TANZANIA
Also known as:
United Republic of Tanzania, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania
Quick Facts
| Location | Eastern Africa, bordering the Indian Ocean, between Kenya and Mozambique |
| Size | total: 945,087 sq km land: 886,037 sq km water: 59,050 sq km note: includes the islands of Mafia, Pemba, and Zanzibar |
| Capitals | Dar es Salaam |
| Languages | Kiswahili or Swahili (official), Kiunguja (name for Swahili in Zanzibar), English (official, primary language of commerce, administration, and higher education), Arabic (widely spoken in Zanzibar), many local languages |
| Ethnic groups | mainland - native African 99% (of which 95% are Bantu consisting of more than 130 tribes), other 1% (consisting of Asian, European, and Arab); Zanzibar - Arab, native African, mixed Arab and native African |
| Population | 36,766,356 (July 2005 est.) |
| Religion | mainland - Christian 30%, Muslim 35%, indigenous beliefs 35%; Zanzibar - more than 99% Muslim |
| Chief of State | President Benjamin William MKAPA (since 23 November 1995) |
| Government type | republic |
| GDP | $23.71 billion (2004 est.) |
| Industries | agricultural processing (sugar, beer, cigarettes, sisal twine), diamond, gold and iron mining, soda ash, oil refining, shoes, cement, apparel, wood products, fertilizer, salt |
| Currency | Tanzanian shilling (TZS) |
| Internet country code | .tz |
| Time zone | UTC/GMT +3 hours |
On this page, you will find:
- Country- Map, Flag & Coat of Arms
- Introduction
- Journey Element 1: Nature & Wildlife (Natural Environment; Plants & Wildlife)
- Journey Element 2: Life & Society (History, Society & Culture, Government & Politics)
- Journey Element 3: Trade, Travel & Economy (Transportation, Communication, Economy, Tourism)
- Journey Element 4: Highlights, Current Events & Helpful Links (Highlights & amazing statistics, Current events, Other Helpful Links)
Country- Map, Flag & Coat of Arms
| Map | Map in context (From Wikipedia) |
| Flag | divided diagonally by a yellow-edged black band from the lower hoist-side corner; the upper triangle (hoist side) is green and the lower triangle is blue |
Shortly after independence, Tanganyika and Zanzibar merged to form the nation of Tanzania in 1964. One-party rule came to an end in 1995 with the first democratic elections held in the country since the 1970s. Zanzibar's semi-autonomous status and popular opposition have led to two contentious elections since 1995, which the ruling party won despite international observers' claims of voting irregularities.
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Journey Element 1: Nature & Wildlife
Natural Environment
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Journey Element 2: Life & Society
History Overview
A German colony from the 1880s until 1919, the area subsequently became a British trust territory from 1919 to 1961. Julius Nyerere became Minister of British-administered Tanganyika in 1960, and continued as Prime Minister when Tanganyika became independent in 1961. Tanganyika and the neighbouring Zanzibar — which had become independent in 1963 — merged to form the nation of Tanzania on 26 April 1964. Nyerere introduced African socialism, or Ujamaa, which emphasized justice and equality, but proved economically disastrous, leading to food shortages as collective farms failed. In 1979, Tanzania declared war on Uganda after Uganda invaded and tried to annex Tanzanian territory in the north of the country. Tanzania not only expelled Ugandan forces, but also invaded Uganda itself, forcing the ousting of Idi Amin. Nyerere handed over power to Ali Hassan Mwinyi in 1985, but retained control of the ruling party, Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM), as Chairman until 1990, when he handed that responsibility to Mwinyi. In October 1995, one-party rule came to an end when Tanzania held its first ever multi-party election. However, CCM comfortably won the elections and its candidate Benjamin Mkapa was subsequently sworn in as the new president of the United Republic of Tanzania on 23 November 1995. One of the deadly 1998 U.S. embassy bombings occurred in Dar es Salaam; the other was in Nairobi, Kenya. In 2004, the undersea earthquake on the other side of the Indian ocean caused tidal surges along Tanzania's coastline in which 11 people were killed. An oil tanker also temporarily ran aground in the Dar es Salaam harbor, damaging an oil pipeline. From Wikipedia. |
Significant dates & events
