<text><span class="style42"></span><span class="style12">ZAMBIA</span><span class="style14"></span><span class="style42">Official name:</span><span class="style13"> The Republic of Zambia</span><span class="style42">Member of: </span><span class="style13">UN, Commonwealth, OAU</span><span class="style42">Area: </span><span class="style13">752614 km2 (290586 sq mi)</span><span class="style42">Population: </span><span class="style13">8505000 (1991 est)</span><span class="style42">Capital: </span><span class="style13">Lusaka 982000 (1992 est)</span><span class="style42">Other major cities: </span><span class="style13">Ndola 376000, Kitwe 338000 (1992 est)</span><span class="style42">Languages: </span><span class="style13">English, Tonga (16%), Kaonda, Lunda, Luvale ΓÇô all official; Bemba (34%)</span><span class="style42">Religions: </span><span class="style13">various Protestant Churches (50%), animist (25%), Roman Catholic (20%)</span><span class="style42">GOVERNMENT</span><span class="style13">A President and the 150-member National Assembly are elected by universal adult suffrage for five years. The President appoints a Prime Minister and a Cabinet.</span><span class="style42">GEOGRAPHY</span><span class="style13">Zambia comprises plateau some 1000 to 1500 m (3300 to 5000 ft) high, above which rise the Muchinga Mountains ΓÇô reaching 2164 m (7100 ft) ΓÇô and the Mufinga Hills. </span><span class="style42">Principal river: </span><span class="style13">Zambezi 3540 km (2200 mi). </span><span class="style42">Climate: </span><span class="style13">Zambia has a tropical climate with a wet season from November to April.</span><span class="style42">ECONOMY</span><span class="style13">ZambiaΓÇÖs economy depends upon the mining and processing of copper, lead, zinc and cobalt. Agriculture is underdeveloped and many basic foodstuffs have to be imported. Maize and cassava are the main crops. </span><span class="style42">Currency:</span><span class="style13"> Kwacha.</span><span class="style42">HISTORY</span><span class="style13">The area was brought under the control of the British South Africa Company of Cecil Rhodes in the 1890s. In 1924 Britain took over the administration from the Company, but development of the colony (named Northern Rhodesia) was initially slow. Skilled mining jobs were reserved for white immigrants, and, fearing increased discrimination, Africans opposed inclusion in the Central African Federation, with Nyasaland (Malawi) and Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), in 1953. Against strong opposition from white settlers, Kenneth Kaunda (1924ΓÇô ) led Northern Rhodesia, renamed Zambia, to independence in 1964. Zambia was a one-party state from 1973 to 1990. In elections in 1991 Kaunda was defeated in the first democratic change of government in English-speaking Black Africa.# Zambia faces major economic and social problems, including an AIDS epidemic.</span><span class="style4"></span></text>