A very powerful personality, Kaunda made the landlocked Zambia a major player in African and global politics for almost three decades.
The last of eight children, Kaunda was born in Chinsali, Northern Rhodesia, on October 24, 1924. His father was a Presbyterian missionary teacher and his mother the first qualified African woman teacher in the country.
Following his parents’ profession, he became a head teacher before his 21st birthday, after which he moved to teach in Tanganyika (Tanzania) where he became a lifelong admirer of President Julius Nyerere whose “Ujamaa” brand of African Socialism he tried to emulate.
Returning home, Kaunda took up politics full-time, serving as Secretary General of the Northern Rhodesian African National Congress (NRANC) before being jailed two months with hard labour for distributing “subversive literature”. Upon his release, he took a more active role in politics with resultant jail terms.