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| Early history | Northern Tanganyika's famed Olduvai Gorge has provided rich evidence of the area's prehistory, including fossil remains of some of humanity's earliest ancestors. Discoveries suggest that East Africa may have been the site of human origin. Little is known of the history of Tanganyika's interior during the early centuries of the Christian era. The area is believed to have been inhabited originally by ethnic groups using a click-tongue language similar to that of Southern Africa's Bushmen and Hottentots. Although remnants of these early tribes still exist, most were gradually displaced by Bantu farmers migrating from the west and south and by Nilotes and related northern peoples. Some of these groups had well-organized societies and controlled extensive areas. |
| 700s | The coastal area first felt the impact of foreign influence when Arab traders arrived. |
| 1100s | By this time, traders and immigrants came from as far away as Persia (now Iran) and India. They built a series of highly developed city and trading states along the coast, the principal one being Kibaha, a settlement of Persian origin. |
| 1498 | The Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama explored the East African coast on his voyage to India. |
| 1500s-1600s | An early Arab/Persian trading center, Zanzibar fell under Portuguese domination in the 16th and early 17th centuries. |
| 1506 | The Portuguese claimed control over the entire coast. This control was nominal, however, because the Portuguese did not colonize the area or explore the interior. |
| 1700s | Assisted by Omani Arabs, the indigenous coastal dwellers succeeded in driving the Portuguese from the area north of the Ruvuma River by the early 18th century. Zanzibar was retaken by Omani Arabs in the early 18th century. |
| 1822 | In 1822, the British signed the first of a series of treaties with Sultan Said to curb the slave trade. |
| 1840s | European exploration of the interior began. Two German missionaries reached Mt. Kilimanjaro. The Arabs established their own garrisons at Zanzibar, Pemba, and Kilwa and carried on a lucrative trade in slaves and ivory. Claiming the coastal strip, Omani Sultan Seyyid Said (1804-56) moved his capital to Zanzibar and established a ruling Arab elite. The island's commerce fell increasingly into the hands of traders from the Indian subcontinent, whom Said encouraged to settle on the island. |
| 1857 | British explorers Richard Burton and John Speke crossed the interior to Lake Tanganyika. David Livingstone, the Scottish missionary-explorer who crusaded against the slave trade, established his last mission at Ujiji, where he was "found" by Henry Morton Stanley, an American journalist-explorer, who had been commissioned by the New York Herald to locate him. |
| 1876 | Sale of slaves finally prohibited. |
| 1884 | German colonial interests were first advanced. Karl Peters, who formed the Society for German Colonization, concluded a series of treaties by which tribal chiefs in the interior accepted German "protection." Prince Otto von Bismarck's government backed Peters in the subsequent establishment of the German East Africa Company. |
| 1886 and 1890 | In 1886 and 1890, Anglo-German agreements were negotiated that delineated the British and German spheres of influence in the interior of East Africa and along the coastal strip previously claimed by the Omani sultan of Zanzibar. The Anglo-German agreement of 1890 made Zanzibar and Pemba a British protectorate. |
| 1891 | The German Government took over direct administration of the territory from the German East Africa Company and appointed a governor with headquarters at Dar es Salaam. |
| 1905-1907 | Although the German colonial administration brought cash crops, railroads, and roads to Tanganyika, European rule provoked African's resistance, culminating in the Maji Maji rebellion of 1905-07. The rebellion, which temporarily united a number of southern tribes and ended only after an estimated 120,000 Africans had died from fighting or starvation, is considered by most Tanzanians to have been one of the first stirrings of nationalism. |
| 1919 | German colonial domination of Tanganyika ended after World War I when control of most of the territory passed to the United Kingdom under a League of Nations mandate. |
| 1946 | After World War II, Tanganyika became a UN trust territory under British control. Subsequent years witnessed Tanganyika moving gradually toward self-government and independence. |
| 1954 | Julius K. Nyerere, a school teacher who was then one of only two Tanganyikans educated abroad at the university level, organized a political party--the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU). |
| 1957 | The first Zanzibar elections were held in July. The ASP won three of the six elected seats, with the remainder going to independents. Following the election, the ASP split; some of its Shirazi supporters left to form the Zanzibar and Pemba People's Party (ZPPP). |
