|RConstitution:|N Republic comprising one part on the African mainland, called Tanganyika, and the two islands Zanzibar and Pemba.
|RNational holidays:|N Union Day, April 26, and Independence Day, December 9.
|RNature and climate:|N Most of the mainland are billowing highland plateaus at an elevation between 1000 and 1500 m.a.s.l. In the northeast is the extincted volcano Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Tanzania and Africa, reaching 5895 m.a.s.l.
Along the coast to the Indian Ocean are low and narrow plains.
In the northern Tanzania is the source of River Nile.
The islands Zanzibar and Pemba are both coral reefs.
The climate in Tanzania is tropical with an average temperature throughout the year between 18 and 25°C, warmest by the coast.
Percipitation 1000 mm by the coast and between 500 and 1000 mm in the interior.
|RPeople:|N 90% of the mainland population are of 120 different Bantu-tribes. On the islands the Bantus are 80%, the remainder Arabs and Pakistanis.
|REconomy:|N 90% of the labour force is occupied in agriculture and 10% in industry, trade and administration.
The most important crops for export are coffee, cotton, sisal, clove, tea, tobacco and copra, and for domestic consumption maize, rice, millet, sorghum, cassava, wheat and beans.
Zanzibar and Pemba are the worlds largest producers of clove.
There is an extensive stockraising and hides are exported.
Fishing is rich, both in the many lakes and in the sea.
The most important minerals are diamonds, gold, tin and salt.
Industry is poorly developed and produces mainly food, textiles and consumption articles.
|RHistory:|N Several finds of prehistoric human skeletons have been made in the interior of Tanzania.
Tanganyika was formerly the base for a number of civilized and well organized small countries. The trade between Tanganyika and the Middle East passed Zanzibar and Pemba. This trade with ivory, gold and iron was considerable already during the Roman era. From the 8th century AD the coast was dominated by Arabs and Persians with bases on Zanzibar.
The Portuguese sailor Vasco da Gama visited both Zanzibar and Tanganyika in 1498 and in 1503 Portugal claimed sovereignty over Zanzibar and in 1506 over the mainland coast. The Portuguese founded a number of trade stations, but never colonized the interior.
In 1652 the Portuguese were forced away from Zanzibar and shortly afterwards from the mainland by the sultan of Oman. In the centuries that followed trade with gold, ivory, gems and slaves were developed. The cloveplantations were developed and finally became the most important trade article. In 1824 Zanzibar was made capital of the sultanate and in 1856 it became an independent country.
By the end of the 19th century Europeans became more interested in the area and in 1884 Tanganyika became a part of the German East Africa and in 1890 Zanzibar became a British protectorate.
In World War I several battles were fought between Germans and British in Tanganyika and after the war Tanganyika became a British mandatory territory under the League of Nations. This mandate was prolonged by the UN in 1946.
Tanganyika became an independent country, still a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, in 1961 and Zanzibar became an independent monarchy in 1963.
In Zanzibar the tensions between the little Arabian upper class and the aboriginal African population caused an uprising in 1964 when thousands of Arabs were killed and other thousands left the country. The same year a military coup was performed in Tanganyika and the two countries formed a union with the name Tanzania.
Under the president Julius Nyerere a kind of African socialism was developed. The aim was to make the country as independent as possible in every respect. Tanzania has kept itself free from any alliances and sought and received aid from both western and eastern countries.
In 1974 Tanzanian troops invaded neighbouring Uganda and helped to overthrow the dictator Idi Amin.
In 1985 Tanzania entered the road to democracy and a western kind of economy.
