by
BRANDY C.

NATIONAL FLAG OF TANZANIA:

LOCATION:

A BRIEF HISTORY OF TANZANIA

            Arab traders first began to colonize the country in the 700s. They were interested in slaves. While searching for slaves to trade, the Arabs explored and discovered ivory. The Arabs did not stay for long because they came to a sudden problem with Mirambo, an African chief. Since the Arabs refused to pay him a tribute he cut off their trade routes. Portuguese explorers held some control until the 17^th century, when they reached the coastal regions. Tanganyika was colonized by Germany in 1885. The Germans helped to develop coffee, schools, rubber industries, and a railroad. However, colonial rule didn’t agree with the indigenous people or the Arab groups.

After World War I it was taken by Great Britain from the League of Nations, and later as a UN Trust Territory. In 1886 the British and Germans agreed to divide East Africa between them. In December 1959, Britain decided to help move Tanganyika toward self-government.

Tanganyika became independent on December 9, 1961. On April 26, 1964 the two nations went into the United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar. Tanzania became the new country name two months later.

            Colonization did help the indigenous people and it did have its disadvantages. Some of the disadvantages were slavery. The Arabs were the ones searching for slaves to take or trade. Another disadvantage was the fact that all of these different groups were coming into Tanzania and dividing the land among them. The Tanzanians didn’t really have a say in any of the dividing of their own country, evan though the country was getting pushed around by other groups. It helped the indigenous people discover coffee, education such as schools, industries such as rubber, and transportation such as a railroad. Britain helped move Tanzania towards self-government which led the country closer and closer towards independence.

            Tanzania became independent on December 9, 1961. The main reason Tanzania became independent was because a majority voted for Tanzania to become independent and in 1961 Tanzania got complete independence. In 1890 a British protectorate had been placed on the island Zanzibar. It stayed that way until 1963 when independence was declared.

            Once this country became independent they did suffer with some problems such as an invasion by Uganda in November 1978. Soon after that there was a counter-attack. In January 1979 there were 5,000 Tanzanian troops followed by 3,000 Ugandan troops. Full scale war developed within a month. President Benjamin William Mkapa was dealing with serious population problems. The population was slowly decreasing because of HIV and AIDS.            

Today in Tanzania there are still problems of AIDS, HIV, and many other serious diseases going on in that area. Also, a lot of the waters are not good to drink there. Bottled water is the safest.

            I think if this country was never colonized it probably would not be like it is to day. I think that without the help of the British leading them to success and without the help of the Germans leading them to discover some interesting things that would help their country to become stronger I don’t think it would be as strong, intelligent, or possibly even independent like it is today.

Works Cited

Flag and map courtesy of Microsoft Clipart Gallery.

Africa net. www.africanet.com

Countries of the World. www.infoplease.com

Wakabi, Wairagala. Countries of the World Tanzania