Saturday, April 5, 2014

HISTORY OF TANZANIA --- CIVICS FORM ONE BY. MWL. JAPHET MASATU.

HISTORY  OF  TANZANIA ---CIVICS   FORM  ONE.

INTRODUCTION.
Part of a series on the
History of Tanzania
Coat of Arms of Tanzania
Timeline
History of Zanzibar
Colonial period
Scramble for Africa
German East Africa
Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty
Maji Maji Rebellion
East African Campaign
British East Africa
Modern history
Zanzibar Revolution
Tanganyika
Ujamaa
Portal icon Tanzania portal
The East African nation of Tanzania dates formally from 1964, when it was formed out of the union of the much larger mainland territory of Tanganyika and the coastal archipelago of Zanzibar. The former was a colony and part of German East Africa from the 1880s to 1919, when, under the League of Nations, it became a British mandate until independence in 1961. It served as a military outpost during World War II, providing financial help, munitions, and soldiers. Zanzibar was settled as a trading hub, subsequently controlled by the Portuguese, the Sultanate of Oman, and then as a British protectorate by the end of the nineteenth century. Julius Nyerere, independence leader and "baba wa taifa for Tanganyika" (father of the Tanganyika nation), ruled the country for decades, assisted by Abeid Amaan Karume, the Zanzibar Father of Nation. Following Nyerere's retirement in 1985, various political and economic reforms began. The successor of Mwalimu Nyerere was President Ali Hassan Mwinyi

Prehistory

Tanzania is home to some of the oldest human settlements unearthed by archaeologists, including stone tools and fossils of hominids found in and around Olduvai Gorge in northern Tanzania, an area often referred to as "The Cradle of Mankind". Acheulian stone tools were found there by Louis Leakey in 1931, after he had correctly identified the rocks brought back by Hans Reck to Germany from his 1913 Olduvai expedition as stone tools, Tanzania is considered as a place where the first human being started to live that is to say Tanzania is a place were early human evolution startedOlduvai Gorge . More importantly in 1931 Louis Leakey discovered older more primitive stone tools in Olduvai Gorge—these were the first examples of the oldest human technology ever discovered in Africa, subsequently known throughout the world as Oldowan after Olduvai Gorge.[1] The first hominid skull in Olduvai Gorge was discovered by Mary Leakey in 1959, and named Zinj or Nutcracker Man, the first example of Paranthropus boisei, and is thought to be over 1.8 million years old. Other finds including Homo Habilis fossils were subsequently made. At nearby Laetoli the oldest known hominid footprints, the Laetoli footprints, were discovered by Mary Leakey in 1978, and estimated to be about 3.6 million years old and probably made by Australopithecus afarensis.[2] The oldest hominid fossils ever discovered in Tanzania also come from Laetoli and are the 3.6 to 3.8 million year old remains of Australopithecus afarensis—Louis Leakey had found what he thought was a baboon tooth at Laetoli in 1935 (which was not identified as afarensis until 1979), a fragment of hominid jaw with three teeth was found there by Kohl-Larsen in 1938–39, and in 1974–75 Mary Leakey recovered 42 teeth and several jawbones from the site.[3]
Reaching back about 10,000 years, Tanzania is believed to have been populated by hunter-gatherer communities, probably Khoisan speaking people. Between three and six thousand years ago, they were joined by Cushitic-speaking people who came from the north, into which the Khoisan peoples were slowly absorbed. Cushitic peoples introduced basic techniques of agriculture, food production, and later, cattle farming.[4]
About 2000 years ago, Bantu-speaking people began to arrive from western Africa in a series of migrations. These groups brought and developed ironworking skills and new ideas of social and political organization. They absorbed many of the Cushitic peoples who had preceded them, as well as most of the remaining Khoisan-speaking inhabitants. Later, Nilotic pastoralists arrived, and continued to immigrate into the area through to the 18th century.[4][5]
One of Tanzania's most important archeological sites is Engaruka in the Great Rift Valley which includes an irrigation and cultivation system.

Early coastal history

Travellers and merchants from the Persian Gulf and Western India have visited the East African coast since early in the first millennium CE. Greek texts such as the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea and Ptolemy's Geography list a string of market places (emporia) along the coast. Finds of Roman-era coins along the coast confirm the existence of trade, and Ptolomey's Geography refers to a town of Rhapta as "metropolis" of a political entity called Azania. Archaeologists have not yet succeeded in identifying the location of Rhapta, though many believe it lies deeply buried in the silt of the delta of the Rufiji River. A long documentary silence follows these ancient texts, and it is not until Arab geographical treatises were written about the coast that our information resumes.
Remains of those towns' material culture demonstrate that they arose from indigenous roots, not from foreign settlement. And the language that was spoken in them, Swahili (now Tanzania's national language), is a member of the Bantu language family that spread from the northern Kenya coast well before significant Arab presence was felt in the region. By the beginning of the second millennium CE the Swahili towns conducted a thriving trade that linked Africans in the interior with trade partners throughout the Indian Ocean. From c. 1200 to 1500 CE, the town of Kilwa, on Tanzania's southern coast, was perhaps the wealthiest and most powerful of these towns, presiding over what some scholars consider the "golden age" of Swahili civilization. In the early 14th century, Ibn Battuta, a Berber traveller from North Africa, visited Kilwa and proclaimed it one of the best cities in the world. Islam was practised on the Swahili coast as early as the eighth or ninth century CE.[6]
In 1498, Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama became the first known European to reach the East African coast; he stayed for 32 days.[7] In 1505 the Portuguese captured the island of Zanzibar.[8] Portuguese control lasted until the early 18th century, when Arabs from Oman established a foothold in the region. 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. Claiming the coastal strip, Omani Sultan Seyyid Said moved his capital to Zanzibar City in 1840.[8] He focused on the island and developed trade routes that stretched as far as Lake Tanganyika and Central Africa. During this time, Zanzibar became the centre for the Arab slave trade. Due to the Arab and Persian domination at this later time, many Europeans misconstrued the nature of Swahili civilization as a product of Arab colonization. However, this misunderstanding has begun to dissipate over the past 40 years as Swahili civilization is becoming recognized as principally African in origin.[citation needed]

Tanganyika (1815–1890)

Tanganyika on a geographical and political entity did not take shape before the period of High Imperialism; its name only came into use after German East Africa was transferred to the United Kingdom as a mandate by the League of Nations in 1920. What is referred to here, therefore, is the history of the region that was to become Tanzania. A part of the Great Lakes region, namely the western shore of Lake Victoria consisted of many small kingdoms, most notably Karagwe and Buzinza, which were dominated by their more powerful neighbors Rwanda, Burundi, and Buganda.
European exploration of the interior began in the mid-19th century. In 1848 the German missionary Johannes Rebmann became the first European to see Mount Kilimanjaro.[9] British explorers Richard Burton and John Speke crossed the interior to Lake Tanganyika in June 1857.[10] In January 1866 the Scottish explorer and missionary David Livingstone, who crusaded against the slave trade, went to Zanzibar, from where he set out to seek the source of the Nile, and established his last mission at Ujiji on the shores of Lake Tanganyika. After having lost contact with the outside world for years, he was "found" there on November 10, 1871. Henry Morton Stanley, who had been sent in a publicity stunt to find him by the New York Herald newspaper, greeted him with the now famous words "Dr Livingstone, I presume?" In 1877 the first of a series of Belgian expeditions arrived on Zanzibar. In the course of these expeditions, in 1879 a station was founded in Kigoma on the eastern bank of Lake Tanganyika, soon to be followed by the station of Mpala on the opposite western bank. Both stations were founded in the name of the Comite D'Etudes Du Haut Congo, a predecessor organization of the Congo Free State. German colonial interests were first advanced in 1884. 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.
At the Berlin Conference of 1885, the fact that Kigoma had been established and supplied from Zanzibar and Bagamoyo led to the inclusion of East Africa into the territory of the Conventional Basin of the Congo, to Belgium's advantage. At the table in Berlin, contrary to widespread perception, Africa was not partitioned; rather, rules were established among the colonial powers and prospective colonial powers as how to proceed in the establishment of colonies and protectorates. While the Belgian interest soon concentrated on the Congo River, the British and Germans focused on Eastern Africa and in 1886 partitioned continental East Africa between themselves; the Sultanate of Zanzibar, now reduced to the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba, remained independent, for the moment. The Congo Free State was eventually to give up its claim on Kigoma (its oldest station in Central Africa) and on any territory to the east of Lake Tanganyika, to Germany.

