<p>This review paper discusses the systematic diamond exploration undertaken over most of the country by De Beers between the mid-1950s and the early-1980s. Seven kimberlite fields and one lamproite field were discovered, the majority of which are diamond-bearing. Most of the fields include both pipes and dykes. The largest lamproite pipe is 45 ha and the largest kimberlite is 23 ha in surface area. The highest concentration of diamonds was found in surface gravels over one of the Kapamba lamproites (8.3 carats from 28 m³). Several of the kimberlite fields were emplaced into Karoo Supergroup sediments and by inference are younger than 250 Ma. The age of lamproite emplacement at Kapamba has been determined at ca.178 Ma. Diamonds have been recorded from many parts of the country that cannot be explained by the known fields. Thus, in northeastern Zambia early work on the Bangweulu Block produced the largest single diamond found in Zambia (1.362 carats) from a stream draining from the Democratic Republic of the Congo near Lake Tanganyika. In Western Zambia many small alluvial diamonds, including some of gem or near gem quality, and some indicator minerals have been recovered away from the known kimberlites. A drilling programme located kimberlitic garnet-bearing Lower Kalahari fluvial beds, confirming a complex detrital history in this part of the country. Since De Beers withdrew from Zambia in the early 1980s a number of other companies have carried out diamond exploration, focussed in the west of the country. To date no economic discoveries have been made.</p>