| 1958-1959 | TANU-supported candidates were victorious in the Legislative Council elections of September 1958 and February 1959. In December 1959, the United Kingdom agreed to the establishment of internal self-government following general elections to be held in August 1960. Nyerere was named chief minister of the subsequent government. |
| 1961 | In May, Tanganyika became autonomous, and Nyerere became Prime Minister under a new constitution. Full independence was achieved on December 9. Mr. Nyerere was elected President when Tanganyika became a republic within the Commonwealth a year after independence. |
| 1963 | Zanzibar received its independence from the United Kingdom on December 19, as a constitutional monarchy under the sultan. |
| 1964 | On January 12, the African majority revolted against the sultan and a new government was formed with the ASP leader, Abeid Karume, as President of Zanzibar and Chairman of the Revolutionary Council. Under the terms of its political union with Tanganyika in April , the Zanzibar Government retained considerable local autonomy. I n April 26, Tanganyika united with Zanzibar to form the United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, and this was renamed the United Republic of Tanzania on October 29. |
| 1977 | To form a sole ruling party in both parts of the union Nyerere merged TANU with the Zanzibar ruling party, the Afro-Shirazi Party (ASP) of Zanzibar to form the CCM (Chama cha Mapinduzi-CCM Revolutionary Party), on February 5. The CCM was to be the sole instrument for mobilizing and controlling the population in all significant political or economic activities. He envisioned the party as a "two-way street" for the flow of ideas and policy directives between the village level and the government. On April 26, the union of the two parties was ratified in a new constitution. |
| 1984 | The merger was reinforced by principles enunciated in the 1982 union constitution and reaffirmed in the constitution this year. |
| 1985 | President Nyerere stepped down from office and was succeeded as President by Ali Hassan Mwinyi. |
| 1990 | Salmin Amour, was first elected in single-party elections in Zanzibar. |
| 1995 | President, Benjamin Mkapa was elected. President Salmin Amourre of Zanzibar re-elected in Zanzibar's first multi-party elections. These elections also were tainted by widespread irregularities on Zanzibar. |
| 1999 | Nyerere retained his position as Chairman of the ruling party for 5 more years and was influential in Tanzanian politics until his death in October. |
| 2000 | Benjamin Mkapa re-elected for a second five-year term. Also, Zanzibar President Amani Abeid Karume, the son of Zanzibar's first president, was elected, in general elections that were marked by widespread irregularities throughout the Isles. |
| 2001 | Presidents of Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya launch regional parliament and court of justice in Arusha to legislate on matters of common interest such as trade and immigration. |
| 2005 | In October, mainland general elections are postponed after the death of a candidate for the vice-presidency. |
Society & Culture
Population distribution in Tanzania is extremely uneven. Density varies from 1 person per square kilometer (3 per sq. mi.) in arid regions to 51 per square kilometer (133 per sq. mi.) in the mainland's well-watered highlands to 134 per square kilometer (347 per sq. mi.) on Zanzibar. More than 80% of the population is rural. Dar es Salaam is the capital and largest city; Dodoma, located in the center of Tanzania, has been designated the new capital and the Parliament sits there, although action to move the capital has stalled.
The African population consists of more than 120 ethnic groups, of which the Sukuma, Haya, Nyakyusa, Nyamwezi, and Chaga have more than 1 million members. The majority of Tanzanians, including such large tribes as the Sukuma and the Nyamwezi, are of Bantu stock. Groups of Nilotic or related origin include the nomadic Masai and the Luo, both of which are found in greater numbers in neighboring Kenya. Two small groups speak languages of the Khoisan family peculiar to the Bushman and Hottentot peoples. Cushitic-speaking peoples, originally from the Ethiopian highlands, reside in a few areas of Tanzania.
Although much of Zanzibar's African population came from the mainland, one group known as Shirazis traces its origins to the island's early Persian settlers. Non-Africans residing on the mainland and Zanzibar account for 1% of the total population. The Asian community, including Hindus, Sikhs, Shi'a and Sunni Muslims, and Goans, has declined by 50% in the past decade to 50,000 on the mainland and 4,000 on Zanzibar. An estimated 70,000 Arabs and 10,000 Europeans reside in Tanzania.
