Although much of Zanzibar's African population came from the mainland, one group known as Shirazis traces its origins to the island's early Persian settlers. The non-Africans residing on the mainland and Zanzibar-approximately 1 percent of the total-include an estimated 88,000 Indo-Pakistanis, 85,000 Arabs, and 15,000 Europeans. All ethnic groups have their own language, but the national language is Swahili, a Bantu-based tongue with strong Arabic borrowings. HISTORY Tanganyika Northern Tanganyika's famed Olduvai Gorge has provided rich evidence of the area's prehistory, including some of the oldest known fossil remains of man's early ancestors. The discoveries made by Dr. and Mrs. L. S. B. Leakey suggest that East Africa rather than Asia may have been the cradle of early man. Little is as yet known of the history of Tanganyika's interior during the early centuries of the Christian era. The area is believed to have been originally inhabited by ethnic groups using a click tongue similar to that of southern Africa's Bushmen and Hottentots. While remnants of these early tribes still exist, most were gradually displaced by Bantu agriculturalists migrating from the west and south and by Nilotes and related peoples coming from the north. A number of these groups had well-organized societies and controlled extensive areas by the time the Arab slavers and European explorers and missionaries penetrated the interior in the first half of the 19th century. The coastal area, in contrast, first felt the impact of foreign influence as early as the 8th century, when monsoon winds brought the ships of Arab traders. By the 12th century traders and immigrants came from as far away as Persia (now Iran) and India. They built a series of highly developed citytrading states along the coast, the principal one being Kilwa, a settlement of Persian origin that held ascendancy until it was destroyed by the Portuguese in the early 1500's. READING LIST These titles are provided as a general indication of the type of work published on Tanzania. The Department of State does not endorse the specific views in unofficial publications as representing the position of the U.S. Government. Ayany, S. G. A History of Zan zibar. Nairobi: East African Literature Bureau, 1970. Bailey, Martin. The Union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar. Program of East African Studies. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University, 1973. Bienen, Henry. Tanzania: Party Transformation and Economic Development. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1967. Department of State. “The Organization of African Unity." No. 2 in the International Organizations Series. Pub. 8444. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, rev. 1973. Hopkins, Raymond F. Political Roles in a New State: Tanzania's First Decade. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1971. Iliffe, John. Tanganyika Under German Rule 1905-1912. Nairobi: The Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama touched the East African coast in 1498 on his voyage to India. By 1506 the Portuguese claimed control over the entire coast. This control was nominal, however, for the Portuguese did not attempt to colonize the area or explore the interior. By the early 18th century Arabs from Oman had assisted the indigenous coastal dwellers in driving out the Portuguese from the area north of the Ruvuma River. They established their own garrisons at Zanzibar, Pemba, and Kilwa and carried on lucrative slave and ivory trading. European exploration of Tanganyika's interior began in the mid-19th century. Two German missionaries reached Mt. Kilimanjaro in the 1840's. The British explorers, Richard Burton and John Speke, crossed the interior to Lake Tanganyika in 1857. David Livingstone, the Scottish missionaryexplorer who crusaded against the East African Publishing House, 1969. Ingle, Clyde Reid. From Village to State in Tanzania. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1972. Kimambo, I. M., and A. J. Temu, eds. A History of Tanzania. Dar es Salaam: East African Publishing House, 1970. Kurtz, Laura S. An African Educa- Run While They Walk: A Por- slave trade, established his last mission at Ujiji, where he was subsequently "found" by Henry Stanley, an American journalist-explorer, in 1871. German colonial interests were first advanced in 1884 when Karl Peters formed the Society for German Colonization and concluded a series of treaties by which tribal chiefs in the interior accepted German protection. Prince Otto von Bismark's government backed Peters in the subsequent establishment of the German East Africa Company and in 1886 and 1890 negotiated the Anglo-German agreements that delineated the British and German spheres of influence in the interior of East Africa and along the coastal strip previously claimed by the Omani Sultan of Zanzibar. In 1891 the German Government took over the direct administration of the territory from the German East Africa Company and appointed a governor with headquarters at Dar es Salaam. TRAVEL NOTES Climate and Clothing-Tropical clothing is worn year round, although in the cooler season (June-September) a light wrap is useful in the evenings. High fashion or trendy clothing (e.g., bell bottoms) is not favored in Tanzania. Extremely short, low-cut dresses or tight fitting clothing