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| Tanzania | Plants and Animal | Back to Top |
In 1999 the imports of Tanzania were valued at $1.8 billion, and exports totaled $541 million. Coffee, cotton, tobacco, cloves, tea, cashews, and sisal made up the bulk of exports. Main imports were petroleum, machinery, transportation equipment, iron and steel and other metals, and food and live animals. Principal trading partners for exports are Germany, Japan, India, the United Kingdom, Rwanda, and The Netherlands; chief partners for imports are the United Kingdom, Kenya, Japan, China, and India. Considerable foreign exchange is also derived from tourists, some 447,000 of whom visited Tanzania in 1998.
| Tanzania | Communications | Back to Top |
fair system operating below capacity and being modernized for better service; VSAT (very small aperture terminal) system under construction
domestic: trunk service provided by open wire, microwave radio relay, tropospheric scatter, and fiber-optic cable; some links being made digital
international: satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat
| Tanzania | Culture | Back to Top |
Olduvai Gorge, in the Great Rift Valley, is the site of the find of some of the earliest known remains of human ancestry, dating back 1,750,000 years. The ancient in-migration of Cushitic, Nilotic, and Bantu peoples, displacing the native San-type population, resulted in a complex agglomeration of tribal communities practicing complementary forms of pastoral and agricultural livelihoods. In the last 500 years, Portuguese, Arab, Indian, German, and British traders and colonists have added to the mosaic. Today Tanzania's multiethnic and multiracial population practices a mixture of traditions and customs that form a valuable cultural heritage.
Oral storytelling traditions and tribal dancing are an valuable part of the cultural life of the rural population. The University of Dar es Salaam has an active theatre arts group. Among the visual arts, Makonde carvers from southern Tanzania are renowned for their abstract ebony carvings, and Zanzibar is famous for its elaborately carved doors and Arab chests. Basket weaving, pottery, and musical instrument making are prevalent in many rural areas.
| Tanzania | Defence | Back to Top |
Military branches: Tanzanian People's Defense Force or TPDF (includes Army, Navy, and Air Force), paramilitary Police Field Force Unit, Militia
Military manpower - availability: males age 15-49: 8,365,337 (2001 est.)
Military manpower - fit for military service: males age 15-49: 4,841,095 (2001 est.)
| Tanzania | International Disputes | Back to Top |
dispute with Malawi over the boundary in Lake Nyasa (Lake Malawi); a resurvey of the latitudinal boundary with Uganda in 2000 revealed a 300-meter discrepancy that both sides are currently adjudicating
| Tanzania | Economy | Back to Top |
The economy of Tanzania is primarily agricultural. Some 84 % of the economically active population is engaged in farming, forestry, or fishing, and agricultural products account for a remarkable share of annual exports. The nation is the world’s largest producer of sisal and cloves. With per capita income an around $270 a year, Tanzania is one of the poorest countries in the world. Government programs once called for a form of socialism, and most banks were nationalized in 1967. An economic recovery program announced in the mid-1980s generated increases in agricultural production and financial support from donor nations, and the government has adopted financial restraints recommended by the International Monetary Fund. The around national budget in 1996 included $733 million in revenues and $768 million in expenditures.
The Tanzanian economy is overwhelmingly agrarian in nature and reflects the leadership's political commitment to socialist development and central planning. Agriculture constitutes over half of the gross domestic product (GDP) and some 80 % of export earnings, and it provides a livelihood for about nine-tenths of the economically active population. Industry accounts for less than 10 % of the GDP, and mining less than 1 %, whereas services, including public administration, produce around one-third of the GDP. A number of industries and public services were nationalized at the time of the Arusha Declaration in 1967, when the intention to build a socialist state was announced.
Tanzania is one of the poorest countries in the world. The economy is heavily dependent on agriculture, which accounts for half of GDP, provides 85% of exports, and employs 80% of the work force. Topography and climatic conditions, limit cultivated crops to only 4% of the land area. Industry is mainly limited to processing agricultural products and light consumer goods. The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and bilateral donors have provided funds to rehabilitate Tanzania's deteriorated economic infrastructure. Growth in 1991-2000 featured a pick up in industrial production and a substantial increase in output of minerals, led by gold. Natural gas exploration in the Rufiji Delta looks promising and production could start by 2002. Recent banking reforms have helped increase private area growth and investment. Continued donor support and solid macroeconomic policies should allow Tanzania to achieve real GDP growth of 6% in 2001 and in 2002.
