Mbala is
Zambia’s most northerly large town and seat of
Mbala District, occupying a strategic location close to the border with
Tanzania and controlling the southern approaches to
Lake Tanganyika, 40 km by road to the north-west, where the port of
Mpulungu is located. It had a population of about 20,000 in 2006. Under the name
Abercorn, Mbala was a key outpost in
British colonial control of this part of south-central Africa. It is headquarters of an administrative district of the
Northern Province.