German East Africa and the Maji Maji Resistance

Main articles: German East Africa and Maji Maji
All resistance to the Germans in the interior ceased and they could now set out to organize German East Africa. They continued brutally to exercise their authority with disregard and contempt for existing local structures and traditions. While the German colonial administration brought cash crops, railroads, and roads to Tanganyika, European rule provoked African resistance. Between 1891 and 1894, the Hehe—led by Chief Mkwawa—resisted German expansion, but were eventually defeated. After a period of guerrilla warfare, Mkwawa was cornered and committed suicide in 1898.
Widespread discontent re-emerged, and in 1902 a movement against forced labour for a cotton scheme rejected by the local population started along the Rufiji River. The tension reached a breaking point in July 1905 when the Matumbi of Nandete led by Kinjikitile Ngwale revolted against the local administrators (akida) and suddenly the revolt grew wider from Dar Es Salaam to the Uluguru Mountains, the Kilombero Valley, the Mahenge and Makonde Plateaux, the Ruvuma in the southernmost part and Kilwa, Songea, Masasi, and from Kilosa to Iringa down to the eastern shores of Lake Nyasa. The resistance culminated in the Maji Maji Resistance of 1905–1907. The resistance, which temporarily united a number of southern tribes ended only after an estimated 120,000 Africans had died from fighting or starvation. Research has shown that traditional hostilities played a large part in the resistance.[citation needed]
Germans had occupied the area since 1897 and totally altered many aspects of everyday life. They were actively supported by the missionaries who tried to destroy all signs of indigenous beliefs, notably by razing the 'mahoka' huts where the local population worshiped their ancestors' spirits and by ridiculing their rites, dances and other ceremonies. This would not be forgotten or forgiven; the first battle which broke out at Uwereka in September 1905 under the Governorship of Count Gustav Adolf von Götzen turned instantly into an all-out war with indiscriminate murders and massacres perpetrated by all sides against farmers, settlers, missionaries, planters, villages, indigenous people and peasants. Known as the Maji-Maji war with the main brunt borne by the Ngoni people, this was a merciless rebellion and by far the bloodiest in Tanganyika.

War with Germany in East Africa

Main article: East African Campaign (World War I)
Battle of Tanga, fought between the British and Germans during World War I
During World War I, an invasion attempt by the British was thwarted by German General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck at the Battle of Tanga, who then mounted a drawn out guerrilla warfare campaign against the British.
At the outbreak of the First World War the German authorities regarded the position of their premier Colony with considerable equanimity although it was inevitably cut off from outside communication. It had been organized against any attack that could be made without those extensive preparations. For the first year of hostilities the Germans were strong enough to carry the war into their neighbours' territories and repeatedly attacked the railway and other points in British East Africa. However, British rule had begun with the occupation of the island of Mafia by the Royal Navy in 1914.
The forces at the disposal of the German Command may never be accurately known. Lieutenant-General Jan Smuts at one time estimated them at 2,000 Germans and 16,000 Askaris, with 60 guns and 80 machine guns, but this should prove to be below the mark. The white adult male population in 1913 numbered over 3,500 (exclusive of garrison), a large proportion of these would be available for military duties. The native population of over 7,000,000 formed a reservoir of man-power from which a force might be drawn limited only by the supply of officers and equipment. There is no reason to doubt that the Germans made the best of this material during the long interval of nearly eighteen months which separated the outbreak of war from the invasion in force of their territory.[citation needed]
In his final despatch of May 1919, General Jacob van Deventer placed the German forces at the commencement of 1916 at 2,700 whites and 12,000 blacks. Lord Cranford, in his foreword to Captain Angus Buchanan's book on the war, writes, "At his strongest von Lettow probably mustered 25,000 to 30,000 rifles, all fighting troops", with 70 machine guns and 40 guns. After eighteen months of continuous fighting, General van Deventer estimated the enemy's forces at 8,000 to 9,000 men.[citation needed]
Cut-off from Germany by the Royal Navy Von Lettow made a virtue of necessity and conducted a masterly guerilla campaign, living off the land and moving swiftly to repeatedly surprise the British. The British, who deployed large numbers of Indian Army troops under Smuts, faced difficult logistic problems supplying their pursuing army deep in the interior, which they attempted to overcome by the formation of a large Carrier Corps of native porters.
Another point bearing on the war and duly emphasized by General Smuts in his lecture before the Royal Geographic Society (January 1918), was the extraordinary strength of the German frontier. The coastline offered few suitable points for landing and was backed by an unhealthy swamp belt. On the west the line of lakes and mountains proved so impenetrable that the Belgian forces from the Congo had, in the first instance, to be moved through Uganda. On the south the Ruvuma River was only fordable on its upper reaches. And the northern frontier was the most difficult of all. Only one practicable pass about five miles (8 km) wide offered between the Pare Mountains and Kilimanjaro, and here the German forces, amid swamps and forests, had been digging themselves in for eighteen months.
The Honorable H. Burton, speaking in London in August 1918 said, "Nothing struck our commanders in the East African field so much as the thorough, methodical and determined training of the German native levies previous to the war."
The force which evacuated the Colony in December 1917, was estimated at the time at 320 white and 2,500 black troops; 1,618 Germans were killed or captured in the last six months of 1917, 155 whites and 1,168 Askaris surrendered at the close of hostilities.
A skillful and remarkably successful guerrilla campaign waged by the German commander Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck kept the war in Tanganyika going for the entire length of the First World War. A scorched earth policy and the requisition of buildings meant a complete collapse of the Government's education system, though some mission schools managed to retain a semblance of instruction. Unlike the Belgian, British, French and Portuguese colonial masters in central Africa, Germany had developed an educational program for her Africans that involved elementary, secondary and vocational schools. "Instructor qualifications, curricula, textbooks, teaching materials, all met standards unmatched anywhere in tropical Africa."[11] In 1924, ten years after the beginning of the First World War and six years into British rule, the visiting American Phelps-Stokes Commission reported: In regards to schools, the Germans have accomplished marvels. Some time must elapse before education attains the standard it had reached under the Germans.[11] But by 1920, the Education Department consisted of 1 officer and 2 clerks with a budget equal to 1% of the country's revenue—less than the amount appropriated for the maintenance of Government House.

British East Africa

Main article: British East Africa
The first Administrator was Sir Horace Archer Byatt CMG. He embarked it on its course as an African country, improved its health and agriculture and made slavery illegal. He also did much for its economy. In Dar-es-Salaam you can see the house he rebuilt – now lived in by the President. The native troops went back quietly to their villages and the few Germans that remained were reported as settling down under the new administration.

