Tanzania

Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania United Republic of Tanzania
Coat of arms of Tanzania Flag Coat of arms
Motto: "Uhuru na Umoja"  (Swahili) "Freedom and Unity"
Anthem: Mungu ibariki Afrika "God Bless Africa"
Capital	Dodoma (Dar es Salaam) 6°00′S 35°00′E
Largest city	Dar es Salaam
Official languages	Swahili (de facto), English
Government	Republic
- President	Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete
- Prime Minister	Edward Lowassa
Independence	from the United Kingdom
- Tanganyika	December 9, 1961
- Zanzibar	December 19, 1963
- Merger	April 26, 1964
Area
- Total	945,087 km² (31st) 364,898 sq mi
- Water (%)	6.2
Population
- November 2006 estimate	37,849,1331
- 2002 census	34,443,603
- Density	41/km² 106/sq mi
GDP (PPP)	2005 estimate
- Total	$27.12 billion
- Per capita	$723
HDI  (2004)	0.430 (low)
Currency	Tanzanian shilling (TZS)
Time zone	EAT (UTC+3)
- Summer (DST)	not observed (UTC+3)
Internet TLD	.tz
Calling code	+2552
1 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. 2 007 from Kenya and Uganda.

Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country on the east coast of Africa. The country is named after Tanganyika, its mainland part, and the Zanzibar islands off its east coast. In 1964, Tanganyika united with Zanzibar, forming the United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, later renamed the United Republic of Tanzania. Though rich in wildlife, the country is poor in natural resources, with 80 percent of the population relying on agriculture to survive.

Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest peak, is situated in the northeast. To the north and west are the Great Lakes of Lake Victoria (Africa's largest lake) and Lake Tanganyika (Africa's deepest lake, known for its unique species of fish).

The socialist policies of the first president, Julius Nyerere, severely hampered economic growth; though those policies were largely abandoned in 1985, their effects linger in terms of low levels of foreign investment. The government is still completely dominated by one ruling party, with the opposition intimidated and harassed.

A German colony from the 1880s until 1919, the area subsequently became a British Mandate from 1919 to 1961. Julius Nyerere became minister of British-administered Tanganyika in 1960 and continued as prime minister when Tanganyikia became independent in 1961. Tanganyika and neighboring Zanzibar, which had become independent in 1963, merged to form the nation of Tanzania on April 26, 1964. Nyerere, a Marxist with close ties to the People's Republic of China, introduced African socialism, or Ujamaa, which emphasized justice and equality; it proved economically disastrous, leading to food shortages as collective farms failed under Nyerere's rule.

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.

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 by the time the Arab slavers, European explorers, and missionaries penetrated the interior in the first half of the 19th century.

The coastal area first felt the impact of foreign influence as early as the eighth century, when Arab traders arrived. By the twelfth century, 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 that held ascendancy until the Portuguese destroyed it in the early 1500s.

The Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama explored the East African coast in 1498 on his voyage to India. By 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.

Tanganyika

Tanganyika as a geographical and political entity did not take shape before the period of 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 Tanganyika.

In 1698 and again in 1725 the Omanis ousted the Portuguese from the trading ports on East Africa's coast, most notably from Kilwa and Zanzibar. During the eighteenth century, Zanzibar had emerged as the dominant port of the region. Trade in general had prospered, and a chain of coastal trading towns, among them Tanga and Bagamoyo, had emerged. Bagamoyo, a name derived from the term "Bwaga Moyo" which means "throw your heart away", was a port for shipping slaves.

In 1841, Sultan Sayyid Said moved his capital from Muscat to Zanzibar; with him came many Arabs who invigorated the economy. In 1856, the Sultanate of Zanzibar was separated from the Sultanate of Oman; the island of Pemba as well as the coastal lands, including Kilwa, belonged to Zanzibar. Arab traders established caravan routes into the interior, using camels. Slaves were among the most profitable trading goods.

The port of Zanzibar was visited by Dutch, English, and French ships. The British East India Company had a representative on Zanzibar, who acted as an advisor to the sultan. In 1873 a British fleet forced Sultan Barghash to declare the end of the slave trade. Although reduced, an illegal slave trade continued.

In 1848 the German missionary Johannes Rebmann discovered Mount Kilimanjaro; in 1858 Richard Burton and John Speke discovered and mapped Lake Tanganyika.

