Editing United Republic of Tanzania

{{Infobox country|name=United Republic of Tanzania|native_name=Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania|image_flag=Flag of Tanzania.svg|image_coat=Coat of arms of Tanzania.svg|capital=Dodoma|largest_city=Dar es Salaam|mode_of_production=[[Capitalism]]|image_map=Tanzania map.svg|map_width=260|official_languages=Swahili<br>English|area_km2=947,303|population_estimate=65,642,682|population_estimate_year=2023}}

'''Tanzania''', officially the '''United Republic of Tanzania''', is a country in East Africa bordering [[Republic of Kenya|Kenya]], [[Republic of Uganda|Uganda]], [[Republic of Rwanda|Rwanda]], [[Republic of Burundi|Burundi]], [[Republic of Zambia|Zambia]], [[Malawi]], and [[Mozambique]]. It was originally a [[German Empire (1871–1918)|German]] colony before being occupied by the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland|British]] in the [[First World War]].

== History ==

=== Early history ===
Prehistoric human habitation in the area of what is now Tanzania stretches back to include not only anatomically modern humans, but also archaic human ancestors and predecessors dating back millions of years. For example, Ngorongoro Conservation Area in Tanzania contains various fossils and artefacts associated with some of the earliest human ancestors, including early hominid footprints dating back 3.6 million years.<ref>[https://www.ncaa.go.tz/olduvai-gorge/ "Olduvai Gorge: Overview."] Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority, The United Republic of Tanzania. [https://web.archive.org/web/20240417192018/https://www.ncaa.go.tz/olduvai-gorge/ Archived] 2024-04-17.</ref><ref name=":0">[https://www.de.tzembassy.go.tz/tanzania/brief-history "Brief History."] Embassy of the United Republic of Tanzania, Berlin, Germany. [https://web.archive.org/web/20240421143611/https://www.de.tzembassy.go.tz/tanzania/brief-history Archived] 2024-04-21.</ref><ref>[https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/39/ "Ngorongoro Conservation Area."] UNESCO.</ref>

Approximately 10,000 years ago, Tanzania was populated by hunter-gatherer communities who spoke Khosian, joined about 5000 years ago by Cushitic-speaking people. About 2000 years ago, Bantu speaking people began arriving from western Africa in a series of migrations. Later, Nilotic pastoralists began arriving in the region.<ref name=":0" /> 

By 1500, most of the people of western Tanzania were ruled by chiefs, who, in general, were responsible for making political decisions, handing down legal rulings, and keeping the community safe.<ref name=":1">[https://exploringafrica.matrix.msu.edu/curriculum/unit-five/module-twenty-six/module-twenty-six-activity-two-2/ "The History of Tanzania."] Module Twenty Six, Activity Two, Exploring Africa. [https://web.archive.org/web/20240603123934/https://exploringafrica.matrix.msu.edu/curriculum/unit-five/module-twenty-six/module-twenty-six-activity-two-2/ Archived] 2024-06-03.</ref>

Tanzania's eastern side is coastal, lying on the [[Indian Ocean]]. This position made the area a point of contact between many different cultures and nations for many centuries via trade routes, which has had various impacts on the region's history. Trade along the East African coast by Bantu speaking peoples living there in the first centuries of the 1st millennium during the region's Iron Age resulted in people moving in greater numbers to the coast, spreading influence in art and architecture, along with the Bantu language of Swahili.<ref name=":2">Cartwight, Mark. [https://www.worldhistory.org/Swahili_Coast/ "Swahili Coast."] World History Encyclopedia, 2019-04-01. [https://web.archive.org/web/20240529164418/https://www.worldhistory.org/Swahili_Coast/ Archived] 2024-05-29.</ref>

Over time, a number of city-states had arisen on the East African coast. The influence of Islam and Arabic came to the coast with Arab traders in the 7th century. At the height of their influence in the 12th-15th century, the coastal city-states traded with African tribes extending to inland locations (such as to Great Zimbabwe via Sofala), as well as extended to Arabia, Persia, India, and China across the Indian Ocean.<ref name=":2" />

