Indians in Zambia

Unlike the population of Indians in South Africa, the proportion of indentured labourers among them was quite small; most instead were skilled artisans or businesspeople.

[4] One main driver for this was the expansion in Northern Rhodesia's mining industry in the late 1940s, which attracted demobilised white British servicemen as well as Indians.

[2] Immigration again accelerated around 1953, for fears that the new federal government of Northern Rhodesia would place restrictions on Indian migration.

[4] The India Office had repeatedly expressed interest in sending a representative to British Central Africa to look after the interests of Indian emigrants, but permission was refused for fear that the presence of such a representative could stir up ethnic tensions between Indians and Europeans.

[5] After Zambia achieved independence in 1964, the government started looking to India for material and moral support, and since then the Indian community has played a meaningful role in the Zambian economy.