History Tanzania

Tanzania : Discover the country's history

 historyDates

10 million BC: the Australopithecus, the first living being in human evolution stands straight on his hind legs in the Rift Valley. Specimens discovered in Olduvai, Tanzania, stretch over 1 750 000 years.
500 BC: Egyptians, Phoenicians, Arabs from the southern Arab peninsula and Indians trade along the eastern coast of Africa.
Few centuries BC: the primitive Bronze Age in the Great Lakes region.
Beginning of the first millennium: expansion of the Bantu people from the west-coast of Africa to the east-coast.
By the 8th century: Arabs of the Persian Gulf migrate to the coasts and islands.
15th century: Great Lakes kingdoms (Buganda, Rwanda, Burundi).
1497: the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama reaches the Cape of Good Hope and sails up Africa's east coast. The Portuguese set up garrisons.
1698: the imam of Mascate (Oman sultanate) sends a fleet to Zanzibar. The Portuguese retreat into Mozambique.
By 1750: Arab traders trade inside in the regions of Tabora and Lake Tanganyika. A slave trading post is opened in Zanzibar in 1811.
1857: the explorers Burton and Speke prepare for an expedition from Zanzibar in search of the source of the Nile.
1867: Doctor Livingstone reaches the banks of Lake Tanganyika. He will be followed by the journalist and traveller, Stanley, in 1871.
1886: English and Germans divide East Africa. The Sultan of Zanzibar conserves the 6 mile wide and 560 mile long coastal strip. In 1888, Germany takes over Tanganyika.
1922: the Germans defeated in World War 1 lose their colonies. The League of Nations (LN) entrusts Tanganyika to Great Britain.
1950s: the TANU (Tanganyika African National Union) struggles for independence which is obtained on 9 December 1961.
1962: Julius Nyerere becomes President of the Republic. He leaves power in 1985 and dies in 1999.
1964: unification of Tanganyika and Zanzibar which marks the birth of Tanzania. 1967: the Arusha Declaration lays the foundations for development: collectivisation of lands and creation of cooperatives, priority given to education.
1978: the Tanzanian army ward off Ugandans in the region of Lake Victoria and put an end to the regime of Idi Amin Dada. From 1986: the economy is liberalised by President Ali Hassan Mwinyi, elected in 1985 and reelected in 1990.
1992: beginning of the multiparty system.
1995: Benjamin William Mkapa becomes President of the Republic.
July 2001: Dr. Ali Mohammed Shein becomes Vice-President.