=== Portuguese disruptions ===
When the Portuguese arrived in the region, they aimed to achieve total control of the Indian Ocean trade networks. The Portuguese sank ships, destroyed cities, built forts, and exploited rivalries between states, creating major disruptions in the long-established trade networks, as well as attempting to move inland and causing similar disruptions to other peoples, such as targeting the Mutapa state in what is now Zimbabwe. Over time, the Portuguese shifted much of their focus to what is now Mozambique, the southern neighbor of modern Tanzania.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Web citation|author=Mark Cartwright|newspaper=World History Encyclopedia|title=The Portuguese in East Africa|date=2021-07-15.|url=https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1798/the-portuguese-in-east-africa/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240430064838/https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1798/the-portuguese-in-east-africa/|archive-date=2024-04-30}}</ref>

=== Colonization ===
The Portuguese disrupted and colonized the Tanzanian coast for approximately two centuries (circa 1500-1700) until they were ousted by a coalition of the local people and the [[Sultanate of Oman|Omani]] Arabs. Following this, the Omani Arabs occupied Zanzibar and the coast as well as claiming some inland areas.<ref>Mulokozi, M.M. [https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000139564 "Study report on the common oral traditions of Southern Africa: a survey of Tanzanian oral traditions."] UNESCO, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, 1999. [https://web.archive.org/web/20240602064413/https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000139564/PDF/139564engo.pdf.multi Archived] 2024-06-02.</ref>

By the 1800s, there was an increase of British, French, and German activity in the region. The British were active in the Indian Ocean trade. The French were purchasers of slaves for their colonies in the region (though the French officially banned the slave trade in 1822). Europeans began exploring the interior of the country in the mid-1800s, including groups of Christian missionaries. Germany began to establish their presence on the mainland in the late 1800s,<ref name=":1" /> largely through the efforts of the German Colonization Society founded by future colonial governor, Dr. Karl Peters.<ref name=":3">{{Web citation|author=Alys Beverton|newspaper=BlackPast|title=Maji Maji Uprising (1905-1907)|date=2009-06-21|url=https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/maji-maji-uprising-1905-1907/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240222021404/https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/maji-maji-uprising-1905-1907/|archive-date=2024-02-22}}</ref>

Tanzania underwent two periods of formal colonial rule by European powers, first by Germany as part of German East Africa from 1888-1919, and second by Britain from 1919-1961. The region was made a League of Nations mandate after Germany's defeat in the First World War, with colonial control transferred to the British. Under British rule the region was renamed to Tanganyika Territory. Following the Second World War, Tanganyika became a "trust territory" under UN monitoring, with Britain as its administering power.<ref>McCarthy, D. M. P. [https://archive.org/details/colonialbureaucr0000mcca/ "Colonial bureaucracy and creating underdevelopment: Tanganyika, 1919-1940."] The Iowa State University Press, 1982.</ref><ref name=":4">[https://www.jp.tzembassy.go.tz/resources/view/every-december-9th-is-the-commemoration-of-tanganyika-independence-day "Every December 9th : is the Commemoration of Tanzania Mainland Independence Day."] Embassy of Tanzania in Tokyo, Japan, 2023-12-09. [https://web.archive.org/web/20240530050154/https://www.jp.tzembassy.go.tz/resources/view/every-december-9th-is-the-commemoration-of-tanganyika-independence-day Archived] 2024-05-30.</ref><ref name=":0" />

==== German rule ====
Germany ruled the mainland of Tanzania as "German East Africa" until the end of the First World War, while Zanzibar became a British protectorate. Initially, German colonial rule was via the imperial charter of the German East Africa Company, but by 1891, governance was changed over to the German government itself.<ref name=":1" />

The Germans used forced labor to construct infrastructure such as roads and railway systems, and instructed villages to grow cotton as a cash crop instead of traditionally grown food crops, and subjected the population to high taxation, enforced through repression and violence. The policies and practices of German rule were extremely unpopular with the local people, and the German colonizers were met with significant resistance.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" />

