The town of Ndola was founded in 1904, by John Edward “Chiripula” Stephenson. The name Ndola is derived from the river, which originates in the Kaloko Hills and drains in the Kafubu River. It was started as a boma and trading post, which laid its foundations as an administrative and trading centre today.
Ndola is the third largest city in Zambia and the second largest in terms of infrastructure development after Lusaka. It is the industrial and commercial centre of the Copperbelt, Zambia’s copper-mining region, and capital of Copperbelt Province. It lies just 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from the border with DR Congo.
In 1961, an aeroplane carrying key United Nations figures, including the organisation’s second Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld, crashed on the outskirts of Ndola.