[7] Its heartland is the Barotse Floodplain on the upper Zambezi River,[8] but it includes the surrounding higher ground of the plateau comprising all of what was the Western Province of Zambia.

It is believed that the Barotse state was founded by Queen Mbuywamwambwa, the Lozi matriarch, over 500 years ago.

Other ethnic groupings that constitute the current Barotse kingdom migrated from South Africa, Angola, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Congo.

[11] In 1845 Barotseland had been conquered by the Makololo (Kololo) from Lesotho[2] – which is why the Barotse language, Silozi, is a variant of Sesotho.

The Makololo were in power when Livingstone visited Barotseland, but after thirty years the Luyi successfully overthrew the Kololo king.

It was the first territory north of the Zambezi to sign a minerals concession and protectorate agreement with the British South Africa Company (BSAC) of Cecil Rhodes.

The first trade concession was signed on 27 June 1889 with Harry Ware, in return King Lewanika and his kingdom were to be protected.

Later, these two were administratively combined as simply "Northern Rhodesia", later divided up in five Provinces and Barotseland, which was treated slightly differently from the rest.

The agreement was based on a long history of close social, economic and political interactions, but granted significant continued autonomy to Barotseland.

The agreement's dissolution and the stubbornness of successive governments in ignoring repeated calls to restore it have fuelled the region's ongoing tension.

[6] One of the reasons why Kenneth Kaunda "revoked" the United Kingdom's Zambia Independence Act is reported to be that it called for the continuation of Barotseland.

Electricity supplies are erratic, relying on an aging connection[19] from the Kariba Dam hydroelectric plant.

He restored the traditions of the Lozi political economy in the arena of the invasion by the Makololo, internal competition, external threats such as that posed by the Matabele and the spread of European colonialism.

In January 2012, the president of Zambia, Michael Sata, met the representatives of the three groups at the Zambian State House in Lusaka.

An article which appeared on the Zambian Watchdog, purported to be authored by a BFM representative, condemned the activities of the Linyungandambo group.