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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The trade unions of Tanzania have a total membership of approximately 370,000. 350,000 of these belong to the Trade Union Congress of Tanzania, another 15,000 to the Zanzibar Trade Union Congress, and 2,400 are members of the Tanzania Fishing Crew and Allied Workers’ Union. (Full article...)

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

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

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This month in Tanzanian history

9 June 1954: The skull of Hehe chief Mkwawa, who died in 1898, was returned to Tanzania from Germany.
24 June 2002: Tanzania's worst train crash, the Igandu train disaster, killed more than 200 people.
26 June 1857: British explorers Richard Burton and John Hanning Speke travelled from Zanzibar to the East African coast and began their exploration of inland East Africa.
28 June 1919: Following World War I, the Treaty of Versailles broke up German East Africa with the United Kingdom acquiring the largest part which it named the Tanganyika Territory.

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Wildlife of Tanzania - show another

Credit: Muhammad Mahdi Karim

The Aldabra Giant Tortoise (Geochelone gigantea), from the islands of the Aldabra Atoll in the Seychelles, is one of the largest tortoises in the world. This species is widely referred to as Geochelone gigantea but is now placed in the genus Dipsochelys (or sometimes in the invalid genus Aldabrachelys) as Dipsochelys dussumieri. A small isolated population of the species resides on the island of Zanzibar.

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Did you know ...

...that Sonjo, a Bantu language of northern Tanzania, has been spoken for centuries in an isolated enclave in Maasai territory?

... that at the time of its sinking in the 1896 Anglo-Zanzibar War, HHS Glasgow was the only ship in the navy of Zanzibar?

... that South African lawyer Sibongile Ndashe was arrested in Tanzania for advocating against an anti-gay law that limited treatment for HIV/AIDS?

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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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Selected panorama - show another

Credit: Muhammad Mahdi Karim

The Uluguru Mountains, a mountain range in eastern Tanzania. The mountains are named after the Luguru people.

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Uganda–Tanzania War - show another

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