Precipitation
In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, sleet, snow and hail. Precipitation occurs when a portion of the atmosphere becomes saturated with water vapor, so that the water condenses and "precipitates", thus and mist are not precipitation but suspensions, because the water vapor does not condense sufficiently to precipitate. Two processes acting together, can lead to air becoming saturated: cooling the air or adding water vapor to the air. Precipitation forms as smaller droplets coalesce via collision with other rain drops or ice crystals within a cloud. Short, intense periods of rain in scattered locations are called "showers."Moisture, lifted or otherwise forced to rise over a layer of sub-freezing air at the surface may be condensed into clouds and rain. This process is active when freezing rain occurs. A stationary front is present near the area of freezing rain and serves as the foci for forcing and rising air.
Provided necessary and sufficient atmospheric moisture content, the moisture within the rising air will condense into clouds, namely stratus and cumulonimbus. The cloud droplets will grow large enough to form raindrops and descend toward the Earth where they will freeze on contact with exposed objects. Where warm water bodies are present, for example due to water evaporation from lakes, lake-effect snowfall becomes a concern downwind of the warm lakes within the cold cyclonic flow around the backside of extratropical cyclones. Lake-effect snowfall can be locally heavy. Thundersnow is possible within lake effect precipitation bands. In mountainous areas, heavy precipitation is possible where upslope flow is maximized within windward sides of the terrain at elevation. On the leeward side of mountains, desert climates can exist due to the dry air caused by compressional heating. Most precipitation is caused by convection; the movement of the monsoon trough, or intertropical convergence zone, brings rainy seasons to savannah climes.
Precipitation is a major component of the water cycle, is responsible for depositing the fresh water on the planet. 505,000 cubic kilometres of water falls as precipitation each year. Given the Earth's surface area, that means the globally averaged annual precipitation is 990 millimetres, but over land it is only 715 millimetres. Climate classification systems such as the Köppen climate classification system use average annual rainfall to help differentiate between differing climate regimes. Precipitation may occur on other celestial bodies, e.g. when it gets cold, Mars has precipitation which most takes the form of frost, rather than rain or snow. Precipitation is a major component of the water cycle, is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the planet. 505,000 km3 of water falls as precipitation each year, 398,000 km3 of it over the oceans. Given the Earth's surface area, that means the globally averaged annual precipitation is 990 millimetres. Mechanisms of producing precipitation include convective and orographic rainfall.
Convective processes involve strong vertical motions that can cause the overturning of the atmosphere in that location within an hour and cause heavy precipitation, while stratiform processes involve weaker upward motions and less intense precipitation. Precipitation can be divided into three categories, based on whether it falls as liquid water, liquid water that freezes on contact with the surface, or ice. Mixtures of different types of precipitation, including types in different categories, can fall simultaneously. Liquid forms of precipitation include drizzle. Rain or drizzle that freezes on contact within a subfreezing air mass is called "freezing rain" or "freezing drizzle". Frozen forms of precipitation include snow, ice needles, ice pellets and graupel; the dew point is the temperature to which a parcel must be cooled in order to become saturated, condenses to water. Water vapor begins to condense on condensation nuclei such as dust and salt in order to form clouds. An elevated portion of a frontal zone forces broad areas of lift, which form clouds decks such as altostratus or cirrostratus.