Each ethnic group has its own language, but the national language is Kiswahili, a Bantu-based tongue with strong Arabic borrowings.
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Government & Politics
Tanzania's president and National Assembly members are elected concurrently by direct popular vote for 5-year terms. The president appoints a prime minister who serves as the government's leader in the National Assembly. The president selects his cabinet from among National Assembly members. The Constitution also empowers him to nominate 10 non-elected members of Parliament, who also are eligible to become cabinet members.
The unicameral National Assembly elected in 2000 has 295 members. These 295 members include the Attorney General, five members elected from the Zanzibar House of Representatives to participate in the Parliament, the special women's seats which are made up of 20% of the seats a particular party has in the House, 181 constituents seats of members of Parliament from the mainland, and 50 seats from Zanzibar. Also in the list are 48 appointed for women and the seats for the 10 nominated members of Parliament. At present, the ruling CCM holds about 93% of the seats in the Assembly. Laws passed by the National Assembly are valid for Zanzibar only in specifically designated union matters.
Zanzibar's House of Representatives has jurisdiction over all non-union matters. There are currently 76 members in the House of Representatives in Zanzibar, including 50 elected by the people, 10 appointed by the president of Zanzibar, 5 ex officio members, and an attorney general appointed by the president. In May 2002, the government increased the number of special seats allocated to women from 10 to 15, which will increase the number of House of Representatives members to 81. Ostensibly, Zanzibar's House of Representatives can make laws for Zanzibar without the approval of the union government as long as it does not involve union-designated matters. The terms of office for Zanzibar's president and House of Representatives also are 5 years. The semiautonomous relationship between Zanzibar and the union is a relatively unique system of government.
Tanzania has a five-level judiciary combining the jurisdictions of tribal, Islamic, and British common law. Appeal is from the primary courts through the district courts, resident magistrate courts, to the high courts, and Court of Appeals. Judges are appointed by the Chief Justice, except those for the Court of Appeals and the High Court who are appointed by the president. The Zanzibari court system parallels the legal system of the union, and all cases tried in Zanzibari courts, except for those involving constitutional issues and Islamic law, can be appealed to the Court of Appeals of the union. A commercial court was established in September 1999 as a division of the High Court.
For administrative purposes, Tanzania is divided into 26 regions--21 on the mainland, 3 on Zanzibar, and 2 on Pemba. Ninety-nine district councils have been created to further increase local authority. These districts are also now referred to as local government authorities.
Political Conditions
From independence in 1961 until the mid-1980s, Tanzania was a one-party state, with a socialist model of economic development. Beginning in the mid-1980s, under the administration of President Ali Hassan Mwinyi, Tanzania undertook a number of political and economic reforms. In January and February 1992, the government decided to adopt multiparty democracy. Legal and constitutional changes led to the registration of 11 political parties. Two parliamentary by-elections (won by CCM) in early 1994 were the first-ever multiparty elections in Tanzanian history.
In October 2000, Tanzania held its second multi-party general elections. The ruling CCM party's candidate, Benjamin W. Mkapa, defeated his three main rivals, winning the presidential election with 71% of the vote. In the parliamentary elections, CCM won 202 of the 232 elected seats. In the Zanzibar presidential election, Abeid Amani Karume, the son of former President Abeid Karume, defeated CUF candidate Seif Sharif Hamad. The election was marred by irregularities, especially on Zanzibar, and subsequent political violence claimed at least 23 lives in January 2001, mostly on Pemba island. Also, 16 CUF members were expelled from the Union Parliament after boycotting the legislature to protest the Zanzibar election results.
