The name "Tanzania" was createdas aclipped compound of the namesof the twostates thatunified tocreate the country: Tanganyikaand Zanzibar . [23]
The name "Tanganyika" is derived from the Swahili words tanga ("sail") and nyika ("uninhabited plain", "wilderness"), creating the phrase "sail in the wilderness". It is sometimes understood as areference to Lake Tanganyika . [24]
The name of Zanzibar comes from "zengi", the namefor a local people(said tomean "black"), and the Arabic word "barr", whichmeanscoast or shore. [25]
History
Main articles: Historyof Tanzania andHistory ofZanzibar
A 1.8 million year-old stone chopping tool discovered at Olduvai Gorge andcurrently on displayat the BritishMuseum
Pre-colonial
The indigenous populations of easternAfrica are thoughtto bethe clickspeaking Hadza and Sandawe hunter-gatherers of Tanzania. [17] :page 17
The first waveof migration was by SouthernCushitic speakers who moved south from Ethiopia intoTanzania. Theyare ancestral tothe Iraqw ,Gorowa , and Burunge . [17] :page 17 Based on linguistic evidence, there may also have been two movementsinto Tanzania of Eastern Cushitic peopleat about 4,000 and 2,000 years ago, originating from north of Lake Turkana . [17] :pages 17–18
Archaeologicalevidence supports theconclusionthat SouthernNilotes ,including the Datoog , movedsouth from the present-day SouthSudan / Ethiopiaborder region into central northern Tanzania between 2,900and 2,400 years ago. [17] :page 18
These movementstook place at approximatelythe same timeas thesettlementof the iron-making Mashariki Bantu from WestAfrica inthe Lake Victoriaand Lake Tanganyika areas. They brought with them thewest African planting tradition and theprimary staple of yams .They subsequentlymigrated outof these regions acrosstherest of Tanzania between 2,300 and 1,700 years ago. [17][18]
Eastern Nilotic peoples, including the Maasai , represent a morerecent migration from presentday SouthSudan within thepast 500to1,500 years. [17][26]
The people of Tanzania have been associated with the productionof iron and steel. The Pare peoplewere themain producers of highly demanded ironfor peopleswho occupied themountain regions of north- easternTanzania. [27] The Hayapeople on the western shores of Lake Victoria inventedatype of high-heat blastfurnace , whichallowed them to forge carbon steel at temperatures exceeding 1,820 °C (3,310 °F) morethan 1,500years ago. [28]
Travelersand merchants from thePersian Gulfand India havevisited theeast African coast since earlyin thefirst millenniumA.D. [29] Islam was practiced by some on the Swahili Coast as early as the eighthorninth century A.D. [30]
Colonial
A 1572 depiction ofthe cityof Kilwa ,a UNESCOWorldHeritage Site
Claimingthecoastal strip, OmaniSultan Said bin Sultan movedhiscapital to Zanzibar Cityin 1840. Duringthis time, Zanzibar became thecentre forthe Arab slavetrade . [31]
Between65and 90percentof theArab- Swahili population of Zanzibar was enslaved. [32]
One of the most infamous slavetraders on theEast African coast was TippuTip , who was thegrandsonof an enslaved African. The Nyamwezi slave traders operatedunder the leadership of Msiri and Mirambo . [33]
According toTimothy Insoll , "Figures recordthe exporting of 718,000 slavesfrom the Swahili coast duringthe19th century,and theretention of 769,000on thecoast." [34] In the1890s, slavery was abolished. [35]
Maji Maji Rebellionagainst German colonial rulein 1905
Inthe late 19th century, Germanyconquered the regions thatare now Tanzania (minus Zanzibar) and incorporated them into German EastAfrica (GEA). [ citation needed ]The Supreme Council of the1919 Paris Peace Conference awarded all of GEAto Britain on 7May 1919, over the strenuous objectionsof Belgium. [36] :240 The British colonial secretary , Alfred Milner ,and Belgium's minister plenipotentiarytothe conference, PierreOrts , then negotiatedthe Anglo-Belgian agreement of 30May 1919 [37]
:618-9 where Britain cededthe north-western GEA provinces of Ruandaand Urundito Belgium. [36] :246 The conference's Commission on Mandates ratified this agreement on 16 July1919. [36]
:246-7 The Supreme Council accepted theagreement on 7 August1919. [37] :612-3 On 12 July1919, theCommission on Mandates agreed thatthe smallKionga Triangle south of theRovuma River would be giventoPortuguese Mozambique , [36] :243 with it eventually becomingpart of independent Mozambique .The commission reasonedthat Germanyhad virtually forced Portugal to cede thetriangle in1894. [36] :243 The Treaty of Versailles was signed on 28 July1919, althoughthe treaty did nottake effect until 10 January 1920.On thatdate, theGEAwas transferred officially toBritain, Belgium, and Portugal. Alsoon that date, "Tanganyika" became thename of the British territory.