Stratus is a stable cloud deck which tends to form when a cool, stable air mass is trapped underneath a warm air mass. It can form due to the lifting of advection fog during breezy conditions. There are four main mechanisms for cooling the air to its dew point: adiabatic cooling, conductive cooling, radiational cooling, evaporative cooling. Adiabatic cooling occurs when air expands; the air can rise due to convection, large-scale atmospheric motions, or a physical barrier such as a mountain. Conductive cooling occurs when the air comes into contact with a colder surface by being blown from one surface to another, for example from a liquid water surface to colder land. Radiational cooling occurs due to the emission of infrared radiation, either by the air or by the surface underneath. Evaporative cooling occurs when moisture is added to the air through evaporation, which forces the air temperature to cool to its wet-bulb temperature, or until it reaches saturation; the main ways water vapor is added to the air are: wind convergence into areas of upward motion, precipitation or virga falling from above, daytime heating evaporating water from the surface of oceans, water bodies or wet lan
Sunshine duration
Sunshine duration or sunshine hours is a climatological indicator, measuring duration of sunshine in given period for a given location on Earth expressed as an averaged value over several years. It is a general indicator of cloudiness of a location, thus differs from insolation, which measures the total energy delivered by sunlight over a given period. Sunshine duration is expressed in hours per year, or in hours per day; the first measure indicates the general sunniness of a location compared with other places, while the latter allows for comparison of sunshine in various seasons in the same location. Another often-used measure is percentage ratio of recorded bright sunshine duration and daylight duration in the observed period. An important use of sunshine duration data is to characterize the climate of sites of health resorts; this takes into account the psychological effect of strong solar light on human well-being. It is used to promote tourist destinations. If the Sun were to be above the horizon 50% of the time for a standard year consisting of 8,760 hours, apparent maximal daytime duration would be 4,380 hours for any point on Earth.
However, there are physical and astronomical effects. Namely, atmospheric refraction allows the Sun to be still visible when it physically sets below the horizon. For that reason, average daytime is longest in polar areas, where the apparent Sun spends the most time around the horizon. Places on the Arctic Circle have the longest total annual daytime, 4,647 hours, while the North Pole receives 4,575; because of elliptic nature of the Earth's orbit, the Southern Hemisphere is not symmetrical: the Antarctic Circle, with 4,530 hours of daylight, receives five days less of sunshine than its antipodes. The Equator has a total daytime of 4,422 hours per year. Given the theoretical maximum of daytime duration for a given location, there is a practical consideration at which point the amount of daylight is sufficient to be treated as a "sunshine hour". "Bright" sunshine hours represent the total hours when the sunlight is stronger than a specified threshold, as opposed to just "visible" hours. "Visible" sunshine, for example, occurs around sunrise and sunset, but is not strong enough to excite the sensor.
Measurement is performed by instruments called sunshine recorders. For the specific purpose of sunshine duration recording, Campbell–Stokes recorders are used, which use a spherical glass lens to focus the sun rays on a specially designed tape; when the intensity exceeds a pre-determined threshold, the tape burns. The total length of the burn trace is proportional to the number of bright hours. Another type of recorder is the Jordan sunshine recorder. Newer, electronic recorders have more stable sensitivity than that of the paper tape. In order to harmonize the data measured worldwide, in 1962 the World Meteorological Organization defined a standardized design of the Campbell–Stokes recorder, called an Interim Reference Sunshine Recorder. In 2003, the sunshine duration was defined as the period during which direct solar irradiance exceeds a threshold value of 120 W/m². Sunshine duration follows a general geographic pattern: subtropical latitudes have the highest sunshine values, because these are the locations of the eastern sides of the subtropical high pressure systems, associated with the large-scale descent of air from the upper-level tropopause.
Many of the world's driest climates are found adjacent to the eastern sides of the subtropical highs, which create stable atmospheric conditions, little convective overturning, little moisture and cloud cover. Desert regions, with nearly constant high pressure aloft and rare condensation—like North Africa, the Southwestern United States, Western Australia, the Middle East—are examples of hot, dry climates where sunshine duration values are high; the two major areas with the highest sunshine duration, measured as annual average, are the central and the eastern Sahara Desert—covering vast desert countries such as Egypt, Libya and Niger—and the Southwestern United States. The city claiming the official title of the sunniest in the world is Yuma, with over 4,000 hours of bright sunshine annually, but many climatological books suggest there may be sunnier areas in North Africa. In the belt encompassing northern Chad and the Tibesti Mountains, northern Sudan, southern Libya, Upper Egypt, annual sunshine duration is estimated at over 4,000 hours.
