Map of Copperbelt
Copperbelt is a first-level division of Zambia. Its largest mapped city is Kitwe, with about 404,901 people in the metropolitan area. The interactive map below is centred on Copperbelt, and the tables list its 6 mapped cities.
- Cities Mapped
- 6
- Largest City
- Kitwe
- Country
- Zambia
Interactive Map of Copperbelt
About Copperbelt
Copperbelt Province is a province in Zambia which covers the mineral-rich Copperbelt, and farming and bush areas to the south. It was the backbone of the Northern Rhodesian economy during British colonial rule and fuelled the hopes of the immediate post-independence period, but its economic importance was severely damaged by a crash in global copper prices in 1973. The province adjoins the Haut-Katanga province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is similarly mineral-rich.
The main cities and towns of the Copperbelt are Kitwe, Ndola, Mufulira, Luanshya, Chingola, Kalulushi and Chililabombwe. Roads and rail links extend north into the Congo to Lubumbashi, but the Second Congo War brought economic contact between the two countries to a standstill, now recovering.
It is informally referred to at times as 'Copala' or 'Kopala', invoking the vernacular-like term of the mineral copper that is mined in the province.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia: Copperbelt Province (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Copperbelt in Depth
Geography
The Copperbelt region of Zambia and Congo D.R. is a 500 million year old mountain chain, the Lufilian Arc, which formed when two large pieces of continental crust, the Kalahari craton and the Congo craton, collided. This collision was one of the many that happened between 700 and 500 million years ago to form the Gondwana supercontinent.
This collision is thought to have remobilised base metals, largely already present in the sediments that had accumulated in the basin between the two cratons. These brines then concentrated the base metals either along stratigraphic boundaries, or along fractures, faults or within structurally controlled 'traps' (such as the nose of a fold).
Economy and education
As 2004, the province had 856 basic schools, 71 high schools and the number of school children out of school in ages between 7 and 15 stood at 856. The unemployment rate was 32 per cent and the general unemployment rate for youth stood at 55 per cent as of 2008. The province had 213 doctors as of 2005. There were 377 Malaria incidence for every 1,000 people in the province as of 2005 and there were 26,799 AIDS death as of 2010.
The total area of crops planted during the year 2014 in the province was 122,525.52 hectares which constituted 6.46% of the total area cultivated in Zambia. The net production stood at 315,153 metric tonnes, which formed 7.74% of the total agricultural production in the country.
Demographics
As per the 2010 Zambian census, Copperbelt Province had a population of 1,972,317 accounting to 15.21% of the total Zambian population of 13,092,666. There were 981,887 males and 990,430 females, making the sex ratio to 1,009 for every 1,000 males, compared to the national average of 1,028. The literacy rate stood at 83.10% against a national average of 70.2%. The rural population constituted 19.11%, while the urban population was 80.89%. The total area of the province was 31,328 km2 and the population density was 63.00 per km2. The population density during 2000 Zambian census stood at 63.00. The decadal population growth of the province was 2.20%. The median age in the province at the time of marriage was 21.7.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Copperbelt Province (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Copperbelt: Key Facts
| Area | 31,328 km² |
|---|---|
| Capital | Ndola |
Facts from Wikidata Q1131523 (CC0).
History of Copperbelt: Empires and States
The atlas records 4 polities whose mapped territory included part of Copperbelt, from British Africa in 1895 CE to 2024 CE. They are listed in the order they first appear.
| Polity | Period here |
|---|---|
| British Africa | 1895–1960 CE |
| The British Empire | 1895–1968 CE |
| British East Africa | 1961–1968 CE |
| Zambia | 1967–2024 CE |
Historical Maps of Copperbelt
Copperbelt on the world map in each year one of these states held it:
Derived by testing mapped cities against dated territorial polygons. Dates are when the polygons cover this place, not the polity's whole lifespan, and polities absent from the source dataset are not listed.
Largest Cities in Copperbelt
6 cities mapped. Ranked by metropolitan population. A port city's harbour is written up on the page of its sea.
| # | Name | Population | Region | Role |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kitwe | 404,901 | Copperbelt | Populated place |
| 2 | Ndola | 396,339 | Copperbelt | Admin-1 capital |
| 3 | Chingola | 182,015 | Copperbelt | Populated place |
| 4 | Mufulira | 153,624 | Copperbelt | Populated place |
| 5 | Luanshya | 151,993 | Copperbelt | Populated place |
| 6 | Chililabombwe | 82,068 | Copperbelt | Populated place |
Copperbelt: Quick Answers
- Where is Copperbelt?
- Copperbelt is a first-level division of Zambia, in Africa. Its mapped cities centre on 12.7338° S, 28.2000° E.
- What is the largest city in Copperbelt?
- Kitwe is the largest city mapped in Copperbelt, with a metropolitan population of about 404,901.
- How many cities are in Copperbelt?
- YearMaps maps 6 cities and towns in Copperbelt, with a combined metropolitan population of about 1.37 million. This counts mapped settlements, not every municipality.