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The Tanzania Portal

Flag of Tanzania Coat of Arms of Tanzania

Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to the south; Zambia to the southwest; and Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain, is in northeastern Tanzania. According to the 2022 national census, Tanzania has a population of nearly 62 million, making it the most populous country located entirely south of the equator.

Many important hominid fossils have been found in Tanzania, such as 6-million-year-old Pliocene hominid fossils. In the Stone and Bronze Age, prehistoric migrations into Tanzania included Southern Cushitic speakers who moved south from present-day Ethiopia; Eastern Cushitic people who moved into Tanzania from north of Lake Turkana about 2,000 and 4,000 years ago; and the Southern Nilotes, including the Datoog, who originated from the present-day South Sudan–Ethiopia border region between 2,900 and 2,400 years ago. These movements took place at about the same time as the settlement of the Mashariki Bantu from West Africa in the Lake Victoria and Lake Tanganyika areas. In the late 19th century, the mainland came under German rule as German East Africa, and this was followed by British rule after World War I when it was governed as Tanganyika, with the Zanzibar Archipelago remaining a separate colonial jurisdiction. Following their respective independence in 1961 and 1963, the two entities merged in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. Tanganyika joined the British Commonwealth and Tanzania remains a member of the Commonwealth as a unified republic.

Tanzania is mountainous and densely forested in the north-east, where Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa and the highest single free-standing mountain above sea level in the world, is located. Three of Africa's Great Lakes are partly within Tanzania. To the north and west lie Lake Victoria, Africa's largest lake, and Lake Tanganyika, the continent's deepest lake, known for its unique species of fish. To the south lies Lake Malawi. The eastern shore is hot and humid, with the Zanzibar Archipelago just offshore. The Menai Bay Conservation Area is Zanzibar's largest marine protected area. The Kalambo Falls, located on the Kalambo River at the Zambian border, is the second-highest uninterrupted waterfall in Africa. Tanzania is one of the most visited tourist destinations for safaris.

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Tanzania

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Tanzania face severe challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Homosexuality in Tanzania is a socially taboo topic, and same-sex sexual acts (even in private and consensual) are criminal offences, punishable with life imprisonment. The law also criminalises heterosexuals who engage in oral sex and anal intercourse.

According to the 2007 Pew Global Attitudes Project, 95 percent of Tanzanian residents believed that homosexuality is a way of life that society should not accept, which was the seventh-highest rate of non-acceptance in the 45 countries surveyed. Meanwhile, an Afrobarometer 2020 poll indicated that only 10 percent of Tanzanians would be tolerant of someone with a different sexual orientation. This was among the lowest in Africa, but higher than the 2007 poll. (Full article...)

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The following are images from various Tanzania-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Farmers using a rice harvester to harvest rice in Igunga District, Tanzania (from Tanzania)
Image 2The snowcapped Uhuru Peak (from Tanzania)
Image 3Julius Nyerere demanding political independence for Tanganyika in 1961. (from History of Tanzania)
Image 4A Ramadan dinner in Tanzania (from Culture of Tanzania)
Image 5Domestic expenditure on research in Southern Africa as a percentage of GDP, 2012 or closest year. Source: UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030 (2015), figure 20.3. (from Tanzania)
Image 6Historical development of real GDP per capita in Tanzania, since 1950 (from Tanzania)
Image 7Regions of Tanzania (from Tanzania)
Image 8Researchers (HC) in Southern Africa per million inhabitants, 2013 or closest year (from Tanzania)
Image 9St Joseph's Catholic cathedral, Zanzibar (from Tanzania)
Image 10A carved door with Arabic calligraphy in Zanzibar (from Tanzania)
Image 11A Tanzanian woman cooks Pilau rice dish wearing traditional Kanga. (from Tanzania)
Image 12High Court Building in Kigoma (from Tanzania)
Image 13Nyerere Bridge in Kigamboni, Dar es Salaam (from Tanzania)
Image 14Zanzibar harbour (from Tanzania)
Image 15Lemon and ginger tea. (from Culture of Tanzania)
Image 16Scientific publications per million inhabitants in SADC countries in 2014. Source: UNESCO Science Report (2015), data from Thomson Reuters' Web of Science, Science Citation Index Expanded. (from Tanzania)
Image 17A Tingatinga painting (from Tanzania)
Image 18International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha (from Tanzania)
Image 19Example of a World Food Programme parcel (from Tanzania)
Image 20The Hadza live as hunter-gatherers. (from Tanzania)
Image 21One of the main trunk roads (from Tanzania)
Image 22Louis and Mary Leakey (from History of Tanzania)
Image 23Olduvai Gorge site also known as "The Cradle of Mankind" (from History of Tanzania)
Image 24Tanzanian women harvesting tea leaves (from Tanzania)
Image 25Tanzania map of Köppen climate classification (from Tanzania)
Image 26The Arusha Declaration Monument (from Tanzania)
Image 27FIB Tanzanian special forces during training (from Tanzania)
Image 28East African Legislative Assembly in Arusha (from Tanzania)
Image 29The semi-autonomous Zanzibar Archipelago (from Tanzania)
Image 30Tanzanian Ngoma group (from Culture of Tanzania)
Image 31Tanzanian Ngoma group (from Tanzania)
Image 32Battle during the Maji Maji Rebellion against German colonial rule in 1905 (from Tanzania)
Image 33Tea fields in Tukuyu (from Tanzania)
Image 34Stamp of British East Africa with portrait of Queen Elizabeth II (from History of Tanzania)
Image 35National Stadium in Dar es Salaam. (from Culture of Tanzania)
Image 36A 1.8-million-year-old stone chopping tool discovered at Olduvai Gorge and on display at the British Museum (from Tanzania)
Image 37Nkrumah Hall at the University of Dar es Salaam (from Tanzania)
Image 38Tanzanian Embassy in West End, Washington, D.C. (from Tanzania)
Image 39Development of life expectancy (from Tanzania)
Image 40Wildebeest migration in the Serengeti (from Tanzania)
Image 41A 1572 depiction of the city of Kilwa, a UNESCO World Heritage Site (from Tanzania)
Image 42Location of Zanzibar within Tanzania (from History of Tanzania)
Image 43The Masai giraffe is Tanzania's national animal. (from Tanzania)
Image 44National Stadium in Dar es Salaam (from Tanzania)
Image 45Traditional Tanzanian food consisting of pilau kuku (seasoned rice with chicken), mishkaki (grilled meat), ndizi (plantain), maharage (beans), mboga (vegetables), chapati (flatbread) and pili pili (hot sauce) (from Culture of Tanzania)
Image 46Barbecued beef cubes and seafood in Forodhani Gardens, Zanzibar (from Culture of Tanzania)
Image 47A Tingatinga painting (from Culture of Tanzania)

