From 1500 To 1900
The period between the 16th and the 19th centuries saw the emergence of organised Iron Age kingdoms as well as widespread immigration. Four kingdoms were established in this period - among the Kazembe-Lunda in the north centered around the lower Luapula River, the Bemba in the north east, the Chewa in the east and the Lozi in the west centered around the upper Zambezi River.
The territory of the present Zambia, being far inland, did not have direct contact with non-Africans until relatively recently in its history. Arab and Portuguese traders were visiting by the 18th Century. The first recorded visits by Europeans to Zambia were the Portuguese Manuel Caetano Pereira (a trader of mixed Goanese and Portuguese descent) in 1796 and Francisco de Lacerda (an explorer) in 1798. Both came via Tete in Mozambique to Mwata Kazembe's capital to try to get the chief's agreement to a Portuguese trade route between their territories of Mozambique and Angola. Lacerda died within a few weeks of arriving at Kazembe’s but left a valuable journal which was carried back to Tete by his priest and which was later translated into English by the explorer Sir Richard Burton.
However, it is believed the Portuguese first settled in Zumbo, Mozambique, in 1720, which is just across the Luangwa River from Zambia, at the confluence with the Zambezi River. Around 1820 they had settled on the Zambian side at Feira (now Luangwa). So it is very likely they were visiting Zambian territory between 1720 and 1820.
The first Briton to set his foot on Zambian soil was David Livingstone. In 1851 he started his famous exploration of the upper Zambezi River, and in 1855 he became the first European to see Mosi-oa-Tunya, the waterfalls on the Zambezi River, which he named after Queen Victoria, and the Zambian town near the falls is named after him. Livingstone later died in Zambia in 1873.
When the first Europeans arrived, the most powerful states in precolonial Zambia were the kingdom of Barotseland in the upper Zambezi, and the kingdom of Mwata Kazembe on the Luapula.
The Lozi people of Barotseland had prevented access to their land by Arab and Portuguese traders. When the kingdom was first established is uncertain, but it was certainly in existence by the 18th century, the Lozi calling themselves Aluya and their country Ngulu. Its ruler was called the Litunga, and had two capitals: in the dry season he stayed at Lealui, while in the rainy season he moved to Limulunga, a move that is still celebrated in the Kuomboka annual festival.
The first certain historical fact concerning Barotseland is in the early 19th century the trek of the Makololo, a clan of the South-African Basotho or Tswana people. Utterly defeated by Shaka's new Zulu Kingdom in the 1820s, the Makololo under the guide of Sebetwane were forced to march north until they conquered the Lozi and became the aristocracy of Barotseland, with Sebitwane as new Litunga.
Sebetwane proved an able leader, and is spoken of with warm respect by David Livingstone, who met him in 1851 shortly before his death. He was succeeded by his daughter Mamochisane, who early stepped down in favour of her half-brother Sekeletu. With him the Makololo empire appears to have started to fall to pieces, especially after his death in 1863: a year later internal dissension in the ruling class brought to a revolt by the Lozi that is said to have exterminated the Makololo aristocracy and forced the survivors to migrate to present-day Malawi.
By the 18th century, British settlers came in.
Read more about this topic: History Of Zambia