Zambia Trivia
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47 free Zambia trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Zambia trivia quiz covers the landlocked heart of southern Africa: Victoria Falls and Devil's Pool, the Zambezi and its great dam at Kariba, Lake Tanganyika, Kalambo Falls, the Kasanka bat migration and the wildlife of South Luangwa and Kafue. It also covers the story of the country: Broken Hill Man, the Luba-Lunda kingdoms, Livingstone and Rhodes, Northern Rhodesia and the Federation, Kenneth Kaunda's 27 years, the copper economy, and the peaceful handovers since 1991 — plus culture and sport, from nshima and the kwacha to the 1993 Gabon air disaster, Kalusha Bwalya and the Chipolopolo's 2012 Africa Cup of Nations triumph. Questions run from easy to expert with the difficulty shown on each one. Every answer has been checked against a primary reference and each question carries its citation.
30 of 47 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is the capital of Zambia?
Lusaka
Lusaka became the colonial capital in 1935, replacing a town in the far south, and sits on a plateau about 1,280 metres above sea level.
Q 02What was Zambia called before independence in 1964?
Northern Rhodesia
Northern Rhodesia, administered by the British South Africa Company until 1924 and then as a British protectorate, became Zambia at independence in 1964.
Q 03Zambia takes its name from which river?
The Zambezi
The Zambezi rises in north-western Zambia and, after looping through a neighbour, returns to form the country's southern border before plunging over Victoria Falls.
Q 04Who was Zambia's first president, in office from 1964 to 1991?
Kenneth Kaunda
Kenneth Kaunda, 'KK', led Zambia from independence until losing the 1991 election; he promoted an ideology he called Zambian Humanism and died in 2021 aged 97.
Q 05What national motto did the country's first president coin for his young, multi-ethnic country?
One Zambia, One Nation
The motto 'One Zambia, One Nation' was coined to bind some 70 ethnic groups into a single state after independence, and appears on the national coat of arms.
Q 06Zambia declared independence on the closing day of the 1964 Olympics, making it the first country to do what?
Enter a Games as one nation and leave as another
Zambia became the first country to enter a Games as one nation and leave as another: the team marched in under the colonial name and flew home as Zambians.
Q 07On what date does Zambia celebrate independence?
24 October
Zambia became independent on 24 October 1964, as a republic within the Commonwealth, with the outgoing prime minister sworn in as president.
Q 08Which metal has historically dominated Zambia's economy, making up about 69% of its exports in 2019?
Copper
Copper, mined in Zambia's north since the 1920s, made up roughly 69 percent of export earnings in 2019, and the kwacha tends to move with its price.
Q 09Which emblem sits at the fly of Zambia's flag rather than the centre?
An African fish eagle
An African fish eagle in flight, symbolising freedom and the ability to rise above problems, sits in the upper fly; the green field stands for natural resources.
Q 10The name of Zambia's currency, the kwacha, means what in several of the country's languages?
Dawn
It echoes the nationalist slogan of a 'new dawn of freedom'; one kwacha is 100 ngwee.
Q 11What is the local Lozi name for Victoria Falls, meaning 'the smoke that thunders'?
Mosi-oa-Tunya
Mosi-oa-Tunya, the Lozi name, also names the national park on the Zambian side; the spray rises hundreds of metres and is visible from some 20 km away.
Q 12Which Scottish missionary was the first European recorded to see Victoria Falls, in November 1855?
David Livingstone
David Livingstone reached the falls by canoe on 16 November 1855 and named them for Queen Victoria; the Zambian tourist town beside them bears his name.
Q 13Victoria Falls is classed as the world's largest waterfall on the basis of what?
Its combined width and height
Q 21What is nshima, the staple of Zambian meals?
A thick porridge of pounded white maize
Nshima is a thick porridge of pounded white maize, cooked firm and eaten by hand, rolled into a ball and dipped into relishes of vegetables, beans, fish or meat.
Q 22Zambia's football team died in a 1993 plane crash after take-off from which African capital?
Libreville, Gabon
The plane crashed into the sea off Libreville, Gabon, after a refuelling stop; all 30 aboard, including 18 players, died when the pilot shut down the wrong engine after a fire.