==== Maji Maji Uprising ====
The Maji Maji Uprising (also called the Maji Maji War or Rebellion) occurred from 1905-1907. It was a significant resistance to the invasion by the Germans, with tensions boiling over after a drought worsened the already harsh conditions created by German rule. The uprisings began with attacks on German outposts and destroying cotton crops.<ref name=":1" />

The rebellion spread all throughout the colony, eventually involving 20 ethnic groups who wanted to oust the colonizers. In August 1905, several thousand warriors attacked a German stronghold, but failed to overrun it. The German response was brutal, killing men, women, and children and adopting famine as a weapon. It is estimated that between 75,000 and 120,000 Africans were killed and many more were displaced from their homes during this two-year period of revolt against German rule.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" />

Although the uprising was ultimately unsuccessful, the German government was pressured to institute some reforms. Furthermore, the uprising would become an inspiration for later freedom fighters against European colonial rule.<ref name=":3" />

==== First World War ====
After the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, British and Belgian troops occupied most of German East Africa. With the defeat of Germany, the League of Nations gave Britain control of the region that is now Tanzania, while the areas that are today Rwanda and Burundi were handed over to Belgian rule.<ref name=":1" />

==== British rule ====

When Britain took over control of part of former German East Africa following the First World War, they renamed it to Tanganyika. Like most of their colonies, the British established control of Tanganyika under the policy of "indirect rule" wherein colonial administrators ruled through local leaders. An article by the African Studies Center at Michigan State University summarizes indirect rule and its effects in Tanganyika as follows:<blockquote>Basically stated, indirect rule was a way for colonial administrators to rule through local African leaders. In this way the British could exert their authority over a colony with minimal resources and also avoid direct confrontation with the larger African population. This approach, however, assumed that all groups being governed had a centralized, hierarchical system of political organization, that is to say a leader or governing structure with authority over the whole group. This was not the case with all ethnic groups in Tanganyika. Consequently, the British had to impose an invented hierarchy on these groups, and this led further destabilization in the colony.<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>As was described in a paper by Jwani Timothy Mwaikusa, "Colonialism [...] distorted and altered the role and functions of indigenous institutions and traditional authorities to serve colonial purposes [...] even the sentiments against colonial rule sometimes manifested themselves in forms of defiance against tribal institutions and authorities."<ref name=":5">{{Citation|author=Jwani Timothy Mwaikusa|year=1995|title=Towards Responsible Democratic Government: Executive Powers and Constitutional Practice in Tanzania 1962-1992|pdf=https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/33778/1/11010551.pdf|publisher=Law Department, School of Oriental and African Studies}}</ref>

The Native Authority Ordinance of 1926 established "Native Authorities" considering traditional chiefs to be rulers of their tribes and giving them some powers of legal authority in their jurisdictions. As one modern-day Tanzanian government pamphlet describes, "The chiefs were groomed in such a way as to prop the colonial government."<ref name=":6">{{Citation|title=History of Local Government in Tanzania|pdf=https://www.tamisemi.go.tz/storage/app/media/uploaded-files/History-of-Local-Government-In-Tanzania.pdf|city=United Republic of Tanzania|publisher=President's Office Regional Administration and Local Government (PO-RALG)}}</ref>

In 1929, the Tanganyika African Association (TAA) was formed as a social organization; it would later be reoriented in the 1950s to become the political organization known as Tanganyika African National Union (TANU).<ref name=":7">{{Citation|author=Gabriel Ruhumbika (editor)|year=1974|title=Towards Ujamaa: Twenty Years of Tanu Leadership|title-url=https://archive.org/details/towardsujamaatwe0000gabr|publisher=East African Literature Bureau}}</ref>