1920s: border resolution

In 1920, by the Tanganyika Order in Council, 1920, the Office of Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Territory was constituted. The colony was renamed Tanganyika Territory in 1920. In 1921 the Belgians transferred the Kigoma district, which they had administered since the occupation, to British administration. The United Kingdom and Belgium signed an agreement regarding the border between Tanganyika and Ruanda-Urundi in 1924. The administration of the Territory continued to be carried out under the terms of the mandate until its transfer to the Trusteeship System under the Charter of the United Nations by the Trusteeship Agreement of December 13, 1946.

1926: Africanisation policy

British policy was to rule indirectly through African leaders. In 1926, a Legislative Council was established, which was to advise the governor. The British administration took measures to revive African institutions by encouraging limited local rule, and authorized the formation in 1922 of political clubs such as the Tanganyika Territory African Civil Service Association. In 1926 some African members were unofficially admitted into the Legislative Council and in 1929 the Association became the Tanganyika African Association which would constitute the core of the nascent nationalist movement. In 1945 the first Africans were effectively appointed to the Governor's Legislative Council.

Late 1920s: railway development

In 1928 the railway line Tabora-Mwanga was opened to traffic, the line from Moshi to Arusha in 1929. In 1919 the population was estimated at 3,500,000.

1931 census

In 1931 a census established the population of Tanganyika at 5,022,640 natives, in addition to 32,398 Asians and 8,228 Europeans.

Health and education initiatives

Under British rule, efforts were undertaken to fight the Tsetse fly (a carrier of sleeping sickness), and to fight malaria and bilharziasis; more hospitals were built. In 1926, the Colonial administration provided subsidies to schools run by missionaries, and at the same time established its authority to exercise supervision and to establish guidelines. Yet in 1935, the education budget for the entire country of Tanganyika amounted to only (US) $290,000, although it is unclear how much this represented at the time in terms of purchasing power parity. In 1933, Sir Horace Hector Hearne was appointed as Puisne Judge, Tanganyika Territory, and acted as Chief Justice of Tanganyika in 1935 and 1936. He held the post until 1936/1937 when he went on to be a similar job in Ceylon.

1943: 100,000-acre (405 km2) Tanganyika wheat scheme

The British Government decided to develop wheat growing to help feed a war-ravaged and severely rationed Britain and eventually Europe at the hoped-for Allied victory at the end of the Second World War. An American farmer in Tanganyika, Freddie Smith, was in charge, and David Gordon Hines was the accountant responsible for the finances. The scheme had 50,000 acres (202 km2) on the Ardai plains just outside Arusha; 25,000 acres (101 km2) on Mount Kilimanjaro; and 25,000 acres (101 km2) towards Ngorongoro to the west. All the machinery was lend/lease from the USA, including 30 tractors, 30 ploughs, and 30 harrows. There were western agricultural and engineering managers. Most of the workers were Italian prisoners of war from Somalia and Ethiopia: excellent, skilled engineers and mechanics. The Ardai plains were too arid to be successful, but there were good crops in the Kilimanjaro and Ngorongoro areas.[12]

Groundnut scheme

The time from 1946 to 1951 saw the Tanganyika groundnut scheme.

1940s and 1950s: farming co-operatives

After the 2nd World War, British colonial policy in the 1940s and 1950s encouraged the development of farming co-operatives to partially convert subsistence farmers to cash husbandry. Before co-operatives, the farmers sold their produce to Indian traders at poor prices. The responsible colonial officer David Gordon Hines from 1947 to 1959 achieved the vast expansion of the co-operatives: by the early 1950s, there were over 400 co-operatives nationally.[13] Co-operative offices throughout the country showed the members how to elect committees, keep their books, and market produce. Co-operatives formed "unions" for their areas and developed cotton gineries, coffee factories, and tobacco dryers. A major success for Tanzania was the Moshi coffee auctions that attracted international buyers after the annual Nairobi auctions.[12]

No Mau Mau violence

In the early 1950s the Mau Mau movement of violent resistance to British rule was active in neighbouring Kenya. The Tanganyika government expected the violence to spread to Tanganyika, especially in the north where the Wa-Chagga live—but violence did not spread there from Kenya.[12]

1940s–1950s transition to self government

After World War II, Tanganyika became a United Nations trust territory under British control. Subsequent years witnessed Tanganyika moving gradually toward self-government and independence. In 1954, Julius Nyerere, the future leader of Tanzania, who was then a school teacher and one of only two Tanganyikans educated abroad at the university level, organized a political party—the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU). On 29 March 1961 Britain agreed that Tanganyika would become an independent state on 28 December 1961.

Zanzibar

Main article: History of Zanzibar
Zanzibar today refers to the island of that name, also known as Unguja, and the neighboring island of Pemba. Both islands fell under Portuguese domination in the 16th and early 17th centuries but were retaken by Omani Arabs in the early 18th century. The height of Arab rule came during the reign of Sultan Seyyid Said, who moved his capital from Muscat to Zanzibar, established a ruling Arab elite, and encouraged the development of clove plantations, using the island's slave labor. Zanzibar and Pemba were world famous for their trade in spices and became known as the Spice Islands; in the early 20th century, they produced approximately 90% of the world's supply of cloves. Zanzibar was also a major transit point in the East African and Indian Ocean slave trade. (See Arab slave trade.) Zanzibar attracted ships from as far away as the United States, which established a consulate in 1833. The United Kingdom's early interest in Zanzibar was motivated by both commerce and the determination to end the slave trade. In 1822, the British signed the first of a series of treaties with Sultan Said to curb this trade, but not until 1876 was the sale of slaves finally prohibited. The Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty of 1890 made Zanzibar and Pemba a British protectorate, and the Caprivi Strip in Namibia became a German protectorate. British rule through a Sultan remained largely unchanged from the late 19th century until 1957, when elections were held for a largely advisory Legislative Council.

Independence and Union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar

Julius Nyerere, from the collection of The National Archives.
In 1954, Julius Nyerere, a school teacher who was then one of only two Tanganyikans educated to university level, organized a political party—the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU). On December 9, 1961, Tanganika became an independent Commonwealth realm, and Nyerere became Prime Minister, under a new constitution. On December 9, 1962, a republican constitution was implemented with Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere as Tanganyika's first president.
Zanzibar received its independence from the United Kingdom on December 10, 1963, as a constitutional monarchy under the Sultan. On January 12, 1964, 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.
In the first few days, between 5,000 and 15,000 Arabs and Asians were murdered, women were raped and their homes burned. Within a few weeks, a fifth of the population had died or fled.[14]
It was at this time that the Tanganyika army revolted and Britain was asked by Julius Nyerere to send in troops. Royal Marines Commandos were sent by air from England via Nairobi and 40 Commando came ashore from the aircraft carrier HMS Bulwark. Several months were spent with Commandos touring the country disarming military outposts. When the successful operation ended, the Royal Marines left to be replaced by Canadian troops.
On April 26, 1964, Tanganyika united with Zanzibar to form the United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar. The country was renamed the United Republic of Tanzania on October 29 of that year. The name Tanzania is a blend of Tanganyika and Zanzibar and previously had no significance. Under the terms of this union, the Zanzibar Government retains considerable local autonomy.