should not be worn. Customs-Visas are required, as are immunizations against smallpox and yellow fever. Health-Community sanitation controls are fairly well-enforced. Water should be boiled and filtered, and fruits and vegetables well-prepared. Telecommunications-Radiotelephone and cable services are available to the U.K., U.S., and other parts of the world. Transportation-Air service to Dar es Salaam is provided from New York via connections. Taxis are available at certain locations 24 hours a day; agree on the fare in advance. Buses are generally overcrowded. Traffic moves on the left. Although the German colonial administration brought cash crops, railroads, and roads to Tanganyika, its harsh actions provoked African resistance which culminated in the Maji Maji rebellion of 1905-07. The rebellion, which temporarily united a number of tribes in the southern part of the country and ended only after an estimated 120,000 Africans had died from fighting or starvation, is considered by Tanzanians today to have been one of the first stirrings of nationalism. German colonial domination of Tanganyika ended with World War I. Control of most of the territory passed to the United Kingdom, under a League of Nations mandate, until after World War II, when Tanganyika became a U.N. trust territory also administered by the United Kingdom. In the following years Tanganyika moved gradually toward self-government and independence. In 1954 Julius K. Nyerere, a school teacher who was at the time one of two Tanganyikans to have been educated abroad at the uni versity level, organized a political party, the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU). TANU-supported candidates were victorious in the Legislative Council elections of September 1958 and February 1959. In December 1959 the United Kingdom agreed to the establishment of internal self-government following general elections to be held in August 1960. Julius Nyerere was named Chief Minister of the government subsequently formed. In May 1961 Tanganyika became autonomous, and Julius Nyerere became Prime Minister under a new constitution. Full independence was achieved on December 9, 1961. Mr. Nyerere was elected President when Tanganyika became a Republic within the Commonwealth of Nations one year after independence. On April 26, 1964, Tanganyika united with Zanzibar to form the United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, which was renamed the United Republic of Tanzania on October 29. Zanzibar An early Arab/Persian trading center, Zanzibar fell under Portuguese domination in the 16th and 17th centuries but was retaken by Omani Arabs in the early 18th century. The height of Arab rule came during the reign of Sultan Seyyid Said (1804-56). He encouraged the development of clove plantations, using the forced labor of the island's African population. Zanzibar also became the base for the Arab slavers whose raids depopulated much of the Tanganyikan interior. By 1840 Said had transferred his capital from Muscat to Zanzibar and firmly established a ruling Arab elite. The island's commerce fell increasingly into the hands of traders from the Indian subcontinent who were encouraged by Said to settle on the island. Zanzibar's spices attracted ships from as far away as the United States. A U.S. consulate was established on the island in 1837. The United Kingdom's early interest in Zanzibar was motivated by commerce and British determination to end the slave trade. In 1822 the British signed the first of a series of treaties with Sultan Said to curb this trade, but it was not until 1876 that the sale of slaves was finally fully prohibited. In carrying out its policies, the United Kingdom gaine a paramountcy that was formally recognized in the Anglo-German agreement of 1890, which made Zanzibar and Pemba a British protectorate. British rule through the Sultan remained largely unchanged from the late 19th century until after World War II. Zanzibar's political development began in earnest after 1956, when provision was first made for the election of six nongovernment members to the Legislative Council. Two parties were formed: the Zanzibar Nationalist Party (ZNP) representing the dominant Arab and Arabized minority, and the AfroShirazi Party (ASP) led by Shaikh Abeid Karume and representing the more numerous Africans and the fewer Shirazis. In the first elections (July 1957) the ASP won three of the six elected seats, with the remainder going to independents. The ZNP polled only a small percentage of the total votes. Four Arabs and two Asians were appointed to the government seats on the Legislative Council. Following the election, the ASP split; some of its Shirazi supporters left to form the Zanzibar and Pemba People's Party (ZPPP). The January 1961 election resulted in a deadlock between the ASP and a ZNP/ZPPP coalition. The elections that followed the granting of self-government in June 1963 produced similar results. Zanzibar received its independence from the United Kingdom on December 19, 1963, as a constitutional monarchy under the Sultan. On January 12, 1964, the African majority revolted against the Sultan, and a new government was formed with the AfroShirazi party leader, Shaikh Karume, as President of Zanzibar and Chairman of the Revolutionary Council. Under the terms of its political union with Tanganyika in