The centuries between 1500 1n 1800 AD saw many of the peoples of Zambia organised into chieftaincies or monachies.The Chew in the east, the Lozi in the west, The bemba and Lunda in the north,were the largest of these, all established under the influence, some as direct extensions of the large and powerful Lunda empire of the Mwata Yamvo in what is now southern Zaire. By the 18th century, probably much earlier, the empire was trading with the AtlanticCoast , and other states on the eastern seaboard , where the world economy was represented by the Swahili city states from Somlia to south of the Zambezi delta. Copper, Ivory, Rhino horn had a ready market as well as slaves.
Victoria
The European factor
The wealth of the indian Ocean trade inspired the Portuguese to embark on their bold Voyages of Discovery. Africa had been circumnavisated from east to west by a phoenician fleet in Faraonic times, and the Portuguese were determined to do the same from west to east and break the Muslim grip on the supply of Spices from asia to Europe which was being drained of billion to pay for them In 1498, Admiral vasco da gama, having sailed his ships around the Cape of Good hope, arrived at calcutta in southern India and having bombardedand plundered the city , returned to Lisbon with a cargo of immense wealth.
Zambezi river basin
