of the

Mulungushi Dam The Mulungushi Dam located southeast of Kabwe, Zambia, was constructed by the Broken Hill Development Company on the Mulungushi River and opened in 1925 by the Prince of Wales (the future Edward VIII) to provide hydroelectric power to the Kabwe ...

Mita Hills Dam Mita Hills Dam is an embankment dam with a hydroelectric power station and reservoir located near Kabwe, in the Central Province of Zambia. Construction of the dam began in 1955. The reservoir is approximately 30 km long by 3-5 km wide. Bream ...

and Lunsemfwa Falls, built to power the mine and town. Commercial farming areas surround the city about 10 km from the centre, and the road and rail links provide ready access to the markets of the Copperbelt and Lusaka.

Mine

The name ''Kabwe'' or ''Kabwe-Ka Mukuba'' means 'ore' or 'smelting' but the European/Australian prospectors named it Broken Hill after a similar mine in

Broken Hill, New South Wales Broken Hill is a city in the Far West (New South Wales), far west region of outback New South Wales, Australia. An inland mining city, it is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Hi ...

, Australia. The mine was the largest in the country for around thirty years until it was overtaken in the early 1930s by larger copper mining complexes on the

. Apart from lead and zinc it also produced

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

manganese Manganese is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese was first isolated in the 1770s. It is a transition m ...

and heavy metals such as

cadmium Cadmium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Cd and atomic number 48. This soft, silvery-white metal is chemically similar to the two other stable metals in group 12 element, group 12, zinc and mercury (element), mercury. Like z ...

vanadium Vanadium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol V and atomic number 23. It is a hard, silvery-grey, malleable transition metal. The elemental metal is rarely found in nature, but once isolated artificially, the formation of an ...

, and

titanium Titanium is a chemical element; it has symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resistant to corrosion in ...

in smaller quantities.

Bruce Kapferer Bruce Kapferer (born 4 June 1940 in Sydney) is an Australian anthropologist. He is best known for his work on Sri Lanka, Australia and Zambia. He has been at the forefront of anthropological debate for over three decades. He was honoured with H ...

: "Strategy and Transaction in an African Factory", Manchester: Manchester University Press 1972 In 1921 a human fossil, a skull, dubbed ''

Kabwe 1 Kabwe 1, also known as Broken Hill Man or Rhodesian Man, is a nearly complete archaic human skull discovered in 1921 at the Kabwe mine, Zambia (at the time, Broken Hill mine, Northern Rhodesia). It dates to around 300,000 years ago, possibly c ...

'', also "Broken Hill Man" or "Rhodesian Man" (classified as ''

Homo rhodesiensis ''Homo rhodesiensis'' is the species name proposed by Arthur Smith Woodward (1921) to classify Kabwe 1 (the "Kabwe skull" or "Broken Hill skull", also "Rhodesian Man"), a Middle Stone Age fossil recovered from Broken Hill mine in Kabwe, Northe ...

'' or ''

Homo heidelbergensis ''Homo heidelbergensis'' is a species of archaic human from the Middle Pleistocene of Europe and Africa, as well as potentially Asia depending on the taxonomic convention used. The species-level classification of ''Homo'' during the Middle Pleis ...

'') was found in the mine.

became the majority owner of the mine in 1925, until the mine was nationalized in 1974 by the Zambian government, who closed it in 1994. The mine, which occupies a 2.5 km² site 1 km south-west of the town centre, is closed but metals are still extracted from old

tailings In mining, tailings or tails are the materials left over after the process of separating the valuable fraction from the uneconomic fraction (gangue) of an ore. Tailings are different from overburden, which is the waste rock or other material ...

. Closure of the mine led to economic decline for Kabwe. It has a number of

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer ...

industries including the Zambia-China Mulungushi

textiles Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, and different types of #Fabric, fabric. ...

plant established with Chinese investment in the 1980s, but after suffering large losses this plant closed (temporarily according to management) at the beginning of 2007.

Climate

Kabwe has a

subtropical highland climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring c ...

(''Cwa'') with warm, wet summers, mild dry winters and hot springs.

Institutions and attractions

Mulungushi Rock of Authority Mulungushi Rock of Authority, also known as Mulungushi Rock, is a Inselberg, kopje (isolated rock hill) in the Central Province, Zambia, Central Province of Zambia associated with major political gatherings and speeches. Situated near the Mulungush ...

, north of the city *

Mulungushi University Mulungushi University is one of the public universities of Zambia. Previously known as the National College of Management and Development Studies, it was turned into a university by the Zambian Government in a public-private partnership with Kon ...

Kabwe Warriors Kabwe Warriors is a Zambian football (soccer), football club based in Kabwe that plays in the Zambian Premier League. They play their home games at Godfrey 'Ucar' Chitalu 107 Stadium, Railway Stadium in Kabwe. They were once the second most succe ...

football club *

Zambia National Service The Zambia National Service, abbreviated ZNS, is part of the Zambian Defence Force, has been a cornerstone of national development since its establishment in 1971 through an Act of Parliament. Committed to the twin objectives of training civilian a ...

Training School * Chindwin Barracks and Kohima Barracks (

Zambian Defence Force The Zambian Defence Force is the military of Zambia. It consists of the Zambian Army, the Zambian Air Force, and the Zambia National Service. The defence forces were formed at Zambian independence on 24 October 1964, from constituent units of the ...

) * Mulungushi Boat Club,

* Kwame Nkrumah University, a public institution of higher education * Paglory University * Ellensmere High School

Notable people

Wilbur Smith Wilbur Addison Smith (9 January 1933 – 13 November 2021) was a Northern Rhodesian-born British-South African novelist specializing in historical fiction about international involvement in Southern Africa across four centuries. He gained a f ...

, novelist *

Michael Norgrove Michael Norgrove (9 January 1981 – 6 April 2013) was a British professional boxer from Woodford Green, London. Nicknamed the "Zambezi Hitman", at the time of his death Norgrove had an unbeaten professional record. His death occurred several d ...

, boxer * Tutwa Ngulube, politician

References

External links

* *http://www.daily-mail.co.zm/the-rebirth-of-kabwe-town/ *http://www.bmrplc.com/kabwe_mine.php *https://www.investincentralzambia.com/wordpress/kabwe-district-profile/ *https://www.mindat.org/loc-4341.htm *https://www.zambia-info.org/country/town/1316/kabwe {{Authority control Populated places in Central Province, Zambia Provincial capitals in Zambia Mining communities in Africa Mining in Zambia 1902 establishments in the British Empire