Map - Northern Province, Zambia (Northern Province)

Northern Province (Northern Province)
Northern Province is one of Zambia's ten provinces. It covers approximately one sixth of Zambia in land area. The provincial capital is Kasama. The province is made up of 12 districts, namely Kasama District (the provincial capital), Chilubi District, Kaputa District, Luwingu District, Mbala District, Mporokoso District, Mpulungu District, Mungwi District, Nsama District, Lupososhi District, Lunte District and Senga Hill District. Currently, only Kasama and Mbala have attained municipal council status, while the rest are still district councils. It is widely considered to be the heartland of the Bemba, one of the largest tribes in Zambia.

Every district of the Muchinga Province was previously part of the Northern Province. President Michael Sata decided in 2012 to create the new province by taking the south-eastern districts of Northern Province.

Notable landmarks in Northern Province include Lake Tanganyika, Lake Bangweulu and the corresponding wetlands, Lake Mweru-wa-Ntipa, and a number of waterfalls including Lumangwe Falls, Kabwelume Falls, Chishimba Falls and Kalambo Falls.

Efforts are being made by the Zambian government, along with a number of non-governmental organizations, to increase the visibility of the many natural and historical treasures in the Northern Province. Tourism has proven an effective way to bring economic growth in other parts of Zambia, i.e. Livingstone and Victoria Falls. However, a lack of infrastructure along the vast distances between major points of interest makes visiting this part of the country difficult.

Northern Province shares borders with two other provinces - Muchinga and Luapula, and also with two countries - the Democratic Republic of Congo in the north and Tanzania in the north-east.

The Northern Province lies mainly on the great southern African plateau which has been uplifted to an elevation around 1200 metres above sea level. Rift valleys extend clockwise around the province from the north-west to the south. These rift valleys are sometimes outside the borders of the province, as in the case of the Luapula-Mweru valley to the north-west and the Lake Rukwa and Lake Malawi rift valleys to the north east; but the escarpments of the Lake Mweru-wa-Ntipa-Lake Tanganyika rifts in the north, and the Luangwa Valley rift in the east and south-east are just within the province. In places the rift valleys have pushed up highlands: around Kambole and Mbala above Lake Tanganyika, (the Muchinga escarpment above the Luangwa valley, and the highlands along north-eastern border with Tanzania and Malawi which culminate in the Mafinga Hills and Nyika Plateau. These are now in Muchinga Province) These features produce a diverse landscape that varies and poses different challenges, particularly to highway construction, as one moves from one part to another. The Mafinga Hills, which include the highest point in the country at 2301 metres above sea level, once formed a formidable barrier between the Northern and Eastern Provinces that few but the best 4-wheel drive vehicles dared to cross, especially during the rainy season. The shortest road link between the two provinces is now eased by the rehabilitation of the Isoka-Muyombe Road, which traverses their lower slopes.

Rivers, streams and dambos criss-cross the province in profusion, posing yet another great challenge to easy movement of people, goods, and services. The most prominent river on the eastern side is the Luangwa, which has its source in the Mafinga Hills, and which has no road across its valley for a distance of about 800 km. Africa's second longest river, the Congo, has its source in Northern Province via its longest tributary, the Chambeshi River, which rises in the hills south-west of Mbala and divides the province diagonally as it meanders to Lake Bangweulu in the south-west. During times of very heavy rains, these rivers, particularly the Chambeshi and Luangwa, spread across floodplains often several kilometres wide, and create large tracts of both seasonal and permanent lagoons and swamps along their valleys. The Chambeshi feeds the largest wetlands of all, the Bangweulu Wetlands and floodplain in Mpika and Chilubi Districts, known for its Lechwe and birds among other wildlife.

The province also contains three large natural lakes - Lake Bangweulu and its adjacent wetlands (shared with Luapula Province), Lake Mweru-wa-Ntipa in Kaputa District, and the vast Lake Tanganyika in the north, which forms part of Zambia's border with DR Congo and Tanzania.

 
Map - Northern Province (Northern Province)
Country - Zambia
Flag of Zambia
Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, and is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the northeast, Malawi to the east, Mozambique to the southeast, Zimbabwe and Botswana to the south, Namibia to the southwest, and Angola to the west. The capital city is Lusaka, located in the south-central part. The population of around 20.1 million (2023) is concentrated mainly around Lusaka in the south and the Copperbelt Province to the north, the core economic hubs of the country.

The region was affected by the Bantu expansion of the 13th century. Following the arrival of European explorers in the 18th century, the British colonised the region into the British protectorates of Barotseland-North-Western Rhodesia and North-Eastern Rhodesia comprising 73 tribes, towards the end of the 19th century. These were merged in 1911 to form Northern Rhodesia. For most of the colonial period, Zambia was governed by an administration appointed from London with the advice of the British South Africa Company. On 24 October 1964, Zambia became independent of the United Kingdom and prime minister Kenneth Kaunda became the inaugural president. From 1972 to 1991 Zambia was a one-party state with the United National Independence Party as the sole legal political party under the motto "One Zambia, One Nation" coined by Kaunda. Kaunda was succeeded by Frederick Chiluba of the social-democratic Movement for Multi-Party Democracy in 1991, beginning a period of government decentralisation.
Currency / Language  
ISO Currency Symbol Significant figures
ZMW Zambian kwacha ZK 2
Neighbourhood - Country  
  •  Angola 
  •  Democratic Republic of the Congo 
  •  Malawi 
  •  Mozambique 
  •  Namibia 
  •  Tanzania 
  •  Zimbabwe 
Administrative Subdivision
Country, State, Region,...
City, Village,...