There is a smaller, isolated area of sunshine maximum in the heart of the western section of the Sahara Desert around the Eglab Massif and the Erg Chech, along the borders of Algeria and Mali where the 4,000-hour mark is exceeded, too. Some places in the interior of the Arabian Peninsula receive 3,600–3,800 hours of bright sunshine annually; the largest sun-baked region in the world is North Africa. The sunniest month in the world is December in Eastern Antarctica, with 23 hours of bright sun daily. Conversely, higher latitudes lying in stormy westerlies have much cloudier and more unstable and rainy weather, have the lowest values of sunshine duration annually. Temperate oceanic climates like those in northwestern Europe, the western coast of Canada, areas of New Zealand's South Island are examples of cool, wet, humid climates where cloudless sunshine duration values are low; the areas with the lowest sunshine duration annually lie over the polar oceans, as well as parts of northern Europe, southern Alaska, northern Russia, areas near the Sea of
Chipata
Chipata is a city in the Eastern Province of Zambia. It was declared the 5th city of the country, after Lusaka, Ndola and Livingstone, by President Edgar Lungu on 24 February 2017; the city has undergone rapid economic and infrastructure growth in the years, leading up to city status. Chipata is located 570 kilometres, east of Lusaka, the capital city of Zambia; this is about 150 kilometres west of Lilongwe, the capital city of Malawi. The geographical coordinates of Chipata are 13°38'43.0"S, 32°38'47.0"E. The average elevation of Chipata is 1,181 metres, above sea level. 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; the town boasts a four star hotel, a golf course, an airport, a mosque, a "welcome arch". Developed areas includes Kalongwezi and Little Bombay. Chipata is the regional head of the Ngoni of Zambia; the Ngoni adopted the languages of the tribes they conquered, so Chewa and Nsenga are the principal languages, although Tumbuka and English are spoken, plus some Indian languages, as a large number of Zambian Indians live in the town.
It is located near the border with Malawi, lies on the Great East Road which connects the capitals Lilongwe 150 kilometres to the east, Lusaka 570 kilometres to the west. It is a popular access point for the South Luangwa National Park. Chipata's name comes from the Ngoni 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 Ngoni word meaning "small space." Chipata was known as Fort Jameson, being named after Leander Starr Jameson, the 19th-century British politician and adventurer. During the colonial period, few agreed that Jameson, known for his part in the infamous Jameson Raid deserved the honour of having any town named after him. Like'Fort Manning' and'Fort Rosebery', Fort Jameson was called a "fort" because the local government offices, the "boma", were once fortified. Fort Jameson was the capital of the British protectorate of North-Eastern Rhodesia between 1900 and 1911.
Kalongwezi Kapata Umodzi Moth Muchini Nabvutika Little Bombay Mchenga Damview Old Jim New Jim Chimwemwe Magazine Eastrise Walela Chawama Munga Chipata Motel Nadalisika Katopola Referendum Rose Hillview Gash Msekera Messengers The mayor of the city of Chipata is the head of the city government. With a population of about 455,783 in 2010, Chipata, is believed to be the 3rd largest city of the country behind only Lusaka and Kitwe; the predominant ethnic groups in the city are the Chewa, Tumbuka and Nsenga. A significant amount of trade occurs between Malawi via Chipata; the city has a bustling down town area known as "Down Shops" which has a lot of shops and other businesses run by Zambians of Indian Origin. Most notable shops are Ally and Sons; the Nc'wala ceremony of the Ngoni people takes place at Mutenguleni on the outskirts of Chipata. The ceremony celebrates the first fruits harvest and is held at the end of February. Hillside Primary School Mpezeni Primary School Chipata Primary School Kapata Primary School Chongololo School St Anne's Primary School Trinity private School Mem private School Anoya Zulu Boys Secondary School Chizongwe Boys Secondary School St. Monicas Girls Secondary School Chipata Day Secondary School Hillside Girls High School St. Atanazio Secondary School St. Mary's Seminary School Damview Secondary School Muziphas high school Chipata Teacher's Training College Chipata Trades Training Institute Chipata School of Nursing DMI-St.