==== Second World War ====

==== Trust territory under British rule ====
Following the Second World War, along with the other remaining League of Nations mandates, Tanganyika became a United Nations (UN) trust territory, with Britain as its administering power.<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=United Nations|title=List of former Trust and Non-Self-Governing Territories|url=https://www.un.org/dppa/decolonization/en/history/former-trust-and-nsgts}}</ref> Under the terms of the trust agreement, Britain nominally had the responsibility of preparing Tanganyika for independence, and was considered accountable to the UN's Trusteeship Council in that regard, though in practice the British governed Tanganyika similarly to their other colonies.<ref name=":5" /> As a trust territory, the government of Tanganyika had to report every three years to the UN's Trusteeship Council as well as be periodically assessed by a visiting mission from the Council to study the trust territory's conditions.<ref name=":8">{{Citation|author=Sophia Mustafa|year=1961|title=The Tanganyika Way|title-url=https://archive.org/details/tanganyikaway0000unse|city=Dar es Salaam|publisher=East African Literature Bureau}}</ref>

In 1953, a Local Government Ordinance was passed, creating municipal, town and district councils.<ref name=":6" /> The colonial government sought to secure the position of the minority immigrant races in the local government system by promoting a policy of "multi-racialism", in which voters would elect candidates according to a race-based tripartite system of electing Europeans, Asians, and Africans in fixed proportions, and which vastly underrepresented Africans compared to Tanganyika's actual demographics. It was an unpopular policy and was opposed by the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU), although they cooperated with it in elections held under the British colonial authority, while voicing their disapproval of it.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":8" />

===== Independence movement and TANU =====
In the 1950s, Julius Nyerere had been elected Territorial President of the semi-political, semi-cultural organization Tanganyika African Association (TAA). Nyerere came to see TAA as inadequate for challenging the colonial authorities, and thus began drafting a new constitution to reorient the organization's objectives and policy. At TAA's annual conference in July 1954, the organization was renamed to Tanganyika African National Union (TANU).<ref name=":7" /><ref name=":9">Chambi Chachage, Annar Cassam. [https://library.memoryoftheworld.org/#/book/18959308-a6be-48b2-bfbc-3d07deb88357 "Africa's Liberation: The Legacy of Nyerere."] Pambazuka Press, 2010.</ref>

[[Proletariat|Workers]] in the shipping, post, diamond, and rail industries led a series of [[Strike action|strikes]] in 1958 to win independence from Britain.<ref name=":122">{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2008|title=The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World|chapter=Arusha|page=191–6|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzaceascnzh26r5d6uitjjs2z7rflhaxlt7rboz5whzdf76qg6xxvecqq?filename=%28A%20New%20Press%20People%27s%20history%29%20Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20The%20darker%20nations_%20a%20people%27s%20history%20of%20the%20third%20world-The%20New%20Press%20%282008%29.pdf|publisher=The New Press|isbn=9781595583420|lg=https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=9B40B96E830128A7FE0E0E887C06829F}}</ref>

===== Elections (1958-1960) =====
The first phase of direct elections in Tanganyika took place in September 1958 and the second phase took place in February 1959, with TANU sweeping the polls. Conversely, the United Tanganyika Party (UTP) formed by the British governor of Tanganyika had little success and won no seats.<ref name=":8" /> In 1959, it was announced that a general election would be held the following year. When the 1960 elections were held, TANU again won with widespread support. This was soon followed by official proceedings for internal self-government in May 1961, followed by official independence in December 1961.<ref name=":5" />

===== Tripartite "multi-racialism" policy =====
At the time of the 1958-1959 elections, the British governing authority's election system maintained that three races (European, Asian, and African) be elected in a fixed ratio, a policy called "multi-racialism" which was criticized by TANU and upheld by UTP. The criticism arose due to the 1:1:1 ratio being highly disproportionate to the actual demographics of the country, Africans being about 98% of the population. Thus the "multi-racialism" policy served to hinder and prevent African power in governance.<ref name=":8" /><ref name=":5" />

The UTP, in a communication with the UN, described its own policy as "the most liberal in Africa" and believed that "self-government could not be regarded as an end in itself" and deemed TANU to be "a racialist movement based on a [[Racial segregation|colour bar]] in reverse". UTP painted "multi-racial" policy as necessary for racial harmony in Tanganyika and for "the political development of the African on responsible lines", considering it "morally wrong" to accept the idea of African "nationalist-racial doctrine" of Africans having the "right to 'rule or misrule'".<ref>Brian Willis, United Tanganyika Party. [https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/3835484?ln=fr&v=pdf "Communication from the United Tanganyika Party concerning Tanganyika."] United Nations Trusteeship Council document, 25 June 1957.</ref>

