Tanzania: History and Today's Issues

With the announcement of my professor's trip to Tanzania, my interest was piqued.  Where, what, how and why is this eastern African country a destination of interest?

The location of Tanzania is on the East African coast, fronting the Indian Ocean and lying virtuality at the equator; sporting a tropical climate.  Described as hot and humid, after the winter I just had, it sounds like heaven.  

Tanzania is home to the tallest mountain on the African continent, Mount Kilimanjaro, which at 19,341 feet, makes it also the tallest free standing mountain in the world.  Kilimanjaro is formed by volcanoes, Kibo being the only one of the three cones (Marenzi and Shira being the two extinct cones), of this stratovolcano, that is considered dormant.  Last eruption is estimated at between 150- 200,000 years ago and could erupt at any time.  The glacier, made of 11,000 year old ice, that completely covered the top of Kibo in the 1880s, has been reduced by 80% and is expected to be ice free sometime between 2022 and 2033.  

Tanzania was formed in 1964 by combining the former countries of Zanzibar and Tanganyika.  Semi-autonomous Zanzibar, a predominantly Muslim Arab two-island country and Tanganyika, a predominantly Bantu-inhabited country and prior to World War I, part of German East Africa.  Swahili and English are the official languages with English losing ground; German has entirely disappeared. 
 

Dar-es-Salaam, the largest city, pop. 2.6 million

Tanzania has quite a diversity of nature from the more temperate highland regions, to the plains and coast.  Part of Lake Victoria resides in Tanzania and the Serengeti National Park is just one of several important wildlife parks including Gombe National Park, site of Dr. Jane Goodall's work with chimpanzees.  

Historically speaking, Tanzania is of great importance to the history of man.  Evidence exists of humans and pre-humans living there over 2 million years ago, making it one of the earliest known inhabited areas on the face of the earth.  Haya people were making carbon steel 2,000 years ago, several centuries before it caught on in Europe, and the Para tribe of the Haya also produced iron.  

Tanzania has a great many natural resources including a gemstone, Tanzanite, found only in Tanzania and in 2012, a major deposit of rare earths was discovered in the collapsed volcano, Mount Ngualla.  Although Tanzania is the third largest gold exporter in Africa, agriculture counts for over half of the gross domestic product and employs 75% of the workforce on only 4% of the land in the country.   

The history of country shows diverse influence from the Sultan of Oman period with Zanzibar the center of the Arab slave trade to the Bantu tribes that moved to the area 2000 years ago to the European, Christian influence of the 17th century.  Surprisingly, the country is predominately Christian with over 63% of the population.  The Muslim inhabitants make up 35% and the remainder, various indigenous religions.  

Present day issues for Tanzania are varied in both economic and private sectors.  Agriculture and tourism represent the greatest income for the country.  Just today there is a report of world renowned author, Calestous Juma, speaking to East Africans on the use of genetically modified seeds to boost production of Tanzanian cotton, a major export crop for the country.  There are 15 villages the Kagera region that are in dire need of food now that the banana wilt bacteria has ruined 90% of this staple crop.  The mineral production is set to increase, especially with the valuable rare earth discovery.  

Cotton field at SM Holdings

As in the rest of Africa, health issues are paramount to life.  Almost half of the Tanzanian population is under the age of 15 and the culprits in most infant deaths is malaria or the rotovirus and pneumococal disease in the older children.  The average lifespan is 53 years and although HIV/Aids is a significant disease at 5.6% of the adult population, as of 2011 there has been a decrease.  One of the most prevalent problems is gender violence and this is being blamed on the early marriages practiced in Tanzania.  Here too one can find the practice of female genital mutilation but there is a concerted effort to vanquish the practice. Tanzania also has a problem with trafficking of children into commercial sexual exploitation.

The country of Tanzania has much to offer a visitor from culture to ancient history and archaeology to the geographic wonders and the wild inhabitants.  Things are looking up in the country of Tanzania and I hope they are wildly successful on their path of improvement.