April 1964, the Zan zibar Government retained considerable local autonomy. Shaikh Karume was named First Vice President of the union government, a post he held until his assassination in April 1972. The coup d'etat attempt which killed Karume failed to overthrow the Zanzibar Government; Karume was succeeded by a fellow member of the Afro-Shirazi Party and of the Revolutionary Council, Aboud Jumbe. GOVERNMENT Tanzania is a de jure single-party state with a strong central executive. The President is assisted by two Vice Presidents, one of whom is also designated Prime Minister. The President of Zanzibar has traditionally been the First Vice President of Tanzania. The Second Vice President and Prime Minister carries an administrative portfolio and is the leader of government business in the National Assembly, from among whose members he must be chosen. The President and the National Assembly are elected concurrently by direct popular vote for 5year terms. If the President dissolves the assembly, he too must stand for election. The President must select his Cabinet from among the members of the National Assembly, but his power to appoint up to 10 members of that body gives him some flexibility. The unicameral National Assembly currently has 120 elected members. The President may appoint up to 10 members, and 15 additional members from the mainland and Zanzibar are elected by the National Assembly from such specialized groups as the trade union federation, the cooperative movement, and the University College. In addition, the National Assembly includes as many of the 32 Revolutionary Council members of Zanzibar as the President wishes to appoint and up to 20 other Zanzibaris appointed by the President. Regional Commissioners from mainland Tanzania (20) and Zanzibar (4) are ex officio members of the National Assembly. Mainland Tanzania has had, since 1964, a 3-tiered judiciary which combines the jurisdictions of tribal, Islamic, and British common law. Appeal is from the primary courts through the district courts to the High Court. All magistrates and judges, including the Chief Justice and eight puisne judges of the High Court, are appointed by the President. Zanzibar had a similar system until January 1970 when it replaced the primary and district courts with 12 people's courts consisting of a chairman and two members appointed by the President of Zanzibar. The procedures of the people's courts do not provide for defense counsel, juries, or appeal to the High Court. For administrative purposes Tanzania is divided into 24 Regions-20 on the mainland and 4 on Zanzibar. Each Region is headed by a central government official known as a Regional Commissioner. In 1972 a plan was announced for decentralizing government authority on the mainland and increasing the authority of the Regional Commissioners. This announcement was quickly followed by the appointment of a number of Tanzania's most capable civil servants as Regional Commissioners. Principal Government Officials Cabinet Ministers the United States at 2010 Massachu setts Avenue, NW., Washington, D.C. 20036. POLITICAL CONDITIONS The locus of political power in mainland Tanzania lies within the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU), the dominant political organization since before independence. Constitutionally recognized as the only political party of the state, it is also the primary instigator of policy in the social, political, and economic fields. TANU functions as the bridge between the government and the people, provides nearly all top government leaders, and plays a leading role in the government scheme of nation-building. President Nyerere is President of TANU, and the party's control structure is closely interwoven with that of the government. Regional and district Commissioners also serve as regional and district secretaries of the party. Zanzibar has a separate but similarly overlapping government and party hierarchy. The Afro-Shirazi Communications and Transport- Party (ASP) has been the single legally Alfred C. A. Tandau Defense and National Service-Edward Economic Affairs and Development Labor and Social Welfare-Gisla recognized political party on the island since the revolution in 1964. The President of the Zanzibar executive branch is also Chairman of the Revolutionary Council (the island's powerful selfappointed legislative body), President of the ASP, as well as First Vice President of Tanzania. Under President Nyerere's leadership, Tanzania is seeking to achieve political and economic development within an egalitarian framework appropriate to the rural character and emphasis on improving the living standard of the rural community. To insure consistency between precept and practice, the declaration prescribed a code of conduct for party and government leaders, which prohibited, among other things, the receipt of more than one salary, holding directorships in private firms, or owning rental properties or shares in any company. Ministerial and civil service salaries had been reduced earlier in a move toward the more equitable distribution of income. Shortly after the Arusha Declaration, President Nyerere announced the full or partial nationalization (with compensation) of a variety of private interests, including all commercial banks, a number of food processing, manufacturing, and trading firms, and