East Africa's biggest democracy

Tanzania: East Africa’s biggest democracy

Sunday, 04 December 2011 13:33 Kenan Kalagho

FOUR  PRESIDENTS IN 50 YEARS: Tanzania this week celebrates 50 years of independence from British colonial rule. The country has had a stable period since its founding father Julius Nyerere (1961 - 1985) handed power to Al Hassan Mwinyi (1985 - 1995) who handed over power to Benjamin Mkapa (1995 - 2005) who then handed over to the incumbent Jakaya Kikwete (from 2005).

DAR ES SALAAM - Tanzanians across this vast territory, have everything to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their independence on  December 9, 1961 when they received their freedom from the United Kingdom.
The country was then called Tanganyika until it united with Zanzibar in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania.
The history of the people of Tanzania, which is inhabited by over 120 tribes - mostly different in their cultures and languages- can be traced centuries back. However, from the slave traders and Indian Ocean markets emerged the Kiswahili language which to date unites the people of Tanzania and indeed East African.
In 4th century AD the Bantu-speaking people began to migrate into Tanganyika. They brought along iron tools and weapons. People on the east coast of Africa had contact with the Mediterranean civilizations through foreign traders who plied the Indian Ocean coast in search of wealth. The Persians and later the Romans sailed as far as Tanganyika.
Later, in the 8th century, Arab merchants sailed to this part of the African continent bringing with them the Islam religion and ever since many Tanzanians have been converted Muslims. Many Arabs settled along the coast and eventually traders came from as far away as India and China.
In the 11th century AD the ancestors of the Maasai began to migrate to Tanzania from southern Sudan. Most of them arrived between the 15th century and the 18th century. The first European to reach Tanzania was a Portuguese explorer named Vasco Da Gama who arrived in 1498.
However, the Portuguese rule did not extend inland. At first the Portuguese were peaceful, but not for long. In 1503 a ship commanded by Rui Lorenco Ravasco came to Unguja Island of Zanzibar. The Portuguese captured 20 Arab dhows and killed about 35 people. The ruler of Zanzibar, the Mwinyi Mkuu was forced to submit, who grant the Portuguese access to Zanzibar islands as a port of call for  Portuguese ships seeking food and fresh water. He also had to pay tribute to Portugal. In 1505 the Portuguese captured Mombassa port in Kenya and in 1056 they captured Pemba Island of Zanzibar. In 1510 the people of Unguja Island and Pemba Island rebelled, but they were crushed by the Portuguese.
During the 16th century the Portuguese took control of the coast and they built forts. In 1560 they founded Zanzibar town. However, the Portuguese also introduced two plants from Brazil - cassava and cashew nuts. The Portuguese only controlled the coast of Tanganyika till the 17th century when they were driven out by Arabs from Oman. The Arabs captured Unguja in 1652. The last Portuguese were expelled from Pemba island in 1695.
In the 18th century and 19th century Arab slave traders took huge numbers of slaves from Tanganyika and exported them to the Gulf states where they were resold to Arabs or to European colonies in the Indian Ocean. In 1812 a man named Saleh bin Haramil introduced cloves to Zanzibar which soon became a major export. Clove plantations were worked by African slaves.
In the 19th century Europeans began to explore inland Tanzania. In the 1840s two Germans, Johann Ludwig Krapf and Johannes Rebmann reached Mount Kilimanjaro. In 1857 two Britons - Richard Burton and John Speke reached Lake Tanganyika. Then in 1885 the Germans began taking over the region led by Karl Peters. He formed a company, the German East Africa Company (Deutsch-Ostafrikanische Gesellschaft).
Karl Peters persuaded African chiefs to make treaties with his company. Legally Peters acted independently of the German Government. Nevertheless his government approved his actions.
Meanwhile, the British took control of the island of Zanzibar, but in 1890 Britain and Germany signed a treaty dividing the area between them. Britain took Zanzibar and Germany took Tanganyika. Then in January 1891 the German Government took direct control of the new territory.
From the start Germans faced resistance. The first uprising was the Abushiri revolt of 1888. The people on the coastal areas resented German interference and they rose in revolt led by Abushiri bin Salim al-Harth, but was crushed by Germans.
