Kariba Dam

Kariba Dam, concrete arch dam across the Zambezi River at Kariba Gorge, on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. Construction of the dam began on Nov. 6, 1956, and was completed in 1959. The structure is 128 metres (420 feet) high with a crest 579 metres (1,899 feet) in length and a volume of 1,032,000 cubic metres (1,350,000 cubic yards). The dam creates Lake Kariba, and it supplies some 6,700,000,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, generated by Kariba North Bank and South Bank companies (Zambia and Zimbabwe, respectively). Its creation required the resettlement of more than 30,000 Batonka tribespeople of Zambia and the evacuation of thousands of wild animals (“Operation Noah”). Some Africans initially opposed construction of the dam, seeing it as a symbol of the unpopular Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, which dissolved into Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and Zambia in 1963. Later, however, the dam was accepted because of the inexpensive electric power it furnishes to Zambia’s prosperous copper industry.