Recent history

To form a sole ruling party in both parts of the union, Julius 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, 1977. The merger was reinforced by principles enunciated in the 1982 union constitution and reaffirmed in the constitution of 1984.
Nyerere believed multiple political parties, in a nation with hundreds of ethnic groups, were a threat to national unity and therefore sought ways to ensure a one party system.[15] In a post-colonial and unstable social environment, Nyerere 'well aware of the divisiveness of ethnic chauvinism moved to excise tribalism from national politics' (Locatelli & Nugent, 2009: 252).[16] To further his aim for national unity Nyerere established Kiswahili as the national language.[17]
Nyerere used the Preventive Detention Act first to suppress trade unions and then to lock up any opponents when he wanted. People disappeared and total numbers were never published, but victims are estimated at thousands. International human rights organizations such as Amnesty International campaigned against repression in Tanzania.[18]
Nyerere introduced African socialism, or Ujamaa, literal meaning 'family-hood'. Nyerere's government had made Ujamaa the philosophy that would guide Tanzania's national development; 'the government deliberately de-emphasized urban areas to deconcentrate and ruralize industrial growth (Darkoh, 1994). the main urban area of Tanzania, Dar es Salaam, was for several long decades the main victim of this de-emphasis, largely because it 'remained for Nyerere a reminder of a colonial legacy (Myers, 2011: 44)[19]
Scope of the state expanded rapidly into virtually every sector. In 1967, nationalizations transformed the government into the largest employer in the country. It was involved from everything from retailing to import-export trade and even baking. This created an environment ripe for corruption.[20]
Cumbersome bureaucratic procedures multiplied and excessive tax rates set by officials further damaged the economy.[20] Enormous amounts of public funds were misappropriated and put to unproductive use.[20] Purchasing power declined at an unprecedented rate and even essential commodities became unavailable.[20] A system of permits (vibali) allowed officials to collect huge bribes in exchange for the vibali.[20]
A foundation for systemic corruption had been laid.[20] Officials became widely known as Wabenzi ("people of the Benz").
Nyerere's Tanzania had a close relationship with the People's Republic of China. In 1979 Tanzania declared war on Uganda after the Soviet-backed Uganda invaded and tried to annex the northern Tanzanian province of Kagera. Tanzania not only expelled Ugandan forces, but, enlisting the country's population of Ugandan exiles, also invaded Uganda itself. On April 11, 1979, Idi Amin was forced to quit the capital, Kampala, ending the Uganda-Tanzania War.[21] The Tanzanian army took the city with the help of the Ugandan and Rwandan guerrillas. Amin fled into exile. [1] By the mid-1979 corruption reached epidemic proportions as the economy collapsed.[20]
In October 1985 Nyerere handed over power to Ali Hassan Mwinyi, but retained control of the ruling party, Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM), as Chairman until 1990, when he handed that responsibility to Mwinyi. In 1990 a coalition of ethnic and cultural groups of Zanzibar demanded a referendum on independence. They declared that the merger with the mainland Tanzania, based on the now dead ideology of socialism, had transformed Zanzibar from a bustling economic power to a poor, neglected appendage.[14] Their demands were neglected.
However, the ruling party comfortably won the elections amid widespread irregularities[14] and its candidate Benjamin William Mkapa was subsequently sworn in as the new president of Tanzania in the country's ever multi-party election on 23 November 1995.[22][23] Contested elections in late 2000 led to a massacre in Zanzibar in January 2001, with the government shooting into crowds of protesters, killing 35 and injuring 600.[24] In December 2005, Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete was elected the 4th president for a five-year term.
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 tsunamis along Tanzania's coastline in which 11 people were killed. An oil tanker also temporarily ran aground in the Dar Es Salaam harbour, damaging an oil pipeline.
In 2008, a power surge cut off power to Zanzibar, resulting in the 2008 Zanzibar Power blackout.

HIV/AIDS

Main article: HIV/AIDS in Tanzania
The first cases of HIV/AIDS in Tanzania were reported in 1983. The epidemic has evolved from being a rare and new disease to a common household problem, which has affected most Tanzanian families. The development of the HIV/AIDS epidemic has its clear impact on all sectors of development through not only pressure on AIDS cases needing care and management of resources, but also through debilitation and depletion of the economically active population especially young women and men.[25]

See also

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OUR NATION TANZANIA ---- CIVICS FORM ONE BY. MWL. JAPHET MASATU.

OUR  NATION   TANZANIA--- CIVICS  FORM    ONE.

INTRODUCTION.
For the genus of spiders, see Tanzania (genus).
Coordinates: 6.307°S 34.854°E
United Republic of Tanzania
Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania  (Swahili)
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: "Uhuru na Umoja" (Swahili)
"Freedom and Unity"
Anthem: Mungu ibariki Afrika  (Swahili) God Bless Africa
Capital Dodoma
Largest city Dar es Salaam
Official languages
Demonym Tanzanian
Government Unitary presidential constitutional republic
 -  President Jakaya Kikwete
 -  Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda
Legislature National Assembly
Independence from the United Kingdom
 -  Tanganyika 9 December 1961 
 -  Zanzibar and Pemba 10 December 1963 
 -  Merger 26 April 1964 
 -  Current constitution 25 April 1977 
Area
 -  Total 945,203 km2 (31)
364,898 sq mi
 -  Water (%) 6.2
Population
 -  2012 census 44,928,923[2][note 2]
 -  Density 47.5/km2
123.1/sq mi
GDP (PPP) 2012 estimate
 -  Total $73.859 billion[3] (81)
 -  Per capita $1,566[3][note 3]
GDP (nominal) 2012 estimate
 -  Total $28.247 billion[3]
 -  Per capita $599[3]b
Gini (2007) 37.6[4] medium
HDI (2012) Increase 0.476[5] low · 152
Currency Tanzanian shilling (TZS)
Time zone EAT (UTC+3)
 -  Summer (DST) not observed (UTC+3)
Drives on the left
Calling code +255[note 4]
ISO 3166 code TZ
Internet TLD .tz
Tanzania /ˌtænzəˈniːə/, officially the United Republic of Tanzania (Swahili: Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania),[6] is a country in East Africa in the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north; Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west; and Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern border is formed by the Indian Ocean. Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain, is in northeastern Tanzania.
The country is divided into 30 administrative regions: five on the semi-autonomous islands of Zanzibar and 25 on the mainland in the former Tanganyika.[7] The head of state is President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, elected in 2005. Since 1996, the official capital of Tanzania has been Dodoma, where the National Assembly and some government offices are located.[8] Between independence and 1996, the main coastal city of Dar es Salaam served as the country's political capital. It remains Tanzania's principal commercial city and is the main location of most government institutions.[7][9] It is also the principal port of the country.[10]
Tanganyika and Zanzibar merged on 26 April 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar.[7] On 29 October of the same year, the country was renamed United Republic of Tanzania ('Tan' comes from Tanganyika and 'Zan' from Zanzibar).[7] The Articles of Union are the main foundation of Tanzania.

