Zambia is the country that uses the kwacha as its currency and is slightly larger than Texas. It is a landlocked country in south-central Africa, occupying a high plateau between the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Namibia.
The modern Zambian kwacha was introduced in 1968, replacing the Zambian pound after independence. The word kwacha comes from a Bemba and Nyanja expression meaning “dawn,” a reference to the optimism surrounding African independence. The currency’s official ISO code is ZMW, and one kwacha is divided into 100 ngwee.
Zambia covers roughly 752,600 square kilometers, compared with about 695,700 square kilometers for Texas, making the comparison broadly accurate. The country is also associated with the Zambezi River and Victoria Falls, which it shares with Zimbabwe. A common mix-up is confusing Zambia with Zimbabwe: Zambia lies north of the Zambezi in much of the region, while Zimbabwe lies mainly to its south, and Zimbabwe uses the Zimbabwean dollar rather than the Zambian kwacha.