<text><span class="style42"></span><span class="style12">TANZANIA</span><span class="style14"></span><span class="style42">Official names:</span><span class="style13"> Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania (Swahili) or The United Republic of Tanzania</span><span class="style42">Member of: </span><span class="style13">UN, Commonwealth, OAU</span><span class="style42">Area: </span><span class="style13">945087 km2 (364900 sq mi)</span><span class="style42">Population: </span><span class="style13">26540000 (1993 est)</span><span class="style42">Capitals: </span><span class="style13">Dodoma ΓÇô legislative and official capital ΓÇô 204000, Dar es Salaam ΓÇô joint administrative capital ΓÇô 1361000 (1988 census)</span><span class="style42">Other major cities:</span><span class="style13"> Mwanza 223000, Tanga 187000, Zanzibar 158000 (1988 census)</span><span class="style42">Languages: </span><span class="style13">English (official), Swahili (90%; 9% as a first language), 120 local languages.</span><span class="style42">Religions: </span><span class="style13">animist (40%), Sunni Islam (33%), Roman Catholic (20%)</span><span class="style42">GOVERNMENT</span><span class="style13">The President is elected by universal adult suffrage for a five-year term. The President appoints a Cabinet of Ministers and two Vice Presidents ΓÇô one is the President of Zanzibar, the other concurrently Prime Minister. The 244-member National Assembly comprises 119 members directly elected from the mainland, 50 members directly elected from Zanzibar, plus appointed and indirectly elected members. Zanzibar has its own legislature.</span><span class="style42">GEOGRAPHY</span><span class="style13">Zanzibar comprises three small islands. The mainland ΓÇô formerly Tanganyika ΓÇô comprises savannah plateau divided by rift valleys and a north-south mountain chain rising to Kilimanjaro at 5894 m (19340 ft), the highest point in Africa. </span><span class="style42">Climate: </span><span class="style13">Tanzania has a tropical climate, although the mountains are cooler.</span><span class="style42">ECONOMY</span><span class="style13">Subsistence farming involves over 80% of the labor force. Cash crops include coffee and cotton. Mineral resources include diamonds and gold. </span><span class="style42">Currency: </span><span class="style13">Tanzanian shilling.</span><span class="style5">HISTORY</span><span class="style4"></span><span class="style13">The coast was explored by Arabs from the 8th century and the Portuguese from the 16th century. Zanzibar was an Omani possession from the 18th century, became an independent sultanate in 1856 and then a British protectorate (1890ΓÇô1963). After independence in 1963 the sultan of Zanzibar was deposed in a radical left-wing coup. The mainland became the colony of German East Africa in 1884, the British trust territory of Tanganyika in 1919 and an independent state in 1961. President Julius NyerereΓÇÖs policies of self-reliance and egalitarian socialism were widely admired, but proved difficult to implement and were largely abandoned by the time he retired as President in 1985. In 1964 Tanganyika and Zanzibar united to form Tanzania. The country was effectively a one-party state from 1965 until 1992, when the principle of political pluralism was conceded.</span></text>