History

Main article: History of Tanzania
A 1.8 million years old stone chopping tool discovered at Olduvai Gorge and currently on display at the British Museum
The indigenous populations of east Africa are thought to be the Hadza and Sandawe hunter-gatherers of Tanzania, who speak languages with clicks.[11]:page 17
The first wave of migration was by Southern Cushitic speakers, who are ancestral to the Iraqw, Gorowa, and Burunge and who moved south from Ethiopia into Tanzania.[11]:page 17 Based on linguistic evidence, there may also have been two movements into Tanzania of Eastern Cushitic people at about 4,000 and 2,000 years ago, originating from north of Lake Turkana.[11]:pages 17–18
Archaeological evidence supports the conclusion that Southern Nilotes, including the Datoog, moved south from the present-day Sudan/Ethiopia border region into central northern Tanzania between 2,900 and 2,400 years ago.[11]:page 18
These movements took place at approximately the same time as the settlement of the iron-making Mashariki Bantu in the Lake Victoria and Lake Tanganyika areas. They brought with them the west African planting tradition, the primary staple of which were yams. They subsequently migrated out of these regions across the rest of Tanzania between 2,300 and 1,700 years ago.[11]:page 18[12]
Eastern Nilotes peoples, including the Maasai, represent a more recent migration from present day South Sudan within the past 1,500 to 500 years.[11]:page 18[13]
The people of Tanzania have been associated with the production of iron and steel. The Pare were the main producers of highly-demanded iron for peoples who occupied the mountain regions of northeastern Tanzania. The Haya people on the western shores of Lake Victoria invented a type of high-heat blast furnace, which allowed them to forge carbon steel at temperatures exceeding 1,820 °C (3,310 °F) more than 1,500 years ago.[14]
Travellers and merchants from the Persian Gulf and western India have visited the Southeast African coast since early in the first millennium AD. Islam was practised on the Swahili Coast as early as the eighth or ninth century AD.[15][16] In 1498, the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama visited Tanzanian coast. Later, in 1506, the Portuguese succeeded in controlling most of the Southeast African littoral. In 1699, the Portuguese were ousted from Zanzibar by Omani Arabs.
Claiming the coastal strip, Omani Sultan Seyyid Said moved his capital to Zanzibar City in 1840. During this time, Zanzibar became the centre for the Arab slave trade.[17] Between 65 and 90 percent of the population of Arab-Swahili Zanzibar was enslaved.[18] One of the most famous slave traders on the Southeast African coast was Tippu Tip. His mother, Bint Habib bin Bushir, was a Muscat Arab of the ruling class. His father and paternal grandfather were coastal Swahili who had taken part in the earliest trading expeditions to the interior.[19] The Nyamwezi slave traders operated under the leadership of Msiri and Mirambo.[20] According to Timothy Insoll, "Figures record the exporting of 718,000 slaves from the Swahili coast during the 19th century, and the retention of 769,000 on the coast."[21]
General Lettow-Vorbeck in Dar es Salaam with a British Officer (left) and German Officer (right), March 1919
In the late 19th century, Imperial Germany conquered the regions that are now Tanzania (minus Zanzibar) and incorporated them into German East Africa. The post–World War I accords and the League of Nations charter designated the area a British Mandate, except for the Kionga Triangle, a small area in the southeast that was incorporated into Portuguese East Africa (later Mozambique).
British rule came to an end in 1961 after a relatively peaceful (compared with neighbouring Kenya, for instance) transition to independence. In 1954, Julius Nyerere transformed an organisation into the politically oriented Tanganyika African National Union (TANU). Tanganyika African National Union's main objective was to achieve national sovereignty for Tanganyika. A campaign to register new members was launched, and within a year Tanganyika African National Union had become the leading political organisation in the country.
Uhuru Monument in Arusha
Nyerere became Minister of British-administered Tanganyika in 1960 and continued as Prime Minister when Tanganyika became independent in 1961. In 1967, Nyerere's first presidency took a turn to the left after the Arusha Declaration, which codified a commitment to socialism in Pan-African fashion. After the declaration, banks and many large industries were nationalised.
After the Zanzibar Revolution overthrew the Arab dynasty in neighbouring Zanzibar,[22] which had become independent in 1963, the archipelago merged with mainland Tanganyika on 26 April 1964.[23] The union of the two, hitherto separate, regions was controversial among many Zanzibaris (even those sympathetic to the revolution) but was accepted by both the Nyerere government and the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar owing to shared political values and goals.
From the late 1970s, Tanzania's economy took a turn for the worse. Tanzania was also aligned with China, which from 1970 to 1975 financed and helped build the 1,860-kilometre-long (1,160 mi) TAZARA Railway from Dar es Salaam to Zambia.[24] From the mid-1980s, the regime financed itself by borrowing from the International Monetary Fund and underwent some reforms. Since then, Tanzania's gross domestic product per capita has grown, and poverty has been reduced.[25]

Government

Union and mainland government

The parliament of Tanzania consists of two parts: the president and the National Assembly.[26]:§ 62(1)
The president and the members of the National Assembly are elected concurrently by direct popular vote for five-year terms.[26]:§ 42(2) The vice-president is elected for a five-year term at the same time as the president and on the same ticket.[26]:§§ 47(2), 50(1)
Neither the president nor the vice-president may be a member of the National Assembly.[26]:§ 66(2) The president appoints a prime minister to serve as the government's leader in the assembly.[26]:§§ 51(1), 52(2) The president selects his or her cabinet from assembly members.[26]:§ 55
All legislative power relating to mainland Tanzania and union matters is vested in the National Assembly,[26]:§ 64(1) which is unicameral and has a maximum of 357 members.[27] These include members elected to represent constituencies, the attorney general, five members elected by the Zanzibar house of representatives from among its own members, the special women's seats that constitute at least 30 percent of the seats that any party has in the assembly, the speaker of the assembly (if not otherwise a member of the assembly), and the persons (not more than ten) appointed by the president.[26]:§ 66(1) The Tanzania Electoral Commission demarcates the mainland into constituencies in the number determined by the commission with the consent of the president.[26]:§ 75

Zanzibar government

The semi-autonomous Zanzibar Archipelago
The legislative authority in Zanzibar over all non-union matters is vested in the house of representatives (per the Tanzania constitution)[26]:§ 106(3) or the Legislative Council (per the Zanzibar constitution).[28]: §§ 63(1), 78(1)
The house of representatives (or Legislative Council) has two parts: the president of Zanzibar and the members serving in the house.[26]:§ 107(1)-(2)[28]:§ 63(1) The president is Zanzibar's head of government and the chairman of the Revolutionary Council, in which the executive authority of Zanzibar is invested.[28]:§§ 5A(2), 26(1) Zanzibar has two vice-presidents, with the first being from the main opposition party in the house.[29] The second is from the party in power and is the leader of government business in the house.[citation needed]
The president and the members of the house of representatives have five-year terms.[28]:§ 28(2)
The president selects ministers from members of the house of representatives,[28]:§ 42(2) with the ministers allocated according to the number of house seats won by political parties.[29] The Revolutionary Council consists of the president, both vice-presidents, all ministers, the attorney general of Zanzibar, and other house members deemed fit by the president.[29]
The house of representatives is composed of elected members, ten members appointed by the president, all the regional commissioners of Zanzibar, the attorney general, and appointed female members whose number must be equal to 30 percent of the elected members.[28]:§§ 55(3), 64, 67(1) The house determines the number of its elected members[28]:§ 120(2) with the Zanzibar Electoral Commission determining the boundaries of each election constituency.[28]:§ 120(1) In 2013, the house has a total of 81 members: fifty elected members, five regional commissioners, the attorney general, ten members appointed by the president, and fifteen appointed female members.[27]

Judiciary

Tanzania has a four-level judiciary. Appeal is from the Primary Courts (first level) to the District Courts (mainland), the Resident Magistrates' Courts (mainland), or the Magistrates' Courts (Zanzibar) (second level).[30] From there, appeal is to the High Court of Mainland Tanzania or Zanzibar (third level) and finally to the Court of Appeal of Tanzania (fourth level).[30] All cases tried in Zanzibari courts, except for those involving Zanzibari constitutional issues and Islamic law, can be appealed to the Court of Appeal.[28]:§ 99(1)[30] A commercial court was established in September 1999 as a division of the High Court.
Judges are appointed by the Chief Justice of Tanzania, except for those of the Court of Appeal and the High Court, who are appointed by the president of Tanzania.

