Portal:Tanzania

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The Tanzania Portal

Flag of Tanzania Coat of Arms of Tanzania

Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to the south; Zambia to the southwest; and Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain, is in northeastern Tanzania. According to the 2022 national census, Tanzania has a population of nearly 62 million, making it the most populous country located entirely south of the equator.

Many important hominid fossils have been found in Tanzania, such as 6-million-year-old Pliocene hominid fossils. In the Stone and Bronze Age, prehistoric migrations into Tanzania included Southern Cushitic speakers who moved south from present-day Ethiopia; Eastern Cushitic people who moved into Tanzania from north of Lake Turkana about 2,000 and 4,000 years ago; and the Southern Nilotes, including the Datoog, who originated from the present-day South Sudan–Ethiopia border region between 2,900 and 2,400 years ago. These movements took place at about the same time as the settlement of the Mashariki Bantu from West Africa in the Lake Victoria and Lake Tanganyika areas. In the late 19th century, the mainland came under German rule as German East Africa, and this was followed by British rule after World War I when it was governed as Tanganyika, with the Zanzibar Archipelago remaining a separate colonial jurisdiction. Following their respective independence in 1961 and 1963, the two entities merged in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. Tanganyika joined the British Commonwealth and Tanzania remains a member of the Commonwealth as a unified republic.

Tanzania is mountainous and densely forested in the north-east, where Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa and the highest single free-standing mountain above sea level in the world, is located. Three of Africa's Great Lakes are partly within Tanzania. To the north and west lie Lake Victoria, Africa's largest lake, and Lake Tanganyika, the continent's deepest lake, known for its unique species of fish. To the south lies Lake Malawi. The eastern shore is hot and humid, with the Zanzibar Archipelago just offshore. The Menai Bay Conservation Area is Zanzibar's largest marine protected area. The Kalambo Falls, located on the Kalambo River at the Zambian border, is the second-highest uninterrupted waterfall in Africa. Tanzania is one of the most visited tourist destinations for safaris.

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Major engagements of the conflict, primarily in Ugandan territory

The Uganda–Tanzania War, known in Tanzania as the Kagera War (Kiswahili: Vita vya Kagera) and in Uganda as the 1979 Liberation War, was fought between Uganda and Tanzania from October 1978 until June 1979 and led to the overthrow of Ugandan President Idi Amin. The war was preceded by a deterioration of relations between Uganda and Tanzania following Amin's 1971 overthrow of President Milton Obote, who was close to the President of Tanzania, Julius Nyerere. Over the following years, Amin's regime was destabilised by violent purges, economic problems, and dissatisfaction in the Uganda Army.

The circumstances surrounding the outbreak of the war are not clear, and differing accounts of the events exist. In October 1978, Ugandan forces began making incursions into Tanzania. Later that month, the Uganda Army launched an invasion, looting property and killing civilians. Ugandan official media declared the annexation of the Kagera Salient. On 2 November, Nyerere declared war on Uganda and mobilised the Tanzania People's Defence Force (TPDF) to retake the salient. Nyerere also mobilised Ugandan rebels loyal to Obote and Yoweri Museveni to weaken Amin's regime. After Amin failed to renounce his claims to Kagera and the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) failed to condemn the Ugandan invasion, the TPDF occupied the towns of Masaka and Mbarara in southern Uganda. (Full article...)