From 1891 to 1898 the Germans fought the Hehe people of southern highlands.  The Hehe were defeated and their leader, Mkwawa, who committed suicide instead of being taken prisoner. In 1905-07 came the Maji Maji rebellion in rebellion against forced labour on cotton plantations and that lead to the whole of southern Tanganyika to rise in rebellion.
The rebellion was crushed after the Germans adopted a 'scorched earth' policy. At least 100,000 people died both as a result of the fighting and as a result of starvation. Between 1909 and 1913, some 250 tonnes of dinosaur bones were discovered at Tendaguru, north of Lindi and shipped to a museum in Berlin.
During the 1914 First World War a small German force, led by Colonel Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, was defeated. When a British force landed at Tanga in November 1914 it was defeated and fled leaving many weapons in German hands. The British invaded again in 1916, but they were unable to defeat the Germans.
However, by 1917 the Germans in Tanganyika were running out of food and ammunition so they turned to guerrilla warfare. They continued to fight until Germany itself surrendered in November 1918.
After the war Tanganyika was handed over to the British as a protectorate under the League of Nation - now the UN. In 1925 Sir Donald Cameron became the first Governor.
In 1929 Africans began to mobilize by forming the Tanganyika African Association in Dar es Salaam disguised as a social club although it had political aims until the 1950s when emerged as political force of sorts.
Thus in 1953 Julius Nyerere was elected president of the Tanganyika African Association. In 1954 it was renamed the Tanzania African National Union (TANU). It campaigned for independence with the slogan Freedom and Unity (Uhuru na Umoja). TANU having been a protectorate, Mwalimu Nyerere demanded for freedom from the 'protectors' from the UN which made things easier that countries that were colonies such as Kenya, Rhodesia - now Zimbabwe and Zambia. The UN was accommodating to the independence idea and the British agreed to let go the real estate. TANU participated in elections for the legislative council in 1958 and 1959 in an environment that obliged two-thirds of the seats to be reserved for non-Africans.
In 1960 that restriction was removed, and TANU won almost all the seats. The move to independence was now unstoppable and Tanzania became independent on 9 December 1961 with Julius Kambarage Nyerere Nyerere, - a teacher by profession, as first prime minister. A year later on 9th December 1962 Tanganyika became a republic and Mwalimu Nyerere became its first president.
Modern day Tanzania
The armed revolt in 1964 in Zanzibar against the Sultanate regime, led by Abeid Amani Karume - speeded up Nyerere's dream to unite Africa. That was an era of Pan-Africanism. In 1967 Nyerere adopted a policy of socialism popularly known as 'Ujamaa' under the Arusha Declaration which was a blue print of the social development patterned on the Russian socialism, but this ujamaa was restricted to the Tanganyika side as Zanzibar pursued capitalistic policies.
Nyerere planned to create huge communes where people would be  encouraged/forced to move into to produce food and live in brotherhood.
It also entailed nationalization of properties such as plantations of tea, coffee, sisal, buildings  and banks, among others. The policy proved disastrous for Tanzania's economy because it did not receive honest support from leaders and the people alike. Agricultural production slumped and the Tanzanian economy was wrecked. Furthermore by 1973 only about 20% of the population had moved to Ujamaa villages. So Mwalimu Nyerere virtually forced people to move from their ancestral homes to communes, and by 1977 about 80% of the population had been resettled.
The war against forces of Idi Amin of Uganda in October 1978 after a invasion of Kagera region destabilized Tanzania's economy. The country sank into heavy external debt. International donors demanded reform in return for help, but Mwalimu Nyerere was unwilling to change his policies. So in 1985 he resigned handing over power to Ali Hassan Mwinyi who spent the next 10 years dismantling the Ujamaa policy.
Mwinyi privatized state-owned enterprises to cut the mounting subsidy burden, and encouraged foreign investments. It has since steadily attracted many investors in the tourism sector, mining especially for gold, and road transport, among others In 1995, Mkapa succeeded President Ali Hassan Mwinyi (1985-1995) - a Zanzibari who served two terms.
In 2005 Jakaya Kikwete was elected president.