Flag of Rhodesia the Federation, Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland became the independent states of Zambia and Malawi respectively. Southern Rhodesia became known simply as Rhodesia, although its legal name remained the Colony of Southern Rhodesia. In April 1964 Rhodesia adopted a light air force ensign with the shield from the coat of arms of Rhodesia in the fly. This was the first time the lighter shade of blue ensign was used by a British colony, although Fiji and Tuvalu both adopted the colour after independence. Following the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) on 11 November 1965, the flag was retained, but three years
Northern Rhodesia to justify the capital cost of building a railway to the coast, but expeditions between 1899 and 1901 proved their value. Copper deposits found in Northern Rhodesia before the First World War proved uneconomic to develop. In 1906 Union Minière du Haut Katanga was formed to exploit the Katanga mines. King Leopold wanted a railway entirely in Congolese territory, linked to the Congo River, but in 1908, he agreed with the British South Africa Company to continue the Rhodesian railway to Elizabethville and the mines. Between 1912, when full-scale copper production began, until 1928 when a Congolese line was completed,