This month in Tanzanian history

9 June 1954: The skull of Hehe chief Mkwawa, who died in 1898, was returned to Tanzania from Germany.
24 June 2002: Tanzania's worst train crash, the Igandu train disaster, killed more than 200 people.
26 June 1857: British explorers Richard Burton and John Hanning Speke travelled from Zanzibar to the East African coast and began their exploration of inland East Africa.
28 June 1919: Following World War I, the Treaty of Versailles broke up German East Africa with the United Kingdom acquiring the largest part which it named the Tanganyika Territory.

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Wildlife of Tanzania - show another

Credit: Haplochromis

The African buffalo, affalo or cape buffalo (Syncerus caffer) is a large African bovid. It is not closely related to the slightly larger wild Asian water buffalo, but its ancestry remains unclear. Owing to its unpredictable nature which makes it highly dangerous to humans, it has not been domesticated, unlike its Asian counterpart, the domestic Asian water buffalo.

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Did you know ...

...that Rusumo Falls (pictured) was a significant site during the 1994 Rwandan genocide as thousands of dead bodies flowed underneath the bridge while a simultaneous stream of refugees crossed over it, fleeing into Tanzania to escape the fighting?

... that members of the Kasakela chimpanzee community were the first non-human animals observed making tools?

... that South African lawyer Sibongile Ndashe was arrested in Tanzania for advocating against an anti-gay law that limited treatment for HIV/AIDS?

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WikiProjects

WikiProject Tanzania

WikiProject Africa

Recognised content

Featured Articles: Anglo-Zanzibar War
Zanzibar Revolution

Featured Lists: List of Sultans of Zanzibar

Good Articles: 2008 invasion of Anjouan, Freddie Mercury, Lloyd Mathews

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Credit: Muhammad Mahdi Karim

A panoramic view of the city of Dar es Salaam. Visible are the Bank of Tanzania twin towers, the PPF Towers, the Mafuta House and the Julius Nyerere Pension Tower, to the right; the Kariakoo area next with the Benjamin Mkapa National Stadium at the back, followed by the slums.

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Articles here focus upon aspects of the Uganda–Tanzania War. These are all Good articles that meet a core set of high editorial standards.

The Battle of Tororo was a battle of the Uganda–Tanzania War that took place from 2 to 4 March 1979 at Tororo, Uganda and its surroundings. It was fought between Ugandan rebels loyal to Milton Obote and Uganda Army units loyal to President Idi Amin. In an attempt to destabilise Amin's rule and capture weapons for an insurrection, a group of guerrillas launched a raid from Kenya against Tororo, whose garrison partially mutinied and joined them after a brief fight. Loyalist Ugandan military forces, most importantly its air force, launched a large-scale counter-attack and defeated the rebels after heavy fighting. (Full article...)

List of Uganda–Tanzania War articles
Battle of Entebbe Battle of Bombo Battle of Jinja Battle of Lira Battle of Karuma Falls Battle of Lukaya Battle of Bondo Battle of Masaka Air campaign of the Uganda–Tanzania War Battle of Mutukula

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Credit: Fanny Schertzer

School children in Arusha, Tanzania. There are four schools in and around Arusha. One, the School of St Jude, provides free education to children from poor local families.

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