Editing Chipata (section)

== History ==
Chipata's name comes from the Chewa word "Chimpata" meaning "large space", in reference to the town's situation in a shallow valley between hills. The name of the central neighbourhood of Kapata, the original centre of town, comes from the Chewa word meaning "small space."

Chipata was formerly known as '''Fort Jameson''' (and informally as "Fort Jimmy"), being named after [[Sir Leander Starr Jameson]], the 19th-century British politician and adventurer. Even during the colonial period, few supported that Jameson, who is mainly known for his part in the infamous [[Jameson Raid]], fully deserved the honour of having any town named after him. Like [[Mchinji|'Fort Manning']] and '[[Mansa, Zambia|Fort Rosebery]]', Fort Jameson was called a "fort" because the local government offices, or [[Boma (enclosure)|"Boma"]], were once fortified.

Fort Jameson was the capital of the [[British protectorate]] of [[North-Eastern Rhodesia]] between 1900 and 1911.

During [[World War II]], 80 [[Polish people|Polish]] refugees escaping from [[Occupation of Poland (1939–1945)|German- and Soviet-occupied Poland]], were admitted in Fort Jameson in 1941.<ref>{{cite book|last=Wróbel|first=Janusz|title=Uchodźcy polscy ze Związku Sowieckiego 1942–1950|year=2003|language=pl|publisher=[[Institute of National Remembrance|Instytut Pamięci Narodowej]]|location=[[Łódź]]|page=137|isbn=978-83-7629-522-0}}</ref>