Tanzania

Located in East Africa on the Indian Ocean. To the north are Uganda and Kenya; to the west, Burundi, Rwanda, and Congo; and to the south, Mozambique, Zambia, and Malawi. Tanzania covers an area roughly twice the size of California. It is home to Mt. Kilimanjaro (the highest point in Africa), Lake Victoria (the second largest lake in the world), and the Great Rift Valley.

People

More than 37.1 million people live in Tanzania. Kiswahili or Swahili (Kiunguju in Zanzibar) and English are the official languages; Arabic and numerous other local languages are spoken as well. Virtually all of Tanzania’s inhabitants speak Bantu languages. There are approximately 130 ethnic groups. Inhabitants of Indian and Arab descent constitute approximately 1% of the population and are concentrated in Zanzibar. The Bantu-speaking peoples include the Sukuma (the republic’s largest ethnic group), Bena, Chagga, Gogo, Ha, Haya, Hehe, Luguru, Makonde, Makua, Ngoni, Nyakyusa, Nyamwezi, and Nyaturu. In addition, the Masai speak a Nilotic language; the Sandawe speak a language akin to Khoikhoi; and the Iraqw speak a Cushitic language.

About 45% of the mainland population is Christian, while 35% is Muslim, and about 20% follow traditional religious beliefs. The population of Zanzibar is almost completely Muslim.

Economy

Tanzania’s primarily agrarian economy is constrained by geography and environmental factors such as low and erratic rainfall, soil erosion and deforestation. Only 8% of Tanzania’s land is under cultivation, although about 80% of its population are employed in agriculture. The principal cash crops of coffee, cotton, sisal and tobacco have been affected by instability in world market demand and rising costs of imported fuel, fertilizers, and equipment.

An infrastructure that is deteriorating due to internal and external causes also affects the country’s economy. Communications and transport have been neglected. Tanzania has 127,000 landline telephones, 115,000 Internet users, and 2.8 televisions per 1000 people. Its 134,000 motor vehicles travel 52,800 miles of highway. The southern third of the country is especially isolated, even from inferior transport services.

Health
Life Expectancy

Men-51 years; Women-53 years


Infant mortality: 77.8 deaths per 1000 live births


51% of the population live in poverty


1 physician per 20,511 people


HIV/AIDS rate in adults: 8.09%


68% of adults are literate 


Compulsory education 7 – 14 years

Areas of Concern

HIV/AIDS, with 1.3 million cases in Tanzania, represents a serious health concern. Outside donations have helped fund much of the progress made in human services. For decades, Tanzania has been either at or near the top of the list of African nations in per capita receipt of international aid.

Tanzania still hosts more than a half-million refugees, more than any other African country, mainly from Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, despite the international community’s efforts at repatriation; disputes with Malawi over the boundary in Lake Nyasa (Lake Malawi) and the meandering Songwe River remain dormant.

History

Arab traders first began to colonize the area in 700. Portuguese explorers reached the coastal regions in 1500 and held some control until the 17th century, when the sultan of Oman took power. With what are now Burundi and Rwanda, Tanganyika became the colony of German East Africa in 1885. After World War I, it was administered by Britain under a League of Nations mandate and later as a UN trust territory.

Tanganyika became independent on Dec. 9, 1961; Zanzibar on Dec. 10, 1963. On April 26, 1964, the two nations merged into the United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar. The name was changed to Tanzania six months later.

In Feb., 1967, Nyerere issued the Arusha Declaration, a major policy statement that called for egalitarianism, socialism, and self-reliance. It promised a decentralized government and a program of rural development called ujamaa (“pulling together”) that involved the creation of cooperative farm villages. Factories and plantations were nationalized, and major investments were made in primary schools and health care. While Nyerere put some of the declaration’s principles into practice, it was not clear if power in Tanzania was, in fact, being decentralized.

An invasion by Ugandan troops in Nov. 1978 was followed by a counterattack in Jan. 1979, in which 5,000 Tanzanian troops were joined by 3,000 Ugandan exiles opposed to President Idi Amin. Within a month, full-scale war developed. Tanzanian president Julius Nyerere kept troops in Uganda in open support of former Ugandan president Milton Obote, despite protests from opposition groups, until the national elections in Dec. 1980.

By the 1980s, it was clear that the economic policies set out by the Arusha Declaration had failed. The economy continued to deteriorate with cycles of alternating floods and droughts, which reduced agricultural production and exports. In Nov. 1985, Nyerere stepped down as president. Ali Hassan Mwinyi, his vice president, succeeded him. Running unopposed, Mwinyi was elected president in October. Shortly thereafter plans were announced to study the benefits of instituting a multiparty democracy, and in Oct. 1995 the country’s first multiparty elections since independence took place.

President Benjamin William Mkapa (1995–2005) sought to increase economic productivity while dealing with serious pollution problems and deforestation. With more than one million people infected with HIV, AIDS care and prevention have been major public health issues. On foreign policy, Tanzania has taken a leading diplomatic role in East Africa, hosting peace talks for the factions fighting in neighboring Burundi. The UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) is located in the town of Arusha. In Oct. 2000, Mkapa was easily reelected. In 2002, opposition leaders and foreign donors criticized the president’s costly new $21 million personal jet.

In 2005 presidential elections, foreign minister Jakaya Kikwete of the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) Party won with 80% of the vote.

Prime Minister Lowassa resigned in February 2008 over a scandal involving an American energy company, Richmond Development, which was hired to provide Tanzania with generators to supply electricity to the country during a power shortage. The company never began the operation, yet Lowassa urged the government to renew the contract. Mizengo Pinda replaced Lowassa as prime minister.

Sources

http://www.tanzania.go.tz/statistics.html

http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/world/A0847817.html

http://www.elca.org/countrypackets/tanzania/desc.html

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/tz.html

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