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The following are images from various Tanzania-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Domestic expenditure on research in Southern Africa as a percentage of GDP, 2012 or closest year. Source: UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030 (2015), figure 20.3. (from Tanzania)
Image 2Tanzanian Ngoma group (from Tanzania)
Image 3Location of Zanzibar within Tanzania (from History of Tanzania)
Image 4Nkrumah Hall at the University of Dar es Salaam (from Tanzania)
Image 5Wildebeest migration in the Serengeti (from Tanzania)
Image 6A 1.8-million-year-old stone chopping tool discovered at Olduvai Gorge and on display at the British Museum (from Tanzania)
Image 7Zanzibar harbour (from Tanzania)
Image 8A Tingatinga painting (from Tanzania)
Image 9The Hadza live as hunter-gatherers. (from Tanzania)
Image 10National Stadium in Dar es Salaam. (from Culture of Tanzania)
Image 11Example of a World Food Programme parcel (from Tanzania)
Image 12Tanzania map of Köppen climate classification (from Tanzania)
Image 13Historical development of real GDP per capita in Tanzania, since 1950 (from Tanzania)
Image 14The semi-autonomous Zanzibar Archipelago (from Tanzania)
Image 15Battle during the Maji Maji Rebellion against German colonial rule in 1905 (from Tanzania)
Image 16Researchers (HC) in Southern Africa per million inhabitants, 2013 or closest year (from Tanzania)
Image 17A carved door with Arabic calligraphy in Zanzibar (from Tanzania)
Image 18Development of life expectancy (from Tanzania)
Image 19Stamp of British East Africa with portrait of Queen Elizabeth II (from History of Tanzania)
Image 20Nyerere Bridge in Kigamboni, Dar es Salaam (from Tanzania)
Image 21The Masai giraffe is Tanzania's national animal. (from Tanzania)
Image 22Barbecued beef cubes and seafood in Forodhani Gardens, Zanzibar (from Culture of Tanzania)
Image 23East African Legislative Assembly in Arusha (from Tanzania)
Image 24High Court Building in Kigoma (from Tanzania)
Image 25Traditional Tanzanian food consisting of pilau kuku (seasoned rice with chicken), mishkaki (grilled meat), ndizi (plantain), maharage (beans), mboga (vegetables), chapati (flatbread) and pili pili (hot sauce) (from Culture of Tanzania)
Image 26Lemon and ginger tea. (from Culture of Tanzania)
Image 27Tanzanian women harvesting tea leaves (from Tanzania)
Image 28The snowcapped Uhuru Peak (from Tanzania)
Image 29A Ramadan dinner in Tanzania (from Culture of Tanzania)
Image 30FIB Tanzanian special forces during training (from Tanzania)
Image 31St Joseph's Catholic cathedral, Zanzibar (from Tanzania)
Image 32International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha (from Tanzania)
Image 33Regions of Tanzania (from Tanzania)
Image 34Farmers using a rice harvester in Igunga District, Tanzania (from Tanzania)
Image 35Tea fields in Tukuyu (from Tanzania)
Image 36Tanzanian Ngoma group (from Culture of Tanzania)
Image 37A Tingatinga painting (from Culture of Tanzania)
Image 38Julius Nyerere demanding political independence for Tanganyika in 1961. (from History of Tanzania)
Image 39Tanzanian Embassy in West End, Washington, D.C. (from Tanzania)
Image 40A Tanzanian woman cooks Pilau rice dish wearing traditional Kanga. (from Tanzania)
Image 41A 1572 depiction of the city of Kilwa, a UNESCO World Heritage Site (from Tanzania)
Image 42One of the main trunk roads (from Tanzania)
Image 43The Arusha Declaration Monument (from Tanzania)
Image 44National Stadium in Dar es Salaam (from Tanzania)
Image 45Olduvai Gorge site also known as "The Cradle of Mankind" (from History of Tanzania)
Image 46Louis and Mary Leakey (from History of Tanzania)
Image 47Scientific publications per million inhabitants in SADC countries in 2014. Source: UNESCO Science Report (2015), data from Thomson Reuters' Web of Science, Science Citation Index Expanded. (from Tanzania)

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This month in Tanzanian history

1 July 1890: The Heligoland–Zanzibar Treaty made Zanzibar and Pemba a British protectorate.
5 July 2001: Ali Mohamed Shein became Vice President of Tanzania.
7 July 1954: Julius Nyerere formed the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU) and became its first president. This day is celebrated as Saba Saba Day.
7 July 2000: The East African Community Treaty, signed the previous November between Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, came into force.
19 July 1898: Following years of resistance, Chief Mkwawa of the Hehe was cornered by German soldiers and committed suicide rather than be captured.

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Wildlife of Tanzania - show another

Credit: Trisha Shears

The western or lowland bongo, Tragelaphus eurycerus eurycerus, is a herbivorous, mostly nocturnal forest ungulate and among the largest of the African forest antelope species. Bongos have a reddish-brown coat, black and white markings, white-yellow stripes and long slightly spiralled horns. Indeed, bongos are the only Tragelaphid in which both sexes have horns. Bongos have a complex social interaction and are found in African dense forest mosaics.

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Did you know ...

...that Rusumo Falls (pictured) was a significant site during the 1994 Rwandan genocide as thousands of dead bodies flowed underneath the bridge while a simultaneous stream of refugees crossed over it, fleeing into Tanzania to escape the fighting?

... that the 1964 Zanzibar Revolution sparked army mutinies in Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika?

... that before Tanzanian soldiers could attack Lira in 1979, their commander gifted food and cooking oil to a ferry pilot so that he would ship them across a lake?

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WikiProjects

WikiProject Tanzania

WikiProject Africa

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Recognised content

Featured Articles: Anglo-Zanzibar War
Zanzibar Revolution

Featured Lists: List of Sultans of Zanzibar

Good Articles: 2008 invasion of Anjouan, Freddie Mercury, Lloyd Mathews

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Skyline of the Dar es Salaam city center.

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Articles here focus upon aspects of the Uganda–Tanzania War. These are all Good articles that meet a core set of high editorial standards.

The Battle of Mutukula (Kiswahili: Mapigano ya Mutukula) took place from 21 to 22 January 1979 near and in the town of Mutukula, Uganda, during the Uganda–Tanzania War. After repulsing a Ugandan invasion of the Kagera Salient in 1978, Tanzanian commanders feared that Ugandan forces stationed upon the high ground in Mutukula, a town located along the Tanzania–Uganda border, still posed a threat to their territory. On the night of 21 January 1979 the Tanzanian 208th Brigade crossed the border and surrounded the town. The following morning it attacked, and the Ugandan garrison—including the Gondo and Suicide Battalions—fled. Afterwards the Tanzanians razed the locale in revenge for the damage wrought by the Ugandans in Kagera. (Full article...)

List of Uganda–Tanzania War articles
Battle of Entebbe Battle of Bombo Battle of Jinja Battle of Lira Battle of Karuma Falls Battle of Lukaya Battle of Bondo Battle of Masaka Air campaign of the Uganda–Tanzania War Battle of Tororo

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Credit: Muhammad Mahdi Karim

A farmer walks towards sisal plantations in the outskirts of Morogoro, Tanzania. The Uluguru Mountains can be seen in the background. Tanzania is the world's fourth largest sisal producer. It is traditionally used for making rope, twine, paper, wall coverings and carpets.

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