| Tanzania | Education | Back to Top |
Primary education is compulsory in Tanzania, but not enough schools are available to accommodate all of the children, and only 66 % of eligible children are listed. It is around that 92 % of people over the age of 15 are literate. In 1997 government and private schools were attended by 4.1 million elementary pupils and 234,700 secondary students. Institutions of higher education listed 17,812 students. Major schools include the University of Dar es Salaam (1961) and Sokoine University of Agriculture (1984), in Morogoro.
| Tanzania | Government | Back to Top |
Tanzania's president and National Assembly members are elected concurrently by direct popular vote for 5-year terms. The president appoints a prime minister who serves as the government's leader in the National Assembly. The president selects his cabinet from among National Assembly members. The Constitution also empowers him to nominate 10 non-elected members of Parliament, who also are eligible to become cabinet members. Elections for president and all National Assembly seats will be held in October 2005.
The unicameral National Assembly elected in 2000 has 295 members. These 295 members include the Attorney General, five members elected from the Zanzibar House of Representatives to participate in the Parliament, the special women's seats which are made up of 20% of the seats a particular party has in the House, 181 constituents seats of members of Parliament from the mainland, and 50 seats from Zanzibar. Also in the list are 48 appointed for women and the seats for the 10 nominated members of Parliament. At present, the ruling CCM holds about 93% of the seats in the Assembly. Laws passed by the National Assembly are valid for Zanzibar only in specifically designated union matters.
Zanzibar's House of Representatives has jurisdiction over all non-union matters. There are currently 76 members in the House of Representatives in Zanzibar, including 50 elected by the people, 10 appointed by the president of Zanzibar, 5 exofficio members, and an attorney general appointed by the president. In May 2002, the government increased the number of special seats allocated to women from 10 to 15, which will increase the number of House of Representatives members to 81. Ostensibly, Zanzibar's House of Representatives can make laws for Zanzibar without the approval of the union government as long as it does not involve union-designated matters. The terms of office for Zanzibar's president and House of Representatives also are 5 years. The semiautonomous relationship between Zanzibar and the union is a comparatively unique system of government.
Tanzania has a five-level judiciary combining the jurisdictions of tribal, Islamic, and British common law. Appeal is from the primary courts through the district courts, resident magistrate courts, to the high courts, and Court of Appeals. Judges are appointed by the Chief Justice, except those for the Court of Appeals and the High Court who are appointed by the president. The Zanzibari court system parallels the legal system of the union, and all cases tried in Zanzibari courts, except for those involving constitutional issues and Islamic law, can be appealed to the Court of Appeals of the union. A commercial court was accomplished in September 1999 as a division of the High Court.
For administrative purposes, Tanzania is separated into 26 regions--21 on the mainland, 3 on Zanzibar, and 2 on Pemba. Ninety-nine district councils have been created to further increase local authority. These districts are also now referred to as local government authorities. Currently there are 114 councils operating in 99 districts, 22 are urban and 92 are rural. The 22 urban units are classified further as city (Dar es Salaam and Mwanza), municipal (Arusha, Dodoma, Iringa, Kilimanjaro, Mbeya, Morogoro, Shinyanga, Tabora, and Tanga), and town councils (the remaining 11 communities).
| Tanzania | History | Back to Top |
Northern Tanganyika's famed Olduvai Gorge has provided valuable demonstrate of the area's prehistory, including fossil remains of some of humanity's earliest ancestors. Discoveries suggest that East Africa may have been the site of human origin. Little is known of the history of Tanganyika's interior during the early centuries of the Christian era. The area is believed to have been colonised originally by ethnic groups using a click-tongue language similar to that of Southern Africa's Bushmen and Hottentots. Although remnants of these early tribes still exist, most were gradually displaced by Bantu farmers migrating from the west and south and by Nilotes and related northern peoples. Some of these groups had well-organized societies and controlled considerable areas by the time the Arab slavers, European explorers, and missionaries penetrated the interior in the first half of the 19th century.
