It was declared the 5th city of the country, after Lusaka, Ndola, Kitwe and Livingstone, by President Edgar Lungu on 24 February 2017.

[7] Having a modern market, a central hospital, shopping malls, a university, some colleges and a number of schools, Chipata is the business and administrative hub of the region.

Chipata's name comes from the Chewa word "Chimpata" meaning "large space", in reference to the town's situation in a shallow valley between hills.

The name of the central neighbourhood of Kapata, the original centre of town, comes from the Chewa word meaning "small space."

During World War II, 80 Polish refugees escaping from German- and Soviet-occupied Poland, were admitted in Fort Jameson in 1941.

[1] An extension of the Sena railway, connecting the city of Chipata to the territory of Malawi (via Mchinji) was opened in August 2011.

In the pipeline since 1982, the short link, about 35 kilometres (22 mi), provides a through-route for rail traffic from Zambia via Malawi to the Indian Ocean deep-water port at Nacala in Mozambique.

In 2015 it was proposed to build a rail link from Chipata through Petauke to Serenje, a town on the TAZARA Railway line.

[16] The D104 road connects Chipata with its airport (12 kilometers away) as well as to Mfuwe and the South Luangwa National Park to the north-west (100 kilometres away).

The Luangwa river rises in the Lilonda and Mafinga Hills in north-east Zambia at an elevation of around 1500 meters near the border with Tanzania and Malawi, and flows in a southwesterly direction through a broad valley.