Eugene University A rail link to Chipata from Malawi opened in August 2011. Chipata will now act as the Zambian entry point from Malawi and beyond. In the pipeline since 1982, the short link, about 35 kilometres, provides a through-route for rail traffic from Zambia via Malawi to the Indian Ocean deep-water port at Nacala in Mozambique; the route and alignment of the line has been laid out, including the site of Chipata station and the basic station building. The route will provide an alternative to two existing rail routes to the Indian Ocean, at Dar es Salaam and Beira. In 2015 it was proposed to build a rail link to a small town on the TAZARA Railway line. Railway stations in Zambia Railway stations in Malawi Transport in Zambia Transport in Malawi UN Map Largest cities of Zambia
Malawi Railways
Malawi Railways was a government corporation that ran the national rail network of Malawi, until privatisation in 1999. With effect from 1 December 1999, the Central East African Railways consortium led by Railroad Development Corporation won the right to operate the network; this was the first rail privatisation in Africa. Upon achieving independence in 1964, the British protectorate of Nyasaland, inherited a network of three railways, they were the Shire Highlands Railway from Salima, on Lake Malawi, via Blantyre to Port Herald on the Shire River. The network was run as a single, integrated Malawian system though the Trans-Zambezia Railway was located on foreign territory. All of these lines were narrow gauge and single track, the Shire Highlands Railway in particular had sharp curves and steep gradients, so the system was inadequate for heavy train loads. Maintenance costs were high and freight volumes were low, so freight rates were up to three times those of Rhodesian and East African lines.
Although costly and inefficient, the rail link to Beira remained a main bulk transport link until 1979 when it was destroyed by RENAMO forces in the civil war. By Malawi had its second rail link to the Mozambique port of Nacala, its principal route for imports and exports today. From 1974 to 1979, Malawi worked with the Canadian International Development Agency sponsored to build 70 miles of new track from Salima to Lilongwe though the Malawi-Canada Railway Project; the 797 km 1,067 mm gauge line extends from the Zambian border at Mchinji in the west via Lilongwe to Blantyre and Makhanga in the south. At Nkaya Junction it links with the Nacala Corridor line going east via Nayuchi to Mozambique's deepwater port at Nacala on the Indian Ocean; the link south from Makhanga to Mozambique's Beira corridor has been closed since the Mozambique Civil War, with plans for reconstruction not yet realised. An extension from Mchinji to Chipata in Zambia opened in 2010, there is a proposal to link up from there with the TAZARA railway at Mpika.
Freight traffic is predominantly exports through Nacala, including sugar, pigeon peas and tea. Import traffic consists of fertiliser, containerised consumer goods and food products including vegetable oil and grain. A government subsidised passenger rail service operates thrice weekly in both directions from Blantyre to Makhanga and to the border with Mozambique at Nayuchi; the Rivirivi Bridge was damaged by Cyclone Delfina in January 2003 and reopened in 2005. Nacala Port and Railway was concessioned to the same CEAR consortium in January 2005. In July 2006, the Republic of China sent 4 R20 series diesel electric locomotives R56, R57, R58 and R59 to Malawi Railways. Two of them are used as the other two have never been used. Rail transport in Malawi Railway stations in Malawi Transport in Malawi Central East African Railways Malawian Railways 1970-74
Mchinji
Mchinji is a town and the capital of the Mchinji District in the Central Region of Malawi. Mchinji Boma, located at 12 km from the Zambian Border and 109 km from Lilongwe the Capital City of Malawi, is the major hub of government and general business, it has a major railroad junction. The area's economy is sustained by rain-fed agriculture. Mchinji Boma was known as Fort Manning, after governor William Manning. Fort Manning was called a "fort". In 1930, Fort Manning was attacked by a lion that caused over thirty-six deaths over a five-month period. A magnitude 6.6 earthquake struck Mchinji on 10 March 1989. At least 9 people were killed, about 50,000 left homeless in Malawi, it was felt in Zambia. American pop singer Madonna adopted 13-month-old David Banda from Mchinji in October 2006; this generated international controversy because Malawian law stated that one year of residence was required of potential adoptive parents. The effort was publicised and culminated in legal disputes. On 19 June 2008 Gillian Merron, the British Minister for International Development, responsible for Africa, visited Mchinji and spoke about maternal health and the challenges faced by residents.
