A country of south-central Africa. The original San inhabitants were pushed out by migrating Bantus between the 16th and 18th centuries, and the area was explored by David Livingstone in the 1850s. It was administered after 1889 by the British South Africa Company, founded by Cecil Rhodes, becoming the protectorate of Northern Rhodesia in 1911 and passing to British administration in 1924. From 1953 to 1963 it was part of the colonial federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, gaining independence in 1964 as the republic of Zambia. Lusaka is the capital and the largest city.