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. The fact that this station had been established and supplied from Zanzibar and Bagamoyo led to the inclusion of East Africa in the territory of the Conventional Basin of the Congo at the Berlin Conference of 1885.

At the conference table in Berlin, contrary to widespread perception, Africa was not partitioned; rather rules were established among the colonial powers and prospective colonial powers on 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 East Africa and in 1886 partitioned that region among themselves; the Sultanate of Zanzibar, now reduced to the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba, remained independent for the moment.

The Maji Maji War

As all resistance to the Germans in the interior ceased, they could set out to organize Deutsch Ost Afrika. They continued exercising their authority with such disregard and contempt for existing local structures and traditions and with such brutality that in 1902 a movement against forced labor started along the Rufiji River and spread. Known as the Maji Maji war, this was a merciless rebellion and by far the bloodiest in Tanganyika, with indiscriminate murders and massacres perpetrated by all sides against farmers, settlers, missionaries, planters, villages, indigenous people, and peasants.

Battle of Tanga, fought between the British and Germans during World War I.

The route to independence

After Germany's defeat in World War I, the mandate to administer the former German colony was conferred to the United Kingdom by the League of Nations. The United Kingdom transferred the Provinces of Ruanda and Urundi, in the northwest, to Belgium. These provinces contained nearly half the population and more than half the cattle of the colony. 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 in 1946.

British policy was to rule indirectly, i.e. through African leaders. In 1926, a Legislative Council was established to advise the governor. The British 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.

Tanganyika first achieved autonomy and then full independence from the United Kingdom in 1961. In 1963, Zanzibar achieved independence from the United Kingdom in the form of a constitutional monarchy under the sultan, but a popular revolt in 1964 against the sultan soon led to the unification of Zanzibar with Tanganyika to form the United Republic of Tanzania.

At the time of independence, Tanzania had only twelve university graduates.

Recent history

In 1967, Nyerere embarked on a policy of "self-reliance," based on cooperative farm villages and nationalization of factories, plantations, banks, and other private enterprises, based on the East bloc model of development. The program failed completely, due to corruption, inefficiency, and tribal resistance, and was dismantled by Nyerere's successor.

In 1979, Tanzania declared war on Uganda after Uganda tried to annex the northern Tanzanian province of Kagera. Tanzania not only expelled Ugandan forces but invaded Uganda itself, overthrowing Idi Amin with the help of Ugandan and Rwandan guerrillas. Amin fled into exile.[1]

Nyerere handed over his 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. In December 2005, Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete was elected the fourth 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.

Politics

Tanzania's president and National Assembly members are elected concurrently by direct popular vote for five-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 ten non-elected members of Parliament, who also are eligible to become cabinet members. Elections for president and all National Assembly seats were held in December 2005.

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 forty-eight 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 seventy-six members in the House of Representatives in Zanzibar, including fifty elected by the people, ten appointed by the president of Zanzibar, five 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 ten to fifteen, which will increase the number of House of Representatives members to eighty-one. 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 five 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.

In 1996, Tanzania's capital was officially moved from Dar es Salaam to Dodoma, although many government offices still remain in the old capital.

Administrative divisions

For administrative purposes, Tanzania is divided into twenty-six regions (mkoa), twenty-one on the mainland and five on Zanzibar. Ninety-eight districts, each with at least one council have been created to further increase local authority; the councils are also known as local government authorities. Currently there are 114 councils operating in ninety-nine districts; twenty-two are urban and ninety-two are rural.

Tarangire National Park in Tanzania

Geography

Tanzania is bordered by Kenya and Uganda on the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique on the south. To the east it borders the Indian Ocean. It is the world's 31st-largest country (after Egypt), comparable in size to Nigeria and about half the size of the US state of Alaska.

Tanzania is mountainous in the northeast. Central Tanzania comprises a large plateau, with plains and arable land. The eastern shore is hot and humid, with the island of Zanzibar lying just offshore.

Tanzania contains many large and ecologically significant wildlife parks, including the famous Ngorongoro Crater, Serengeti National Park in the north, and Selous Game Reserve and Mikumi National Park in the south. Gombe National Park in the west is known as the site of Dr. Jane Goodall's studies of chimpanzee behavior.

Map of Tanzania

Summit of Mount Kilimanjaro.

Economy

File:Irenteviewpoint.jpg

Irente viewpoint, Lushoto, Tanga Region.

Ngurdoto Crater at Arusha National Park in Tanzania, East Africa.