President Nyerere stepped down from office and was succeeded as President by Ali Hassan Mwinyi in 1985. Nyerere retained his position as Chairman of the ruling party for 5 more years and was influential in Tanzanian politics until his death in October 1999. The current President, Benjamin Mkapa, was elected in 1995 and re-elected for a second five-year term in 2000. Zanzibar President Amani Abeid Karume, the son of Zanzibar’s first president, was elected in 2000, in general elections that were marked by widespread irregularities throughtout the Isles. His predecessor, Salmin Amour, was first elected in single-party elections in 1990, then re-elected in 1995 in Zanzibar’s first multi-party elections. These elections, also were tainted by widespread irregularities on Zanzibar.
| Tanzania | Introduction | Back to Top |
Tanzania, United Republic of, republic, south-eastern Africa, bordered on the north by Lake Victoria and Uganda, on the north-east by Kenya, on the east by the Indian Ocean, on the south by Mozambique, Lake Nyasa, and Malawi, on the south-west by Zambia, and on the west by Lake Tanganyika, Burundi, and Rwanda. The nation includes the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba, and other offshore islands in the Indian Ocean. The total area of Tanzania is 945,100 sq km (364,900 sq mi), of which 942,453 sq km (363,882 sq mi) is on the mainland. The desinate capital of Tanzania is Dodoma, but many government facilities have yet to transfer from the former capital of Dar es Salaam.
Official Name -United Republic of Tanzania| Tanzania | Land | Back to Top |
N/A
| Tanzania | Languages | Back to Top |
The population of Tanzania consists mostly of members of more than 120 black African groups, the majority of which speak a Bantu language.The largest ethnic groups are the Sukuma and the Nyamwezi, each representing about a fifth of the nation’s population. Other groups of remarkable size include the Haya, Ngonde, Chagga, Gogo, Ha, Hehe, Nyakyusa, Nyika, Ngoni, Yao, and Masai.
| Tanzania | Life | Back to Top |
The largest city and seat of government, Dar es Salaam, has a population (1995 estimate) of 1,747,000. Other major cities are Mwanza (population, 1988; 233,013), a port on Lake Victoria, and Tanga (187,634), an industrial center and seaport. Zanzibar (157,634) is the largest city on the island. Dodoma (189,000) has been designated as the eventual capital of Tanzania.
| Tanzania | organization | Back to Top |
ACP, AfDB, C, CCC, EADB, ECA, FAO, G- 6, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, MONUC, NAM, OAU, OPCW, SADC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNMEE, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO
| Tanzania | People | Back to Top |
Tanzania is extremely heterogeneous, with more than 120 different indigenous African peoples as well as small groups of Asians and Europeans. As early as 5000 BC, San-type hunting bands colonised the nation. The Sandawe hunters of northern Tanzania are thought to be their descendants. By 1000 BC, agriculture and pastoral practices were being introduced through the migration of Cushitic people from Ethiopia. The Iraqw, Mbugu, Gorowa, and Burungi have Cushitic origins. About AD 500, iron-using Bantu agriculturalists coming from the west and south started displacing or absorbing the San hunters and gatherers; at roughly the same time, Nilotic pastoralists entered the area from the southern Sudan. Today the majority of Tanzanians are of Bantu descent; the Sukuma constitute the largest group, and others are the Nyamwezi, Hehe, Nyakyusa, Makonde, Yao, Haya, Chaga, Gogo, and Ha. Nilotic peoples are described by the Masai, Arusha, Samburu, and Baraguyu. No one group has been politically or culturally dominant, although the tribes that were subject to Christian missionary determine and Western education during the colonial time (notably the Chaga and Haya) are now disproportionately described in the government administration and cash economy.
Each ethnic group has its own language, but the national language is Kiswahili, a Bantu-based tongue with strong Arabic borrowings.
