# Hut Tax Introduced (1901)

URL: https://allhistories.com/zambia/timeline/1901-hut-tax-introduced
Location: North-Eastern and North-Western Rhodesia (Zambia)
Themes: main-event

The British South Africa Company needed revenue to pay for administration and, together with the mining interests of Southern Rhodesia and South Africa, wanted a steady supply of African labour. Taxation payable in cash was the main instrument chosen to achieve both aims. A hut tax, set at rates intended to equal about two months' wages and commonly five shillings a year before 1920, was introduced in North-Eastern Rhodesia in 1901 and extended through North-Western Rhodesia between 1904 and 1913, with Barotseland included under arrangements that gave Lewanika a share of the proceeds. Native commissioners collected it, at times burning the huts of defaulters in the early years, and a largely peaceful protest by the Gwembe Tonga in 1909–10 was severely suppressed. Because few local opportunities existed to earn money, men walked hundreds of kilometres to work in the mines and farms of Southern Rhodesia, the Katanga copper mines and the Witwatersrand, recruited by bodies such as the Rhodesia Native Labour Bureau. The hut tax transformed rural society. Labour migration became a normal stage of life for young men, while women, children and the elderly carried a heavier burden of farming. The tax, later replaced by a poll tax, also became a focus of resentment and was one of the grievances taken up by welfare associations and early nationalists. At this point in the timeline (1901–1904), the Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India was Victoria (1891 – 22 January 1901); the Administrator of Barotziland–North-Western Rhodesia was Robert Coryndon (9 April 1897 – 8 April 1907); the Administrator of North-Eastern Rhodesia was Robert Edward Codrington (11 July 1898 – 24 April 1907).

## Why it matters
The hut tax drove Zambian men into migrant labour, reshaping rural society and the regional economy.

Ruler at the Time: [Victoria](https://allhistories.com/zambia/rulers/victoria)

Administrator of Barotziland–North-Western Rhodesia: Robert Coryndon
Administrator of North-Eastern Rhodesia: Robert Edward Codrington

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Hut tax](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hut_tax)
- [Wikipedia — Northern Rhodesia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Rhodesia)
- [Encyclopaedia Britannica — hut tax](https://www.britannica.com/search?query=hut+tax)
- [Wikipedia — British South Africa Company Rule (period overview)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_rule_in_Rhodesia)