 The name "kwacha" derives from the Nyanja, Bemba, and Tonga language word for "dawn", alluding to the Zambian nationalist slogan of a "new dawn of freedom".The name "ngwee" translates as "bright" in the Nyanja language.Prior to independence, the Rhodesia and Nyasaland pound was the legal tender of the short-lived British protectorate of Northern Rhodesia.