Mchinji Boma lies at an elevation of 12 kilometres from the Zambian border. It is situated 7.7 miles away from Katambo, 2.2 miles away from Kadulama Lambo, 1.4 miles away from Daka and 2.8 miles away from Tsumba. Chichewa is the main language spoken in Mchinji. Senga is spoken by some quarters of the population and Ngoni is spoken by some major population surrounding Mchinji Boma Mchinji is described as "dirt poor" by The Times. Harvesting rain-fed agriculture is the main occupation in Mchinji, with groundnuts, tobacco and casava beans being the primary cash crops. Maize, velvet beans and pumpkin are prominent food crops. During the dry season, secondary activities are pursued, such as brick-making, beer brewing, bicycle repair and carpentry. Due to a food shortage caused by the region's many droughts and caused by poor government planning, a UNDP rural development program was established in Mchinji. Mchinji is the location of a pilot project of a social cash transfer to benefit poor members of rural areas.
There are 10 Traditional Authorities namely. The Members for the Malawian National Assembly are six in total, they are for Honorable Ellen Chisale for Mchinji East Constituency, Honorable Rachel Zulu Mazombwe for Mchinji North Constituency, Honorable Alex Chitete for Mchinji North East Constituency, Honorable Jerome Waluza for Mchinji South Constituency, Honorable Mussa Banda for Mchinji South West Constituency, Honorable Teleza Mwale for Mchinji West Constituency. The members are from the Peoples Party, Malawi Congress Party and Democrat Progressive Party The Mchinji Mission Orphanage, popularly known as the "Home of Hope", is one of the largest children's homes in Malawi. Reverend Thomson Chipeta, remembering losing both his parents, brought orphaned children into his home in 1992 and construction of an orphanage began in 1998; as of 2007, there are six large residential houses, a dining/assembly hall, a clinic, classrooms for nursery and secondary classes, staff housing. "Baby David" lived in the orphanage prior to being adopted by Madonna.
The children are divided into different houses and each house has its own'amayi'. An amayi acts as the house mother for the children; each morning all the children must attend a daily devotion, in which there will be lots of singing and prayers. Following the devotion ceremony the children will all line up outside the'kitchen' where they will get nsima for their breakfast. Nsima and beans is what they will eat for every meal. Not all children living at the orphanage are'orphans', many still have family however they are unable to provide basic necessities so they send them to Home of Hope. During summer vacation and other holidays many of the children will return to their villages to spend time with their family; the "Home of Hope" provides a primary school to its residents. Due to a shortage in secondary schools in Malawi, the orphanage built one in January 2006 to cater to all residents in the surrounding area. Children have November and December off. In March 2007, the United States Agency for International Development donated 600 textbooks to that secondary school.
In 2014, American charitable organisation Youth of Malawi, Inc. built a solar-rain water harvesting primary school in Chimphamba Village, for 180 first and second graders. There is a Presbyterian church in Mchinji. Kapiri Parish a catholic church is found in west of Mchinji Boma via M18 road from Kamwendo to Kapiri trading centre Mchinji Hospital is the only medical facility for several miles. According to actress Claire Sweeney, mothers "only come here if their children are sick because work on the farm nearly always comes first." As of 2008, the children's ward of the hospital contains 185 children suffering from malaria, pneumonia or anaemia. Patients at the hospital are fed a blend of milk and medicine; the hospital does not have beds for those accompanying the sick, cooking or washing facilities, although in early 2008 a brick shelter was created to protect parents from nature. Mchinj
Tanzania
Tanzania the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in eastern Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north. Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain, is in north-eastern Tanzania; the first humans known lived in Pliocene Tanzania 6 million years ago. The genus Australopithecus ranged all over Africa 4-2 million years ago. Following the rise of Homo erectus 1.8 million years ago, mankind spread all over the Old World, in the New World and Australia under the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens overtook Africa and absorbed the older archaic species and subspecies of humanity. One of the oldest known ethnic groups still existing, the Hadzabe, appears to have originated in Tanzania, their oral history recalls ancestors who were tall and were the first to use fire and lived in caves, much like Homo erectus or Homo heidelbergensis who lived in the same region before them. In the Stone and Bronze Age, prehistoric migrations into Tanzania included Southern Cushitic speakers who moved south from present-day Ethiopia.
