History of Tanzania

History of Tanzania

Key Dates

• 5th century BCE: Arrival of Bantu populations who drive out the tribes already present in the region.

• 9th century: The Bantu and Arabs, who had been trading along the coast since antiquity, gradually unite to form the Swahili civilization.

• 1498: The Portuguese Vasco de Gama is the first European to round the Cape of Good Hope and reach the East African coast.

• 16th–17th centuries: The Portuguese conquer the Tanzanian coast militarily and politically with difficulty, aiming to control the sea route to the Indies.

• 1698: The army of the Imam of Muscat (Sultanate of Oman) gradually takes possession of the coasts and islands. The Portuguese, who previously controlled the region, are definitively driven out in 1729 and retreat to Mozambique.

• 18th–early 19th centuries: Arabs control this part of Africa and develop the highly lucrative slave trade.

• Mid-19th century: First European expeditions, particularly British, into the interior of the country (the era of Stanley and Livingstone). The Anglo-German rivalry for domination of the territory also begins.

• 1860: Separated from the Sultanate of Oman, the Sultanate of Zanzibar is created. Its authority extends over the islands and the East African coast, from southern Somalia to northern Mozambique.

• 1886: The United Kingdom and Germany, concluding a treaty (of partition), recognize the Sultan’s sovereignty over Zanzibar while significantly reducing the territory under his control. In addition to the islands already acquired, he retains only a 16 km-wide coastal strip on the mainland, while the Germans take the interior, which they call Tanganyika.

• 1891: While the British establish control over Zanzibar, the Germans officially declare Tanganyika a German protectorate.

• 1891–1919: Against a backdrop of indigenous revolts followed by repression, the Germans attempt to develop the territory.

• 1914–1918: World War I directly affects this part of Africa, where Germans and British clash.

• 1919: With the Treaty of Versailles of 1919, defeated Germany relinquishes all its colonies. In the region, Britain takes over Tanganyika, while the Belgians acquire present-day Rwanda and Burundi, also former German possessions.

• 1920–1960: The British struggle to develop their protectorate and bring in Indo-Pakistani labor, while independence movements like the one led by Julius Nyerere (TANU) emerge. Meanwhile, the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba remain under British rule, though the political system of the sultanate is left in place.

• December 9, 1961: Tanganyika gains independence from Britain. Nyerere becomes its president the following year.

• 1963: Zanzibar also gains independence. However, following a popular uprising, it merges with Tanganyika to form the United Republic of Tanzania, though it retains a degree of autonomy that persists to this day.

• 1967: Nyerere commits the country, with mixed success, to "economic development through African socialism," with support from China.

• 1978: Under the pretext of harboring regime opponents, Uganda’s Idi Amin Dada attacks Tanzania. After lengthy and costly battles, the Tanzanians prevail, subsequently occupying Uganda for two years and ousting its dictator.

• 1985: Julius Nyerere steps down from politics and the leadership of a country that, despite his reforms, remains one of the poorest in the world. Ali Hassan Mwinyi, then president of the Zanzibar archipelago, is elected president of Tanzania. He pursues a policy of economic liberalization and openness (allowing multiparty politics) during his two terms.

• 1995–2005: Presidency of Benjamin Mkapa. He continues his predecessors’ policies amid economic crisis, the AIDS epidemic, an influx of refugees from neighboring countries, and separatist tendencies in Zanzibar.

• 1998: Attacks target the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, killing hundreds and injuring thousands.

• 2005: Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete becomes the new president of the republic. He is re-elected in 2010.