Paramount Chiefs of Northern Rhodesia: The Logic Behind the Title

In this video, we trace the colonial laws and official documents of the Northern Rhodesia government. From these, we present the criteria that was used in designating native authorities as "Paramount Chief". We deduce that a Paramount Chief designation was exclusively given to a native authority that had two properties: 1) He was traditiomally the most senior royal of a particular ethnic group; and 2) He had the traditional power to appoint and to install the royals of his ethnic group. Only four native authorities of Northern Rhodesia met the criteria: 1) the Chitimukulu of AbaBemba (of Northern Province then, now Muchinga and Northern Provinces); 2) the Gawa Undi of the Chewa people (of Eastern Province), 3) the Litunga of the Lozi people (of Barotse Province, now Western Province); and 4) the Mpezeni of the Ngoni people (of Eastern Province).