DuringWorld War II , about 100,000people from Tanganyikajoined theAllied forces [38] and were among the 375,000Africans who fought with those forces. [39]
Tanganyikans fought in units of the King's African Rifles duringtheEast African Campaignin Somalia and Abyssinia against theItalians, inMadagascar againstthe Vichy French duringthe MadagascarCampaign , and in Burmaagainst theJapanese duringtheBurma Campaign . [39] Tanganyikawas animportant source of food duringthis war, and its export income increased greatly compared tothepre-war years of the Great Depression [38]
Wartime demand, however, caused increased commodity prices and massive inflation withinthe colony. [40]
In 1954, Julius Nyerere transformed anorganisation into thepolitically oriented TanganyikaAfrican National Union (TANU). TANU's main objective was toachieve national sovereignty for Tanganyika.A campaign to registernew members was launched, and within ayear, TANUhad become theleading political organisation inthe country. Nyerere became Minister of British- administeredTanganyikain 1960and continued as prime minister when Tanganyika becameindependent in 1961. [ citation needed ]
Post-colonial
Britishrule came toanend on December9, 1961,but forthe firstyear of independence, Tanganyikahad agovernor general who represented the Britishmonarch. [41] :page 6 On9 December1962, Tanganyika becamea democraticrepublic under anexecutive president. [41] :page 6
After the Zanzibar Revolution overthrew theArab dynasty in neighbouringZanzibar , [42]
whichhad become independent in1963, the archipelago merged with mainland Tanganyika on 26 April1964. [43] On29 October of the sameyear, thecountry was renamed theUnited Republic of Tanzania ("Tan" comes from Tanganyikaand "Zan" from Zanzibar). [14] The union of thetwo hitherto separate regions was controversial among many Zanzibaris (even those sympathetic totherevolution) butwas accepted byboth the Nyereregovernment and the RevolutionaryGovernment of Zanzibar owing toshared political values and goals.
Following Tanganyika's independenceand unification with Zanzibar leadingto the state of Tanzania, President Nyerereemphasized aneed to construct anational identity forthe citizensof the new country. To achieve this, Nyerereprovided what is regarded as one of the most successful cases of ethnic repression and identity transformationin Africa. [44]
With over 130languages spokenwithin its territory, Tanzania isoneof themost ethnically diverse countries in Africa. Despitethis obstacle, ethnicdivisions remained rare inTanzania when compared to therestof thecontinent, notably its immediate neighbor, Kenya. Furthermore, since its independence, Tanzania has displayed more political stability than most African countries, particularly dueto Nyerere's ethnic repression methods. [45]
Arusha DeclarationMonument
In1967, Nyerere's first presidency took aturn tothe left after the Arusha Declaration , whichcodified a commitment tosocialism as well-as Pan-Africanism . After thedeclaration, banks and manylarge industrieswere nationalised.
Tanzania was also aligned with China, which from 1970 to1975financed and helped build the 1,860-kilometre-long (1,160 mi) TAZARARailway from Dares Salaamto Zambia . [46] Nonetheless, from thelate 1970s, Tanzania's economy took aturn forthe worse, in thecontext of an international economic crisis affectingboth developed and developing economies.
Fromthe 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 povertyhas been reduced, according toa report bytheWorld Bank. [47]
In1992, the Constitution of Tanzania was amended to allowmultiple political parties. [48] In Tanzania's first multi-party elections, held in 1995,the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi won 186of the232 elected seats in theNational Assembly, and Benjamin Mkapa was elected as president.