Administrative subdivisions

Main articles: Regions of Tanzania and Districts of Tanzania
The regions of Tanzania
In 1972, local government on the mainland was abolished and replaced with direct rule from the central government. Local government, however, was reintroduced in the beginning of the 1980s, when the rural councils and rural authorities were re-established. Local government elections took place in 1983, and functioning councils started in 1984. Two years after the first multi-party elections in 1995, there was a major public sector reform. These reforms included a Local Government Reform Programme (LGRP), setting "a comprehensive and ambitious agenda ... [covering] four areas: political decentralization, financial decentralization, administrative decentralization and changed central-local relations, with the mainland government having over-riding powers within the framework of the Constitution." The principal local government acts were amended by the National Assembly in 1999 as a part of the Local Government Reform Programme.[31]
Tanzania is divided into thirty regions (mkoa), twenty-five on the mainland and five in Zanzibar (three on Unguja, two on Pemba).[32][33] 169 districts (wilaya), also known as local government authorities, have been created. Of the 169 districts, 34 are urban units, which are further classified as three city councils (Arusha, Mbeya, and Mwanza), nineteen municipal councils, and twelve town councils.[2]
The urban units have an autonomous city, municipal, or town council and are subdivided into wards and mtaa. The non-urban units have an autonomous district council but are subdivided into village councils or township authorities (first level) and then into vitongoji.[31]
The city of Dar es Salaam is unique because it has a city council whose areal jurisdiction overlaps three municipal councils. The mayor of the city council is elected by that council. The twenty-member city council is composed of eleven persons elected by the municipal councils, seven members of the National Assembly, and "Nominated members of parliament under 'Special Seats' for women". Each municipal council also has a mayor. "The City Council performs a coordinating role and attends to issues cutting across the three municipalities", including security and emergency services.[34][35]

Politics

President Kikwete shares a light moment with PM Pinda at the latter's hometown
Main article: Politics of Tanzania
Tanzania is a one party dominant state with the Chama Cha Mapinduzi in power. Elections for president and all National Assembly seats were last held in October 2010. The Chama Cha Mapinduzi holds about 75 percent of the seats in the assembly.

Human rights

Main articles: Human rights in Tanzania and Persecution of people with albinism
According to a March 2013 news report, there has been an increase in attacks on people with albinism, related to uses in witchcraft. At least four attacks occurred in 2013 between 31 January and 15 February, although it is believed that hundreds more attacks go unreported each year. It is believed that the white skin of Albinos makes their body parts magical in potions.[36] Their body parts, which can sell for a total of US$75,000, are used in witchcraft.[37]

Economy

Main articles: Economy of Tanzania, Transport in Tanzania, and Microfinance in Tanzania

Banking

Bank of Tanzania Twin Towers
The Bank of Tanzania is the central bank of Tanzania and is primarily responsible for maintaining price stability, with a subsidiary responsibility for issuing Tanzanian shilling notes and coins.[38] The notes in circulation come in 10,000; 5,000; 2,000; 1,000; and 500 shilling denominations.[39]
At the end of 2011, the total assets of the Tanzanian banking industry was US$11.3 billion, a 17 percent increase over 2010.[40] FBME Bank Ltd. was the largest bank in Tanzania, with US$2.3 billion in assets.[40] CRDB Bank Plc. was the second largest, with US$1.7 billion in assets.[40] The remainder of the ten largest banks were, in decreasing order of size, the National Microfinance Bank Ltd. Plc., the National Bank of Commerce Ltd., Standard Chartered Bank Ltd., Exim Bank Ltd., Stanbic Bank Ltd., Citibank Ltd., Barclays Bank Ltd., and Diamond Trust Bank Ltd..[40]

Agriculture

The economy is heavily based on agriculture, which accounts for more than 25 percent of gross domestic product, provides 85 percent of exports, and employs 80 percent of the workforce.[7] 12.25 percent of the land is arable, but only 1.79 percent of the land is planted with permanent crops.[7] Maize dominates much of the country, with cassava, rice, millet, sorghum and coffee also grown. In future, improved varieties of commercial sorghum may replace maize in areas where rainfall declines due to climate change. Following lobbying by the Hope Project (led by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)), the government recently included improved varieties of sorghum in its seed subsidy programme and agreed to provide a fertiliser subsidy programme for sorghum for the first time. This means that the government will buy seed from seed companies and sell it to farmers at almost half the market price. Farmers have reported that improved sorghum varieties grow quickly, demand less labour and are more resistant to pests and diseases.[41] According to the 2002 National Irrigation Master Plan, 29.4 million hectares in Tanzania are suitable for irrigation farming; however, only 310,745 hectares in June 2011 were actually being irrigated.[42]

Mineral extraction

Songo Songo Gas Plant
Tanzania has vast amounts of minerals including gold, diamonds, coal, iron, uranium, nickel, chromium, tin, platinum, coltan, niobium, natural gas, and others.
Commercial production of natural gas from the Songo Songo Island in the Indian Ocean off the Rufiji Delta commenced in 2004,[43] with the gas being transported by pipeline to Dar es Salaam. The bulk of the gas is converted to electricity by both public utility and private operators. A new gas field is being brought on stream in Mnazi Bay.
It was announced in February 2012 that the collapsed volcano Mount Ngualla, approximately 200 kilometres (120 mi) north of Mbeya, contained one of the largest rare earths oxide deposits in the world.[44]
In 2011, Tanzania was the fifteenth-largest producer of gold in the world and the third-largest in Africa after South Africa and Ghana and just ahead of Mali.[45] The value of the gold produced in Tanzania in 2011 was over US$2.5 billion, representing 10.5 percent of the country's gross domestic product.[45]
The country is also known for Tanzanite, a type of precious gemstone that is found only in Tanzania.

Electricity generation

Prolonged drought during the early years of the 21st century has severely reduced electricity generation capacity (some 60 percent of Tanzania's electricity supplies are generated by hydro-electric methods).[46] During 2006, Tanzania suffered a crippling series of "load-shedding" or power-rationing episodes caused by a shortfall of generated power, largely because of insufficient hydro-electric generation.
Plans to increase gas- and coal-fuelled generation capacity are likely to take some years to implement, and growth is forecast to be increased to 7 percent or more per year.[47]

Aviation

Rovos Rail, a luxury train entering a tunnel on the TAZARA line
There are three major airlines in Tanzania: the Air Tanzania Corporation and Precision Air and Fastjet; all provide local flights to Arusha, Kigoma, Mtwara, Mwanza, Musoma, Shinyanga, Zanzibar and regional flights to Kigali, Nairobi and Mombasa. Fastjet is also flying to Johannesburg, There are also several charter firms and smaller airlines, such as Aurac Air Bold Aviation Ltd., Tropical Air and Coastal Aviation Ltd.

Railways

There are two railway companies: TAZARA provides service between Dar-es-Salaam and Kapiri Mposhi, a district of the Central Province in Zambia. The other one is the Tanzania Railways Corporation, which provides services between Dar-es-Salaam and Kigoma, a town on the shores of Lake Tanganyika and between Dar-es-Salaam and Mwanza, a city on the shores of Lake Victoria.

Ferries

Several modern hydrofoil boats provide transportation across the Indian Ocean between Dar-es-Salaam and Zanzibar.

Membership in regional organisations

Tanzania is part of the East African Community and a potential member of the planned East African Federation. Also a founding member of SADC (Southern African Development Community).

