Chama District with the headquarters at Chama is the largest district of the Eastern Province in

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

and includes a large wilderness in the Upper Luangwa valley just north-east of the North Luangwa National Park.The District - Chama Town Council
/ref> It is made up of two

constituencies An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

, namely

Chama North Chama North is a constituency of the National Assembly of Zambia.Chama North
National Assembly of Zambia It covers most o ...

and Chama South. Much of the population of Chama District lives close to the Malawi border and shares tribal and cultural links with the people of the northern highlands of that country. The people of Chama belong mostly to the Senga and Tumbuka tribes which resulted as a result of intermarriage with the

Tumbuka Tumbuka may refer to: *Tumbuka people, a Bantu people of eastern Zambia, Malawi and Tanzania **Tumbuka language Chitumbuka (also known as Senga) is a Bantu languages, Bantu language which is spoken primarily in Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, and Zim ...

people three centuries ago. Chitumbuka ( Senga dialect) is the predominant language spoken in the district. Agriculture is the leading industry, and maize is the most common crop. Chama is also known as a rice-growing area. Cotton is a lucrative crop for some. Sorghum and soyabeans are also grown. Other common food crops include groundnuts, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, cabbage, sunflowers. As of the 2022 Zambian Census, the district had a population of 140,326 people.2022 Census of Population and Housing - Preliminary Report
(PDF)

History

In 2012, President

Michael Sata Michael Charles Chilufya Sata (6 July 1937 – 28 October 2014) was a Zambian politician who served as the fifth president of Zambia from 2011 until Death and state funeral of Michael Sata, his death in 2014. A social democrat, he led the Patrio ...

created a new province in

, namely

Muchinga Province Muchinga Province is one of the ten provinces of Zambia. It is located in the northeast of the country and borders with Tanzania in the north, Malawi in the east, Eastern Province in the south, Central Province in the southwest, Luapula Provinc ...

. Every district of Muchinga Province was formerly part of the Northern Province, except for Chama District, which was formerly part of the Eastern Province. Nine years later, on 17 November 2021, President

Hakainde Hichilema Hakainde Hichilema (born 4 June 1962), often known by his initials HH, is a Zambian businessman, farmer, and politician who is the seventh and current president of Zambia since 24 August 2021. After having contested five previous elections in ...

announced his intention to reverse the decision to move Chama District from Eastern Province. President Hichilema officially declared Chama District as part of Eastern Province (no-longer part of

), thereby returning the district to its original province.

Geography

As of 2010, Chama District's two constituencies consist of 22 wards.

References

Districts of Eastern Province, Zambia {{Zambia-geo-stub