United Republic of Tanzania

United Republic of Tanzania Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania
Flag Coat of arms
Capital	Dodoma
Largest city	Dar es Salaam
Official languages	Swahili English
Dominant mode of production	Capitalism
Area
• Total	947,303 km²
Population
• 2023 estimate	65,642,682

Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa bordering Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique. It was originally a German colony before being occupied by the 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 Omani Arabs. Following this, the Omani Arabs occupied Zanzibar and the coast as well as claiming some inland areas.

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, largely through the efforts of the German Colonization Society founded by future colonial governor, Dr. Karl Peters.

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.

Trust territory under British rule

Workers in the shipping, post, diamond, and rail industries led a series of strikes in 1958 to win independence from Britain.

United Republic of Tanzania

In the early 1960s, Tanzania did not largely intervene with small farmers besides improving irrigation.

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 unions into the National Union of Tanganyika Workers.

Nyerere encouraged all peasants to move to collective ujamaa villages. This system failed to deal with the patriarchal relations of the countryside and often relied on force because it did not take time to persuade the peasantry.