Child labour

Child labour is common in Tanzania with millions working.[48]:page 593 It is more common with girls rather than boys.[49] Girls are commonly employed as domestic servants, sometimes by force.[48]:page 594 Poor children in particular are trafficked internally for commercial sexual exploitation.[48]:page 594
Tanzania ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1991[50] and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child in 2003.[51] Tanzania then enacted the Law of the Child Act, 2009.[52] To help implement that Act and provide a mechanism for the reporting of children's rights violations, a free-of-charge helpline is available throughout the country.[53]

Geography

An elephant passing by Mt. Kilimanjaro. Tanzania is home to both the highest and lowest points on the continent
Lake Tanganyika is the deepest lake in Africa
Ngorongoro Crater, the world's largest inactive and intact volcanic caldera
Main articles: Geography of Tanzania and Tourism in Tanzania
At 947,300 square kilometres (365,800 sq mi), Tanzania is the world's 31st-largest country and the 13th largest in Africa.[54] Compared to other African countries, it is slightly smaller than Egypt and slightly larger than Nigeria.[54] Tanzania lies mostly between latitudes 1° and 12°S and longitudes 30° and 40°E.[55]
Tanzania is mountainous in the northeast, where Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest peak, is situated. Three of Africa's Great Lakes are partly within Tanzania. To the north and west lie Lake Victoria, Africa's largest lake, and Lake Tanganyika, the continent's deepest lake, known for its unique species of fish. To the southwest lies Lake Nyasa. Central Tanzania is a large plateau, with plains and arable land. The eastern shore is hot and humid, with the Zanzibar Archipelago just offshore.
Tanzania contains many large and ecologically significant wildlife parks and reserves,[56] including the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tarangire National Park, Lake Manyara National Park, and the Serengeti National Park[57] in the north and the Selous Game Reserve, Ruaha National Park, and Mikumi National Park in the south. Gombe Stream National Park in the west is known as the site of Dr. Jane Goodall's studies of chimpanzee behaviour.[58]
The government of Tanzania through its department of tourism has embarked on a campaign to promote the Kalambo water falls in the southwestern region of Rukwa as one of Tanzania's main tourist destinations. The Kalambo Falls are the second highest in Africa and are located near the southern tip of Lake Tanganyika. The Menai Bay Conservation Area is Zanzibar's largest marine protected area.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the government of Tanzania has chosen the Engaresero village on the western shores of Lake Natron to "exemplify the Maasai pastoral system given its singularity, integrity, high diversity of habitats and biodiversity."[59]

Climate

Main article: Climate of Tanzania
Tanzania has a tropical climate. In the highlands, temperatures range between 10 and 20 °C (50 and 68 °F) during cold and hot seasons respectively. The rest of the country has temperatures rarely falling lower than 20 °C (68 °F). The hottest period extends between November and February (25–31 °C or 77.0–87.8 °F) while the coldest period occurs between May and August (15–20 °C or 59–68 °F). Annual temperature is 20 °C (68.0 °F). The climate is cool in high mountainous regions.
Tanzania has two major rainfall regimes. One is uni-modal (October–April) and the other is bi-modal (October–December and March–May). The former is experienced in southern, central, and western parts of the country, and the latter is found in the north from Lake Victoria extending east to the coast. The bi-modal regime is caused by the seasonal migration of the Intertropical Convergence Zone.[60] In the bi-modal areas, the October–December rains are generally known as the short rains or Vuli in Kiswahili. The March–May rains are referred to as the long rains or Masika. In the uni-modal areas, the rainy season is usually referred to as Musumi.[61]

Biodiversity

The giraffe is the national animal
Main articles: Wildlife of Tanzania and Wildlife of Zanzibar
Tanzania has considerable wildlife habitat, including much of the Serengeti plain, where the white-bearded wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus mearnsi) and other bovids participate in a large-scale annual migration. Up to 250,000 wildebeest perish each year in the long and arduous movement to find forage in the dry season. Tanzania is also home to 130 amphibian and over 275 reptile species, many of them strictly endemic and included in the IUCN Red Lists of different countries.[62]
Tanzania has developed a Biodiversity Action Plan to address species conservation. A recently discovered species of elephant shrew called Grey-faced Sengi was filmed for the first time in 2005, and it was known to live in just two forests in the Udzungwa Mountains. In 2008, it was listed as "vulnerable" on the 2008 Red List of Threatened Species. Lake Natron in northern Tanzania is the largest breeding site for the threatened Lesser Flamingo, a huge community of which nest in the salt marshes of the lake. Areas of East African mangroves on the coast are also important habitats.

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Tanzania
The Bantu Sukuma are Tanzania's largest ethnic group.
According to the 2012 census, the total population was 44,928,923.[2] The under 15 age group represented 44.1 percent of the population.[55]
Population distribution is extremely uneven, with density varying from 1 person per square kilometre (3 /mi2) in arid regions to 51 per square kilometre (133 /mi2) in the well-watered mainland highlands, to 134 per square kilometre (347 /mi2) in Zanzibar.[citation needed] More than 80 percent of the population is rural.[citation needed] Dar es Salaam is the largest city and commercial capital. Dodoma, located in the centre of Tanzania, is the capital of the country and hosts the National Assembly.
The population consists of more than 120 ethnic groups, of which the Sukuma, Nyamwezi, Chagga, Nyakyusa, Haya, Hehe, Bena, Gogo, and the Makonde have more than 1 million members.[2] Other Bantu peoples include the Pare, Zigua, Shambaa, and Ngoni. The majority of Tanzanians, including the Sukuma and the Nyamwezi, are Bantu.[2] Cushitic peoples include the half million Iraqw. Nilotic peoples include the nomadic Maasai and Luo, both of which are found in greater numbers in neighbouring Kenya. The Sandawe speak a language that may be related to the Khoe languages of Botswana and Namibia, while the language of the Hadza, although it has similar click consonants, is a language isolate.[2]
The population also includes people of Arab, Indian, and Pakistani origin, and small European and Chinese communities.[63] Many also identify as Shirazis. Thousands of Arabs and Indians were massacred during the Zanzibar Revolution of 1964.[22] As of 1994, the Asian community numbered 50,000 on the mainland and 4,000 on Zanzibar. An estimated 70,000 Arabs and 10,000 Europeans resided in Tanzania.[64]
According to 2010 official Tanzania statistics, total fertility rate in Tanzania was 5.4 children born per woman with 3.7 in urban areas and 6.1 in rural areas.[65]

Largest cities

Largest cities or towns of Tanzania 2012 Census General Report, March 2013 Combined Final for Printing

Rank Name Region Pop.
Dar es Salaam Dar es Salaam Mwanza Mwanza 1 Dar es Salaam Dar es Salaam 4,364,541 Arusha Arusha Dodoma Dodoma
2 Mwanza Mwanza 706,543
3 Arusha Arusha 416,442
4 Dodoma Dodoma 410,956
5 Mbeya Mbeya 385,279
6 Morogoro Morogoro 315,866
7 Tanga Tanga 273,332
8 Kahama Shinyanga 242,208
9 Tabora Tabora 226,999
10 Zanzibar City Zanzibar West 223,033

Religion

Gaddafi Mosque in Dodoma is one of the largest mosques in the Great Lakes region
Azania Front Lutheran Church built by German missionaries in 1898
Main article: Religion in Tanzania
Current statistics on religion are unavailable because religious surveys were eliminated from government census reports after 1967. Religious leaders and sociologists estimate that Muslim and Christian communities are approximately equal in size, each accounting for 30 to 40 percent of the population, with the remainder consisting of practitioners of other faiths, indigenous religions, and people of no religion.[66]
According to recent estimates 35% of the population is Muslim, 30% is Christian and 35% practice the Traditional African religion.[67] Majority of the Muslims are Sunni with most of the remaining being Shia.[68]
The Christian population is mostly composed of Roman Catholics. Among Protestants, the large number of Lutherans, Seventh-Day Adventist Church and Pentecostal Churches and Moravians point to the German past of the country while the number of Anglicans point to the British history of Tanganyika. All of them have had some influence in varying degrees from the Walokole movement (East African Revival), which has also been fertile ground for the spread of charismatic and Pentecostal groups.[69]
Zanzibar is about 97 percent Muslim. On the mainland, Muslim communities are concentrated in coastal areas, with some large Muslim majorities also in inland urban areas especially and along the former caravan routes. A large majority of the Muslim population is Sunni. The Islamic population of Dar es Salaam, the largest and richest city in Tanzania, is composed of mainly Sunni Muslim.
There are also active communities of other religious groups, primarily on the mainland, such as Buddhists and Bahá'ís.[70]