In these elections under the "administering authority" of Britain, in which voters had to elect people from each race, TANU successfully mobilized voters to elect only TANU-approved candidates for the Asian and European seats.<ref name=":10">{{Citation|author=Cranford Pratt|year=1960|title="Multi-Racialism" and Local Government in Tanganyika.|publisher=Race|doi=10.1177/03063968600020010|volume=Volume 2, Issue 1}}</ref>

Sofia Mustafa, who ran as a TANU-approved candidate for the Asian seat in her province, wrote in her memoir about this policy of "multi-racialism" stating that it served to entrench the three races as separate entities, in contrast to a system which considers "all inhabitants of Tanganyika as citizens of Tanganyika".<ref name=":8" /> An analysis by Professor Cranford Pratt summarized that the effort to entrench special minority representation "aroused racial antagonism and endangered rather than safeguarded the interest and security of these minorities. It is only after this effort has been abandoned that race relations have improved and the minorities have regained a measure of their earlier security."<ref name=":10" />

===== Internal self-government =====
In 1960, general elections were held and TANU again showed the mass support behind it, winning 70 out of 71 Legislative Council seats–the remaining seat also being won by a TANU member who had run as independent. These events were followed over the next year by official proceedings with the British "administrating authority" toward internal self-government, followed by formal independence on December 9, 1961.<ref name=":5" />

=== Independence of Tanganyika ===
Tanganyika attained formal independence on December 9, 1961, with Julius Nyerere as Prime Minister. In 1962 a new constitution was implemented and Nyerere became the first President.<ref name=":4" />

Nyerere writes that TANU became officially committed to the building of a socialist country since early 1962.<ref name=":11">Nyerere, Julius K. "Ujamaa: Essays on Socialism." Oxford University Press, 1968.</ref> A 1962 pamphlet published by TANU titled "Ujamaa – The Basis of African Socialism" details the "socialist attitude of mind" and explains Ujamaa, which draws inspiration from traditional African society and the extended family and calls for "rejecting the capitalist attitude of mind" brought on by colonialism. As stated in the pamphlet, "We must, as I have said, regain our former attitude of mind–our traditional African socialism–and apply it to the new societies we are building today."<ref>{{Citation|author=Nyerere, Julius K.|year=1962|title=Ujamaa: The Basis of African Socialism|pdf=https://ethics.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Nyerere-UjamaaThe-Basis-of-African-Socialism-1962.pdf}}</ref><ref name=":11" />

According to a work released in 1968 by Nyerere, the 1962 pamphlet had not been made easily available to the people of Tanzania at the time it was published, and thus many active party workers, teachers, and civil servants remained unclear about the socialist principles they were responsible for promoting and serving. He states that this did not prevent the government and Party from pursuing socialist policies, but that over time, the absence of a generally accepted and easily understood statement of philosophy and policy was allowing some government and Party actions which were not consistent with the building of socialism.<ref name=":11" />

=== Zanzibar Revolution ===
The Sultanate of Zanzibar formally attained independence from Britain on December 10, 1963. A month later, on 12 January 1964, a revolution began which led to the overthrow of the sultan. It was described by one historian as a revolution which "replaced a conservative Arab-dominated regime with one that espoused the principles of African nationalism and radical socialism and that developed close ties with communist bloc countries."<ref>{{Citation|author=Ian Speller|year=2007|title=An African Cuba? Britain and the Zanzibar Revolution, 1964|pdf=https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/students/modules/hi277/programme/t1w7/hi277_week_7_zanzibar_speller_.pdf|publisher=Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History|doi=10.1080/03086530701337666}}</ref>

=== United Republic of Tanzania ===
On April 26, 1964, the Republic of Tanganyika and the People's Republic of Zanzibar were united, forming the United Republic of Tanzania.<ref name=":4" />

In the early 1960s, Tanzania did not largely intervene with small farmers besides improving irrigation.<ref name=":122" />