In October 2001, the CCM and the CUF parties signed a reconciliation agreement which called for electoral reforms on Zanzibar and set up a Commission of Inquiry to investigate the deaths that occurred in January 2001 on Pemba. The agreement also led to President appointment of an additional CUF official to become a member of the Union Parliament. Changes to the Zanzibar Constitution in April 2002 allowed both the CCM and CUF parties to nominate members to the Zanzibar Electoral Commission. In May 2003, the Zanzibar Electoral Commission conducted by-elections to fill vacant seats in the parliament, including those seats vacated by the CUF boycott. Observers considered these by-elections, the first major test of the reconciliation agreement, to be free, fair, and peaceful. President Mkapa, Vice President Ali Mohamed Shein, Prime Minister Fredrick Sumaye, and National Assembly members will serve until the next general elections, which have been set for October 30, 2005. Similarly, Zanzibar President Karume and members of the Zanzibar House of Representatives also will complete their terms of office in 2005.
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Journey Element 3: Trade, Travel & Economy
Significant measures have been taken to liberalize the Tanzanian economy along market lines and encourage both foreign and domestic private investment. Beginning in 1986, the Government of Tanzania embarked on an adjustment program to dismantle state economic controls and encourage more active participation of the private sector in the economy. The program included a comprehensive package of policies which reduced the budget deficit and improved monetary control, substantially depreciated the overvalued exchange rate, liberalized the trade regime, removed most price controls, eased restrictions on the marketing of food crops, freed interest rates, and initiated a restructuring of the financial sector.
In July 2003, Tanzania's Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) arrangement with the International Monetary Fund was extended for an additional three years; it will expire in July 2006. From 1996-1999, Tanzania had an ESAF agreement. Tanzania also embarked on a major restructuring of state-owned enterprises. Overall, real economic growth has averaged about 4% a year, much better than the previous 20 years, but not enough to improve the lives of average Tanzanians. Also, the economy remains overwhelmingly donor-dependent. Moreover, Tanzania has an external debt of $7.5 billion. The servicing of this debt absorbs about 40% of total government expenditures. Tanzania has qualified for debt relief under the enhanced Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. Debts worth over $6 billion were canceled following implementation of the Paris Club VII Agreement.
Agriculture dominates the economy, providing more than 46% of GDP and 80% of employment. Cash crops, including coffee, tea, cotton, cashews, sisal, cloves, and pyrethrum, account for the vast majority of export earnings. The volume of all major crops--both cash and goods, which have been marketed through official channels--have increased over the past few years, but large amounts of produce never reach the market. Poor pricing and unreliable cash flow to farmers continue to frustrate the agricultural sector.
Accounting for less than 10% of GDP, Tanzania's industrial sector is one of the smallest in Africa. It was hit hard during the 2002-2003 drought years by persistent power shortages caused by low rainfall in the hydroelectric dam catchment area, a condition compounded by years of neglect and bad management at the state-controlled electric company. Management of the electric company was contracted to the private sector in 2003.
The main industrial activities include producing raw materials, import substitutes, and processed agricultural products. Foreign exchange shortages and mismanagement continue to deprive factories of much-needed spare parts and have reduced factory capacity to less than 30%.
Despite Tanzania's past record of political stability, an unattractive investment climate has discouraged foreign investment. Government steps to improve that climate include redrawing tax codes, floating the exchange rate, licensing foreign banks, and creating an investment promotion center to cut red tape. In terms of mineral resources and the largely untapped tourism sector, Tanzania could become a viable and attractive market for U.S. goods and services.
Zanzibar's economy is based primarily on the production of cloves (90% grown on the island of Pemba), the principal foreign exchange earner. Exports have suffered with the downturn in the clove market. Tourism is an increasingly promising sector, and a number of new hotels and resorts have been built in recent years.
The Government of Zanzibar has been more aggressive than its mainland counterpart in instituting economic reforms and has legalized foreign exchange bureaus on the islands. This has loosened up the economy and dramatically increased the availability of consumer commodities. Furthermore, with external funding, the government plans to make the port of Zanzibar a free port. Rehabilitation of current port facilities and plans to extend these facilities will be the precursor to the free port. The island's manufacturing sector is limited mainly to import substitution industries, such as cigarettes, shoes, and process agricultural products. In 1992, the government designated two export-producing zones and encouraged the development of offshore financial services. Zanzibar still imports much of its staple requirements, petroleum products, and manufactured articles.
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Journey Element 4: Highlights, Current Events & Helpful Links
Highlights & amazing statistics
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| Coming from the road! |