These movements took place at about the same time as the settlement of the Mashariki Bantu from West Africa in the Lake Victoria and Lake Tanganyika areas. They subsequently migrated across the rest of Tanzania between 1,700 years ago. European colonialism began in mainland Tanzania during the late 19th century when Germany formed German East Africa, which gave way to British rule following World War I; the mainland was governed as Tanganyika, with the Zanzibar Archipelago remaining a separate colonial jurisdiction. Following their respective independence in 1961 and 1963, the two entities merged in April 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania; the United Nations estimated Tanzania's 2016 population at 55.57 million. The population is composed of several ethnic and religious groups; the sovereign state of Tanzania is a presidential constitutional republic and since 1996 its official capital city has been Dodoma where the president's office, the National Assembly, some government ministries are located.
Dar es Salaam, the former capital, retains most government offices and is the country's largest city, principal port, leading commercial centre. Tanzania is a de facto one-party state with the democratic socialist Chama Cha Mapinduzi party in power. Tanzania is densely forested in the north-east, where Mount Kilimanjaro is located. Three of Africa's Great Lakes are within Tanzania. To the north and west lie Lake Victoria, Africa's largest lake, Lake Tanganyika, the continent's deepest lake, known for its unique species of fish. To the south lies Lake Malawi; the eastern shore is humid, with the Zanzibar Archipelago just offshore. The Menai Bay Conservation Area is Zanzibar's largest marine protected area; the Kalambo Falls, located on the Kalambo River at the Zambian border, is the second highest uninterrupted waterfall in Africa. Over 100 different languages are spoken in Tanzania, making it the most linguistically diverse country in East Africa; the country does not have a de jure official language.
Swahili is used in parliamentary debate, in the lower courts, as a medium of instruction in primary school. English is used in foreign trade, in diplomacy, in higher courts, as a medium of instruction in secondary and higher education, although the Tanzanian government is planning to discontinue English as a language of instruction altogether. 10 percent of Tanzanians speak Swahili as a first language, up to 90 percent speak it as a second language. The name "Tanzania" was created as a clipped compound of the names of the two states that unified to create the country: Tanganyika and Zanzibar, it comprises the first three letters of the two states, "Tan" and "Zan" as well as the only two vowels in the names of two states, "I" and "a" to form Tanzania. The name "Tanganyika" is derived from the Swahili words tanga and nyika, creating the phrase "sail in the wilderness", it is sometimes understood as a reference to Lake Tanganyika. The name of Zanzibar comes from "zenji", the name for a local people, the Arabic word "barr", which means coast or shore.
The indigenous populations of eastern Africa are thought to be the linguistically isolated Hadza and Sandawe hunter-gatherers of Tanzania. The first wave of migration was by Southern Cushitic speakers who moved south from Ethiopia and Somalia into Tanzania, they are ancestral to the Iraqw and Burunge. Based on linguistic evidence, there may have been two movements into Tanzania of Eastern Cushitic people at about 4,000 and 2,000 years ago, originating from north of Lake Turkana. Archaeological evidence supports the conclusion that Southern Nilotes, including the Datoog, moved south from the present-day South Sudan / Ethiopia border region into central northern Tanzania between 2,900 and 2,400 years ago; these movements took place at the same time as the settlement of the iron-making Mashariki Bantu from West Africa in the Lake Victoria and Lake Tanganyika areas. They brought with them the west African planting tradition and the p
Kabwe
Kabwe is the capital of the Zambian Central Province with a population estimated at 202,914 at the 2010 census. Named Broken Hill until 1966, it was founded when lead and zinc deposits were discovered in 1902. Kabwe has a claim to being the birthplace of Zambian politics as it was an important political centre during the colonial period, it is an important mining centre. The name Kabwe or Kabwe-Ka Mukuba means'ore' or'smelting' but the European/Australian prospectors named it Broken Hill after a similar mine in Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia; the mine was the largest in the country for around thirty years until it was overtaken in the early 1930s by larger copper mining complexes on the Copperbelt. Apart from lead and zinc it produced silver and heavy metals such as cadmium and titanium in smaller quantities. In 1921 a human fossil, a skull, dubbed Kabwe 1 "Broken Hill Man" or "Rhodesian Man" was found in the mine; the mine, which occupies a 2.5 km² site 1 km south-west of the town centre, is closed but metals are still extracted from old tailings.