some of Tanzania's leading sisal estates. On the third anniversary of the Declaration, the President nationalized Tanzania's privately owned, Englishlanguage newspaper and began transferring the remaining private importexport firms and all wholesale businesses to the public sector. In 1971 the government nationalized all rental property valued at more than US$14,000. On Zanzibar, which moved more rapidly toward public ownership, government control of the island's limited economy is virtually complete. them productive citizens. Public participation in mainland Tanzania's political development has also been encouraged through the electoral process. In the October 1970 general elections, the second since Tanzania's independence, all but six of the 120 elective constituencies for the newly enlarged National Assembly were contested by two TANU candidates. The candidates were selected by the party's National Executive Committee on the basis of recommendations made by the local TANU district conferences. One-third of the 71 incumbents of the previous 107-member assembly who ran for reelection in 1970 were defeated, including two Cabinet Ministers and a junior Minister. President Nyerere, the party's only presidential candidate, was endorsed by 95 percent of the 3.7 million voters who went to the polls. Zanzibar participated in the mainland's presidential vote but has had no election for its own representatives since the 1964 revolution. In a major government reshuffle in 1972, President Nyerere stressed the importance of government decentralization and the shifting of more power to the TANU Executive Committee. He also added the title of Prime Min ister to that of the Second Vice President. Agriculture accounts for 40 percent of the mainland's gross domestic product (GDP) and 75 percent of its total exports. Three crops-cotton, coffee, and sisal-represent 40 percent of all exports. The government has had some success in diversifying the country's agricultural base which now includes cashew nuts, tea, tobacco, pyrethrum, and sugar. Livestock production is also expanding. TANU has become the principal ECONOMY instrument for the political mobilization of mainland Tanzania's people behind the government's socioeconomic objectives. President Nyerere envisions the party as a "two-way street" for the flow of ideas and policy directives between the village level and the government. Local TANU officials are expected to take the lead in setting up ujamaa villages-communal units that the government hopes will eventually become the backbone of Tanzanian agriculture. Cooperatives, which have tripled since independence and now exceed 2,000, are also being given an expanded role in Tanzania's rural development. The country's education system is being revamped to provide the many primary schoolchildren who are unable to go on with their education with the basic agricultural training needed to make Tanzania's small manufacturing sector has had an impressive annual growth rate since independence but still produces only about 10 percent of the GDP. Tanzania has attracted relatively little foreign investment despite its record of political stability. U.S. private investment has been limited primarily to petroleum marketing facilities, although a U.S. company has entered into minority partnership with the government to manufacture tires in northern Tanzania. Transportation plays a particularly important role in a country the size of Tanzania where the population centers are scattered around the periphery. The country currently has an estimated 21,000 miles of roads; about 4,000 miles are improved, and the remainder are dirt. There are 1,638 miles of railroads, excluding the 1,150 mile-long Tan Zam railway of which the Tanzanian portion has been completed. Internal air transportation, provided by East African Airways (EAA), helps offset the shortage of ground transportation. International carriers providing service to Dar es Salaam include EAA, Pan American, BOAC, KLM, and Alitalia. A new international airport has been completed near Arusha to facilitate tourist access to northern Tanzania's famed game parks. Following 1973, a year when foreign exchange reserves attained record levels, Tanzania's economy was staggered by the rapid rise in the cost of energy imports and a drought, which has required the government to initiate a substantial grain import program. Consequently, Tanzania is confronted with a severe balance of payments problem that it anticipates will not abate until mid-1975. Declines in agricultural activity in recent years, quite apart from the drought, suggest that Tanzania may be entering a period of being a net importer of foodstuffs and, consequently, even more dependent on foreign assistance. Elsewhere in the economy consumption continues to climb, and prospects are that it will continue to do so because of a substantial boost in the minimum wage. The industrial sector, apart from those companies feeling the pinch of worldwide shortages of certain essential materials, had an excellent year in 1973. The government's decentralization program has been completed and judged a success, but its communal agriculture program has yet to prove itself. With the economy in the throes of a severe foreign exchange crisis, imports are being cut back sharply, including the market for U.S. products. |