Chipata (ZM)

Loading map...

{"minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"mappingservice":"leaflet","width":"auto","height":"200px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"zoom":15,"defzoom":14,"layers":["OpenStreetMap"],"image layers":[],"overlays":[],"resizable":false,"fullscreen":false,"scrollwheelzoom":true,"cluster":false,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clustermaxradius":80,"clusterspiderfy":true,"geojson":"","clicktarget":"","imageLayers":[],"locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":"","lat":-13.645278,"lon":32.646389,"icon":""}],"imageoverlays":null}

The city of Chipata is the administrative centre of the Eastern Province of Zambia and Chipata District. It was declared the 5th city of the country, after Lusaka, Ndola, Kitwe and Livingstone, by President Edgar Lungu on 24 February 2017.

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."

Chipata was formerly known as Fort Jameson (and informally as "Fort Jimmy"), being named after Leander Starr Jameson, the 19th-century British politician and adventurer. Even during the colonial period, few agreed that Jameson, who is mainly known for his part in the infamous Jameson Raid, fully 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.

Postmark Examples

British Empire era