The economy is heavily dependent on agriculture, which accounts for half of GDP, provides 85 percent of exports, and employs 90 percent of the work force. Topography and climatic conditions, however, limit cultivated crops to only 4 percent of the land area. Industry is mainly limited to processing agricultural products and light consumer goods. The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and bilateral donors have provided funds to rehabilitate Tanzania's deteriorated economic infrastructure.

Tanzania has vast amounts of natural resources including gold deposits. It also has beautiful national parks that remain undeveloped. Growth from 1991 to 1999 featured a pickup in industrial production and a substantial increase in output of minerals, led by gold. Commercial production of natural gas from the Songo Songo island in the Indian Ocean commenced in 2004, [2]with natural gas being pumped in a pipeline to the commercial capital Dar es Salaam. The bulk of it is converted to electricity by the public utility and private operators. A new gas field is being brought onstream in Mnazi Bay whose estimated reserves significantly exceed those of the Songo Songo gas field.

Recent public sector and banking reforms, and revamped and new legislative frameworks have all helped increase private-sector growth and investment. Short-term economic progress also depends on curbing corruption and cutting back on unnecessary public spending [3].

Prolonged drought during the early years of the twenty-first century has severely reduced electricity generation capacity (some 60 percent of Tanzania's electricity supplies are generated by hydro electric schemes [4]. During 2006 Tanzania suffered a crippling series of "load-shedding" or power rationing because of the shortfall of generated power, largely because of insufficient hydro electric generation. The impact of this power gap is estimated to have reduced national GDP growth by at least 4 percent to 5.9 for 2006. Plans to increase gas and coal fuelled generation capacity are likely to take some years to implement, and growth is forecast to increase to 7 percent per year, and perhaps 8 or more. [5]

Demographics

Population distribution in Tanzania is extremely uneven. Density varies from 1 person per square kilometer (3/mi²) in arid regions to 51 per square kilometer (133/mi²) in the mainland's well-watered highlands to 134 per square kilometer (347/mi²) on Zanzibar. More than 80 percent of the population is rural. Dar es Salaam is the largest city and the commercial capital; Dodoma, located in the center of Tanzania, is the new capital and houses the Union's Parliament. Zanzibar Town houses the Zanzibar Parliament.

The African population consists of more than 120 ethnic groups, of which the Sukuma, Haya, Nyakyusa, Nyamwezi, and Chagga have more than one million members. The majority of Tanzanians have Bantu origins. 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 people of the Kalahari in southern Africa. Cushitic-speaking peoples, originally from the Ethiopian highlands, reside in a few areas of Tanzania. Other Bantu groups were refugees from Mozambique.

Although much of Zanzibar's African population came from the mainland, one group known as Shirazis claims its origins to be the supposed island's early Persian settlers. Non-Africans residing on the mainland and Zanzibar account for 1 percent of the total population. The Asian community, including Hindus, Sikhs, Shi'ites and Sunni Muslims, and Goans, has declined by 50 percent in the past decade to fifty thousand on the mainland and four thousand on Zanzibar. An estimated seventy thousand Arabs and ten thousand Europeans reside in Tanzania.

Languages

Each ethnic group has its own language. No language is de jure official, but Swahili is the national language, used for intertribal communication and for official matters; thus Swahili is de facto official. After independence, English, the language of colonial administration during the era of British rule, was still used for some official issues, and was thus considered de facto official alongside Swahili. As official usage of English has greatly diminished over during the first thirty years following independence, and it was more common to regard Swahili as the only de facto official language. However the political reforms which turned Tanzania away from a closed and socialist environment and a centrally planned economy inevitably resulted in a dramatic opening up of the country. The attendant growth of the private sector and new investment has resulted in English having increasing importance, and there are a plethora of schools in which English is the medium of instruction. Universities all use English as the medium of instruction, which often causes problems for students who have previously only taken English as a subject in school. Other spoken languages are Indian languages, especially Gujarati, and Portuguese (both spoken by Mozambican blacks and Goans).

It is hard to say which is the largest religion in Tanzania, since this question, together with tribal affiliation, has not been included in the national census. According to the CIA Factbook, Muslims account for 35 percent of the population, an estimated 30 percent of the population is Christian, and 35 percent adheres to traditional faiths. On Zanzibar, the population is 99 percent Muslim.

Culture

The head of a wildebeest in Tanzania.