A study by the Blacksmith Institute found Kabwe to be one of the ten most polluted places in the world due to heavy metal tailings making their way into the local water supply. A 2014 report indicates that children's blood lead levels continue to be elevated though mining has stopped; the first railway in the country, operated by Rhodesian Railways when the territory was administered as North-Western Rhodesia and North-Eastern Rhodesia, reached the Broken Hill mine as early as 1906, the town became the northern base for the railway, the second biggest employer after the mining industry. A locomotive maintenance facility was constructed there. In 1909 the railway reached Ndola in; the railway workers' unions played a large role in the politics of the country. In racially segregated colonial times before Africans had the vote, the town was the seat of Roy Welensky, leader of the powerful Rhodesia Railway Workers Union, who became Prime Minister of the ill-fated Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, opposed by the Northern Rhodesia Railway Trade Union led by Dixon Konkola and based in Kabwe.
Today, the town is the headquarters of Zambia Railways but employment levels on the railway have been cut. Reflecting Kabwe's central location and railway union base, it was chosen as the site for a rally held on October 26, 1958 at Mulungushi Rock north of the city by the Kaunda-Kapwepwe breakaway group from the Zambian African National Congress, they founded the political party UNIP which led the successful independence movement and continued to hold conferences at Mulungushi Rock, which became known as the'birthplace of independence' in Zambia. As well as being on the main Lusaka-Copperbelt railway line, it lies on the Great North Road. Closure of the mine led to economic decline for Kabwe, it has a number of manufacturing industries including the Zambia-China Mulungushi Textiles plant established with Chinese investment in the 1980s, but after suffering large losses this plant closed at the beginning of 2007. Other industries include pharmaceuticals and cotton ginning,and Kabwe's first Drinking Water Plant and leather tanning.
To the east of the city are the hydro-electric power stations of the Mulungushi Dam, Mita Hills Dam and Lunsemfwa Falls, built to power the mine and town. Commercial farming areas surround the city about 10 km from the centre, the road and rail links provide ready access to the markets of the Copperbelt and Lusaka. To the east and west of Kabwe are a number of areas with good but so-far undeveloped tourist potential, advantaged by Kabwe's central location and proximity to Lusaka and its international airport:, Lukanga Swamp: 50 km west, with a wildlife area on the other side of the Kafue River, 120 km from Kabwe, but road access is poor. Mulungushi River & Lunsemfwa River valleys, including Lunsemfwa Wonder Gorge: these two rivers flow into the western end of the Luangwa Rift Valley just over 50 km south-east of Kabwe, just south of the Mulungushi Dam and lake which offers good boating and game fishing activities; the valleys are scenic wilderness with good wildlife potential. However, there is no proper road access to the area.
Chifunkunya Hills: 150 km east, a wilderness area of rugged granite mountains rising 1000 m above the Luangwa Valley, just to the north-west of the confluence of the Lunsemfwa and Lukusashi Rivers, with no road access. Mulungushi Rock of Authority, north of the city Mulungushi University Lunsemfwa hydro power company Radio Maranatha 103.3 FM, run by the Zambia Union Conference of the SDA Church Kabwe Warriors football club, one of the top three teams in the country Bwacha House National Monument: Number E1376 Musuku Road, Bwacha Township, where on 8 March 1958 Kenneth Kaunda was elected President of the Zambian African National Congress Big Tree National Monument: a fig tree with a 50 m wide canopy on the east side of Broadway, which served as a meeting place on many occasions during the early years of the town's history Broken Hill Man memorial at Kabwe municipal offices Zambia National Service Training School Chindwin Barracks and Kohima Barracks Nkrumah University Mukobeko Trades Training Institute Kabwe Trades Training Institute changed to Kabwe Institute of Technology- Kabwe Institute of Technology Kabwe Mall National Fire Fighting Services Training School Kabwe golf course Mulungushi Boat Club, Mulungushi Dam Inshindo Foundation, a Baha'i-inspir