In 1965, Tanzania formally became a one-party state.<ref name=":5" />

From 1965 to 1968, Tanzania broke off diplomatic relations with Britain due to their policy on Rhodesia's "unilateral declaration of independence" under white settler minority rule.<ref name=":9" />

==== Arusha Declaration (1967) ====
In 1967, President [[Julius Nyerere]] announced the creation of a [[socialist state]] in the Arusha Declaration. He nationalized key industries while developing agriculture and industry. He merged all [[Trade union|unions]] into the [[National Union of Tanganyika Workers]].<ref name=":122" /> 

Author [[Vijay Prashad]], in his work ''The Darker Nations'' which explores setbacks in the Third World revolutionary movements' struggles to enact their agendas, described the ujamaa villages as having two major flaws in his view, firstly that they were not constructed so as to "refashion the gendered aspects of social power" and thus failed to deal with [[Patriarchy|patriarchal]] relations, and secondly, that the policy left no time to persuade the peasantry, and thus often relied on force. Prashad notes that Tanzania's experience is consistent with "a vast number of examples of Third World development", in what he describes as "Third World socialism in a hurry" born out of the need for nations to develop rapidly. <ref name=":122" />

==== Formation of Chama cha Mapinduzi ====
In February of 1977, TANU and ASP (the political party in Zanzibar) merged to form [[Chama cha Mapinduzi]] (CCM).<ref name=":5" />

==== Neoliberalization ====
In a 2021 interview, Professor Issa G. Shivji described the last years of Nyerere's administration (1980-1985) as an "extremely difficult" period. He described it as a period where the [[International Monetary Fund|IMF]] and [[The World Bank|World Bank]] "mounted an offense" and started imposing increasingly neoliberal conditions on Tanzania, pointing out that this was the [[Margaret Thatcher|Thatcher]]-[[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]] era.<ref name=":12">{{Video citation|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsYYW5TS5fk|channel=Tshisimani Centre for Activist Education|title=60 Years of Tanzanian Independence, with Prof Issa Shivji|date=2021-12-09}}</ref> Shivji describes:<blockquote>It was rationing, corruption became very high, people took advantage of the crisis situation to make a fast buck, the bureaucracy began to flex muscles, and the foreign governments, the so-called "donor" governments, as well as their organizations – like the World Bank, International Monetary Fund – also now, became stronger, and took an offense. Until then, they were on the defense. But now they mounted the offense.<ref name=":12" /></blockquote>In 1985, Nyerere stepped down from government, which was followed by further neoliberal policies and privatization to foreign capital over the following decades. In Shivji's analysis, the following ten years after Nyerere stepped down was a "transition period from Mwalimu's nationalism to full-fledged neoliberalism" under president [[Ali Hassan Mwinyi|Mwinyi]] (in office 1985-1995).<ref name=":12" /> In 1992, the constitution was amended to allow the formation of opposition parties, with the Eighth Constitutional Amendment Act coming into force in July 1992, putting an end to the one-party system.<ref name=":5" /> The first multi-party general election was subsequently held in October of 1995.<ref name=":5" />

Mwinyi's administration was followed by what Shivji described as a "consolidation of neoliberalization" under president [[Benjamin Mkapa|Mkapa]] (in office 1995-2005) with a high degree of privatizations, in most cases to foreign capital. He described the following administration of [[Jakaya Kikwete|Kikwete]] (in office 2005-2015) as laissez-faire.<ref name=":12" /> Shivji describes the effects of such policies have had on Tanzania:<blockquote>Our society got extremely polarized between a small filthy rich class and large majority of the poor, even the middle class sinking into poverty. Inequality increased, most social services were outsourced and privatized, like education, health, and so on and so forth.<ref name=":12" /></blockquote>In Shivji's view, these neoliberal policies have led to a populist backlash which is more right-wing than left-wing due to the weakness of the left; this has resulted in Tanzania having "some kind of resource nationalism, but very haphazard, not directed."<ref name=":12" />

== Economy ==

== References ==
[[Category:African countries]]
<references />
[[Category:Countries]]