Q 23Zambia won its first Africa Cup of Nations in 2012 by beating which team on penalties in the final?
Ivory Coast
At 1,708 metres wide and 108 metres high it forms the largest single sheet of falling water on Earth, though others are taller or carry more water.
Q 14Kariba Dam, opened in 1959, created a lake so large that what operation was needed?
A rescue of thousands of stranded animals
Operation Noah saved around 6,000 large animals from the rising water between 1958 and 1961; the dam is shared with Zimbabwe.
Q 15Kalambo Falls, on the Tanzanian border at a Rift Valley lake's southern tip, is notable as what?
One of Africa's tallest single-drop waterfalls
Kalambo Falls is one of Africa's tallest single-drop waterfalls, plunging 235 metres in one uninterrupted leap; nearby, archaeologists found the world's oldest known wooden structure, about 476,000 years old, described in 2023.
Q 16Zambia's highest point, Mafinga Central, is on the border with which country?
Malawi
Mafinga Central, at 2,339 metres in the Mafinga Hills, straddles the border with Malawi; most of Zambia is a plateau between 1,000 and 1,600 metres.
Q 17Zambia has how many neighbouring countries?
8
Zambia borders 8 countries; the shortest link, with Botswana at Kazungula, runs only about 150 metres, and Namibia touches Zambia via the Caprivi Strip.
Q 18Which archaic human skull, up to 300,000 years old, was found in a Zambian mine in 1921?
Broken Hill Man
Broken Hill Man, also called Kabwe 1, was found by miners in 1921 and is usually assigned to Homo heidelbergensis; the Natural History Museum in London holds it.
Q 19Whose company secured a mineral concession from Lewanika, the Lozi king, in 1890?
Cecil Rhodes
Cecil Rhodes's British South Africa Company won the Lochner Concession from Lewanika in 1890 and administered the territory until 1924.
Q 20Which territory joined the two Rhodesias in the Central African Federation from 1953 to 1963?
Nyasaland
Nyasaland was the third member of the Central African Federation; African leaders in the two northern territories opposed a union dominated by Southern Rhodesia's settlers, and it dissolved on 31 December 1963.
Zambia beat Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties after a goalless final; Stoppila Sunzu converted the decisive kick after Kolo Touré and Gervinho missed for the Ivorians.
Q 24Zambia's Kalusha Bwalya scored a hat-trick in a 4–0 win over which country at the 1988 Seoul Olympics?
Italy
Zambia thrashed Italy 4-0 in the group stage, Kalusha Bwalya scoring three; he was spared the 1993 crash because he travelled separately from his Dutch club.
Q 25Which Zambian won Olympic silver in the 400 metres hurdles at Atlanta 1996?
Samuel Matete
Samuel Matete, the 1991 world champion, took silver behind American Derrick Adkins in Atlanta, Zambia's second Olympic medal after a 1984 boxing bronze.
Q 26Which African lake, sharing its shore with Zambia, has the country's most endemic fish species?
Tanganyika
Lake Tanganyika, the world's longest freshwater lake at about 660 km and the second deepest, holds hundreds of endemic cichlids; Zambia has around 490 fish species in all.
Q 27Which vice-president became acting president when Michael Sata died in office in 2014?
Guy Scott
Guy Scott, vice-president under Michael Sata, served as acting president for about 90 days until Edgar Lungu won the January 2015 by-election; Sata had been the fifth president.
Q 28Who won Zambia's 2021 presidential election with 59% of the vote, defeating incumbent Edgar Lungu?
Hakainde Hichilema
Hakainde Hichilema, a businessman on his sixth attempt at the presidency, won about 59 percent; Lungu conceded on television, extending Zambia's run of peaceful transfers of power.
Q 29Under its 1996 constitution, Zambia is officially declared what?
A Christian nation
The 1996 constitution's preamble declares Zambia a Christian nation while guaranteeing freedom of religion; the clause was pushed by the Pentecostal president of the day.
Q 30Which local language is most widely spoken in the capital?
Nyanja
Nyanja, also known as Chewa, is the lingua franca of the capital and the Eastern Province, while the mining towns of the north speak a different Bantu tongue.