Language

Main article: Languages of Tanzania
Swahili and English are the official languages of Tanzania. However, the former is the national language.[71] Swahili belongs to the Bantu branch of the Niger-Congo family.[72] English is still the language of higher courts.[1] It can, however, be considered a de facto official language. Tanzanians see themselves as having two "official" languages, English and Swahili. Swahili is seen as the unifying language of the country between people of different ethnic groups, who each have their own language; English serves the purpose of providing Tanzanians with the ability to participate in the global economy and culture. Over 100 different languages are spoken in Tanzania, including Sukuma, Makonde and Maasai.[73] The first language typically learned by a Tanzanian is that of his or her ethnic group, with Swahili and English learned thereafter.
According to the official linguistic policy of Tanzania, as announced in 1984, Swahili is the language of the social and political sphere as well as primary and adult education, whereas English is the language of secondary education, universities, technology, and higher courts.[1] Though the British government financially supports the use of English in Tanzania,[1] its usage in the Tanzanian society has diminished over the past decades: In the seventies Tanzanian university students used to speak English with each other, whereas now they almost exclusively use Swahili outside the classroom. Even in secondary school and university classes, where officially only English should be used, it is now quite common to use a mix of Swahili and English.
Other spoken languages are Indian languages, especially Gujarati, and Portuguese (spoken by Indians and Mozambicans, respectively) and to a lesser extent French (from neighbouring Rwanda, Burundi and Democratic Republic of the Congo). Historically German was widely spoken during that colonial period, but this practice is already forgotten.

Education

Nkrumah Hall at the University of Dar es Salaam, the nation's first university
Main article: Education in Tanzania
The literacy rate in Tanzania is estimated to be 73 percent.[74] Education is compulsory for seven years, until children reach age 15, but most children do not attend school this long, and some do not attend at all. In 2000, 57 percent of children age 5–14 years were attending school. As of 2006, 87.2 percent of children who started primary school were likely to reach grade 5.[75]

Health

Bombo Hospital in Tanga
Main articles: Healthcare in Tanzania and HIV/AIDS in Tanzania
Life expectancy at birth was estimated in 2013 to be 60.76 years.[7]
Depending on the source, the under-five mortality rate in 2010 was estimated to be either 76[76] or 81[77] out of 1,000. The leading cause of death in children under 5 years old in 2010 was pneumonia.[78] The other leading causes of death for these children were malaria, diarrhoea, and prematurity.[78]
The probability of dying between the ages of 15 and 60 was estimated in 2011 to be 363 in 1,000 men and 322 in 1,000 women.[78]
The HIV/AIDS epidemic is a significant problem in Tanzania; in 2009, the prevalence was estimated to be 5.6 percent of the adult population.[7] Anti-retroviral treatment coverage for people with advanced HIV infection was 30 percent in 2011 – 7 percent below the average for the continent.[79] According to the 2011 UNAIDS Report, HIV prevalence has declined among pregnant women attending antenatal clinics, young people (ages 15–24 years) and men in the general population.[80]
2006 data shows that 55 percent of the population had sustainable access to improved drinking water sources and 33 percent had sustainable access to improved sanitation.[79]

Culture

A Tingatinga painting
A Makonde elephant shetani
Main articles: Culture of Tanzania and Music of Tanzania
The music of Tanzania includes traditional African music, string-based taarab, and a distinctive hip hop known as bongo flava. Famous taarab singers are Abbasi Mzee, Culture Musical Club, Shakila of Black Star Musical Group. Internationally known traditional artists are Bi Kidude, Hukwe Zawose and Tatu Nane.
Tanzania has its own distinct African rumba music, termed muziki wa dansi ("dance music") where names of artists/groups like Tabora Jazz, Western Jazz Band, Morogoro Jazz, Volcano Jazz, Simba Wanyika, Remmy Ongala, Marijani Rajabu, Ndala Kasheba,[81] NUTA JAZZ, ATOMIC JAZZ, DDC Mlimani Park, Afro 70 & Patrick Balisidya,[82][83][84] Sunburst, Tatu Nane[85] and Orchestra Makassy must be mentioned in the history of Tanzanian music.
Tanzania has many writers. The list of writers' names includes well-known writers such as Godfrey Mwakikagile, Mohamed Said, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Prof. Julius Nyang'oro, Prof. Clement Ndulute, Prof. Frank Chiteji, Prof. Joseph Mbele,[86] Juma Volter Mwapachu, Prof. Issa Shivji, Jenerali Twaha Ulimwengu, Prof. Penina Mlama,[87] Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere, Adam Shafi, Dr. Malima M.P Bundala and Shaaban Robert.
Tanzania has remarkable position in art. Two styles became world known: Tingatinga and Makonde. Tingatinga are the popular African paintings painted with enamel paints on canvas. Usually the motifs are animals and flowers in colourful and repetitive design. The style was started by Mr. Edward Saidi Tingatinga born in South Tanzania. Later he moved to Dar Es Salaam. Since his death in 1972 the Tingatinga style expanded both in Tanzania and worldwide. Makonde is both a tribe in Tanzania (and Mozambique) and a modern sculpture style. It is known for the high Ujamaas (Trees of Life) made of the hard and dark ebony tree. Tanzania is also a birthplace of one of the most famous African artists – George Lilanga.

Cuisine

One of Tanzania's, and other parts of eastern Africa's, most common cultural dishes is Ugali. It is usually composed of corn and is similar in consistency to a stiff paste or porridge, giving it its second name of corn meal porridge. Mixtures of cassava and millet flours are locally used for ugali. Rice and cooked green bananas are also important staples. Beef, goat meat, beans, yoghurt and a wide range of fish and green leafy vegetables all add nutrients to the dishes.

Sports

The state of the art National Stadium which can accommodate 60,000 people
See also: Rugby union in Tanzania and Tanzania at the Olympics
Filbert Bayi and Suleiman Nyambui both won track and field medals in the 1980 Summer Olympics. Tanzania competes in the Commonwealth Games as well as in the African Championships in Athletics.
Football (soccer) is widely played all over the country with fans divided between two major clubs, Young African Sports Club (Yanga) and Simba Sports Club (Simba). Football is the most popular sport in Tanzania, despite the little success that has been achieved by the national team. To date, they have never qualified for the FIFA World Cup and have made just one appearance in the African Cup of Nations, back in 1980, where they finished last in their group with just 1 draw and 2 losses.
Basketball is also played but mainly in the army and schools. Hasheem Thabeet is a Tanzanian-born NBA player with the Oklahoma City Thunder. He is the first Tanzanian to play in the NBA. Cricket is a rapidly growing sport in Tanzania after hosting the ICC Cricket League division 4 in 2008, Tanzania finished with one win for the tournament, and Tanzania also has its own national team. Rugby is a minor sport in Tanzania. Tanzania now has a national team, which used to be part of the East Africa team, but was separated. The city of Arusha is home to Tanzanian rugby, and the city was host to the 2007 Castel Beer Trophy competition.

See also

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Notes

  1. In higher education and the higher courts.
  2. Population estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected.
  3. Based on a 2006 population estimate for 2012 of 47.1 million instead of the 2012 census result of 44.9 million.
  4. +007 from Kenya and Uganda.
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