Muchinga Province

Muchinga Province is one of the ten provinces of Zambia. It is located in the northeast of the country and borders with Tanzania in the north, Malawi in the east, Eastern Province in the south, Central Province in the southwest, Luapula Province in the west, and Northern Province in the northwest. The administrative center of the province is Chinsali.

The name of the province originates from the Muchinga Escarpment, on which it predominantly sits.

The province is elongated from southwest to northeast and is located on both sides of the Muchinga Mountains (Muchinga Escarpment), which serve as a divide between the drainage basins of the Zambezi River (Indian Ocean) and the Congo River (Atlantic Ocean). The main rivers of the province are the Luangwa River, a major left tributary of the Zambezi, and the Chambeshi River, a tributary of Lake Bangweulu, in the drainage basin of the Congo. The source of the Luangwa is located in the province.

Three national parks are located in the province. There are Lavushi Manda National Park, North Luangwa National Park, and South Luangwa National Park. The latter is shared with Eastern and Central Provinces.

The creation of a province was announced by President Michael Sata in October 2011. In November 2011, the president appointed Sichone Malozo as the first Muchinga Province Minister. The parliament approved the creation of the province at some later date.

The province consisted originally of five districts. Chama District was transferred from the Eastern Province, and the Chinsali, Isoka, Mpika, and Nakonde districts were transferred from the Northern Province. In 2013, Mafinga District was created by splitting Isoka District and Shiwang'andu District was created by splitting Chinsali District, bringing the total number of districts to seven.

In 2017, President Edgar Lungu announced the creation of two districts, which were created by splitting Mpika District into three (north, east and south-west). With Mpika in the east, the two new districts are named Kanchibiya District (north of Mpika) and Lavushimanda District (south-west of Mpika; named after the Lavushi Manda National Park), bringing the total number of districts to nine.

On 17 November 2021, President Hakainde Hichilema officially declared Chama District as part of Eastern Province (no-longer part of Muchinga Province), thereby returning the district to its original province. So, Muchinga Province only has land that was previously part of the Northern Province and currently has 8 districts.