Zambia has moved from being a major
copper producer and potentially one
of the continent's richest countries
at
independence in 1964 to one of the
world's poorest.
A colonial legacy, mismanagement, debt and disease are said to have contributed to the country's tribulations.
Politically, it switched from
colonial government into an era of
one-party rule lasting 27 years. A
multi-party system emerged
in the early 1990s.