Taarab Music[6] is a fusion of Swahili tunes sung in rhythmic poetic style spiced with Arabic or, at times, Indian melodies. It is an extremely lively art form springing from a classical culture, still immensely popular with women, drawing all the time from old and new sources. Taarab forms a major part of the social life of the Swahili people along the coastal areas; especially Zanzibar, Tanga, and even further in Mombasa and Malindi along the Kenya coast. Wherever the Swahili-speaking people traveled, Tarabu culture moved with them. It has penetrated as far as Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi in the interior of East Africa, where taarab groups compete in popularity with other Western-music inspired groups.

In recent years, a new generation of musicians has emerged that is coming up with popular tunes that are Tanzanian in composition. Bands like Twanga Pepeta have managed to curve a new tune, distinct from imported Zairean tunes, and are competing with Zairean bands in popularity and audience acceptance.

The mushrooming of FM music stations and reasonable production studios has been a major boost to the music industry in the country. Contemporary artists command a huge audience.

Education

Education consists of seven years of compulsory primary education, four years of junior secondary , two years of senior secondary, and up to three or more years of tertiary education, which includes courses offered by higher education institutions. But there are shortages of schools, teachers, books, and instructional materials to meet the demand. UNICEF reported that primary school attendance was 47 percent for boys and 51 percent for girls. But only 2 percent of boys and 3 percent of girls attend secondary schools.

Children are required to learn both Kiswahili and English. English is taught as a compulsory subject in primary grades, whereas in post-primary education it is the medium of instruction.

Media

The Daily News is the oldest newspaper in Tanzania and is state-run, while Televisheni ya Taifa is the state-run television network. Radio Tanzania Dar es Salaam is Tanzania's state-run radio network. Tanzania also has many private-run media outlets, and broadcasts from the BBC Radio, Voice of America, and Deutsche Welle can also be heard.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Roland Oliver and Anthony Atmore, Africa Since 1800, 5th ed., 2005. Cambridge University Press, New York, NY. ISBN 0521544742

External links

Government

• The United Republic of Tanzania official site
• Tanzania without Poverty - A plain language guide to Tanzania's Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper

MDAs

• Public Service Management

Institutions

• International School Moshi, Kilimanjaro & Arusha
• The East African
• TTB Tanzania Tourist Board
• NDC
• TANAPA Tanzania National Parks Authority
• National Land Use Planning Commission
• ICTThe National information and Communication Technologies
• Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange
• DAWASA
• Lake Victoria Environmental Management Project
• TRA Tanzania Revenue Authority
• NHC National Housing Corporation
• AICC Arusha International Conference Centre
• Tanzania Socio-economic Database
• TFDA Tanzania Food and drugs authority
• Economic and Social Research Foundation (ESRF)
• NBS National Bureau of Statistics Tanzania
• NECTA National Examinations Council of Tanzania
• District Health Service and Health Sector Reform Secretariat
• Tanzania Meteorological Agency
• TIETanzania Institute of Education
• NACP National AIDS Control Programme
• REPOA Research on Poverty Alleviation
• Hakikazi Catalyst Leading Civil Society Organisation
• HKMU The Hubert Kairuki Memorial University
• TIC The Tanzania Investment Centre,

News

• President Jakaya Kikwete The Top headlines from the major Tanzanian
• Daily News Tanzania Standard
• IPP Media
• ThisDay
• Arusha Times
• AllAfrica.com - Tanzania news headline links
• The Express Online weekly newspaper
• Tanzania News The Top headlines from the major Tanzanian newspapers.

Media

• TVT Televisheni ya Taifa
• TVZ Television Zanzibar
• ITV Independent Television
• StarTV Star Television
• 5EATV Channel 5
• Tanga Television (TATV)
• Channel 10
• RTD Radio Tanzania Dar es Salaam
• Radio One
• East Africa Radio
• Habari Tanzania Tanzania news in Swahili

Business

• Confederation of Tanzanian Industries
• CIA World Factbook - Tanzania
• Open Directory Project - Tanzania directory category.
• US State Department - Tanzania includes Background Notes, Country Study and major reports.
• Detailed map of Tanzania towns, rivers & lakes: map at University of Texas (2003).
• Tanzania Economic Forum
• Tanzania Links

Overviews

• BBC News Country Profile - Tanzania
• Tanzania Links- Tanzania Websites

Tourism

• Travel guide to Tanzania from Wikitravel

Wildlife and Protected Areas

• Tanzania National Parks - TANAPA
• Wildlife of Tanzania - photos

Credits

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