| Tanzania | Politics | Back to Top |
Chama Cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo or CHADEMA [Bob MAKANI, chairman]; Chama Cha Mapinduzi or CCM (Revolutionary Party) [Benjamin William MKAPA, chairman]; Civic United Front or CUF [Seif Sharif HAMAD, secretary-general]; Democratic Party (unregistered) [Reverend Christopher MTIKLA, leader]; National Convention for Construction and Reform or NCCR [Kassim MAGUTU, secretary-general]; Tanzania Labor Party or TLP [Augustine Lyatonga MREMA, chairman]; Union for Multiparty Democracy or UMD [leader NA]; United Democratic Party or UDP [John CHEYO, leader]
| Tanzania | Provinces | Back to Top |
25 regions; Arusha, Dar es Salaam, Dodoma, Iringa, Kagera, Kigoma, Kilimanjaro, Lindi, Mara, Mbeya, Morogoro, Mtwara, Mwanza, Pemba North, Pemba South, Pwani, Rukwa, Ruvuma, Shinyanga, Singida, Tabora, Tanga, Zanzibar Central/South, Zanzibar North, Zanzibar Urban/West
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| Tanzania | Time | Back to Top |
| Tanzania | Currency and General Information | Back to Top |
| Tanzania Shillings | United States Dollars |
| 1.00 TZS | 0.00101833 USD |
| 982.000 TZS | 1 USD |
| Countries Currency Unit | USD/Unit | Units/USD | |
| DZD | Algeria Dinars | 0.0129554 | 77.1877 |
| USD | United States Dollars | 1.00000 | 1.00000 |
| ARS | Argentina Pesos | 0.341293 | 2.93004 |
| AUD | Australia Dollars | 0.533413 | 1.87472 |
| ATS | Austria Schillings ** | 0.0632609 | 15.8076 |
| BSD | Bahamas Dollars | 1.00000 | 1.00000 |
| BBD | Barbados Dollars | 0.502513 | 1.99000 |
| BEF | Belgium Francs ** | 0.0215788 | 46.3417 |
| BMD | Bermuda Dollars | 1.00000 | 1.00000 |
| BRL | Brazil Reals | 0.430318 | 2.32386 |
| GBP | United Kingdom Pounds | 1.42399 | 0.702251 |
| BGL | Bulgaria Leva | 0.447293 | 2.23567 |
| CAD | Canada Dollars | 0.627606 | 1.59336 |
| CLP | Chile Pesos | 0.00152392 | 656.202 |
| CNY | China Yuan Renminbi | 0.120813 | 8.27726 |
| CYP | Cyprus Pounds | 1.49883 | 0.667186 |
| CZK | Czech Republic Koruny | 0.0281883 | 35.4758 |
| DKK | Denmark Kroner | 0.117155 | 8.53568 |
| XCD | East Caribbean Dollars | 0.370370 | 2.70000 |
| EGP | Egypt Pounds | 0.217271 | 4.60255 |
| EUR | Euro | 0.870489 | 1.14878 |
| FJD | Fiji Dollars | 0.447227 | 2.23600 |
| FIM | Finland Markkaa ** | 0.146406 | 6.83034 |
| FRF | France Francs ** | 0.132705 | 7.53550 |
| DEM | Germany Deutsche Marks ** | 0.445074 | 2.24682 |
| XAU | Gold Ounces | 301.977 | 0.00331151 |
| GRD | Greece Drachmae ** | 0.00255463 | 391.447 |
| HKD | Hong Kong Dollars | 0.128215 | 7.79939 |
| HUF | Hungary Forint | 0.00358416 | 279.006 |
| ISK | Iceland Kronur | 0.00999868 | 100.013 |
| INR | India Rupees | 0.0205205 | 48.7319 |
| IDR | Indonesia Rupiahs | 0.000102055 | 9,798.61 |
| IEP | Ireland Pounds ** | 1.10529 | 0.904738 |
| ILS | Israel New Shekels | 0.212386 | 4.70841 |
| ITL | Italy Lire ** | 0.000449570 | 2,224.35 |
| JMD | Jamaica Dollars | 0.0210041 | 47.6099 |
| JPY | Japan Yen | 0.00754183 | 132.594 |
| JOD | Jordan Dinars | 1.41057 | 0.708931 |
| LBP | Lebanon Pounds | 0.000660937 | 1,513.00 |
| LUF | Luxembourg Francs ** | 0.0215788 | 46.3417 |
| MYR | Malaysia Ringgits | 0.263330 | 3.79751 |
| MXN | Mexico Pesos | 0.111007 | 9.00848 |
| NZD | New Zealand Dollars | 0.440474 | 2.27028 |
| NOK | Norway Kroner | 0.113022 | 8.84780 |
| NLG | Netherlands Guilders ** | 0.395011 | 2.53158 |
| PKR | Pakistan Rupees | 0.0166945 | 59.9000 |
| PHP | Philippines Pesos | 0.0196386 | 50.9202 |
| XPT | Platinum Ounces | 510.962 | 0.00195709 |
| PLN | Poland Zlotych | 0.243488 | 4.10699 |
| PTE | Portugal Escudos ** | 0.00434198 | 230.310 |
| ROL | Romania Lei | 0.0000303433 | 32,956.21 |
| RUR | Russia Rubles | 0.0321342 | 31.1195 |
| SAR | Saudi Arabia Riyals | 0.266668 | 3.74998 |
| XAG | Silver Ounces | 4.65692 | 0.214734 |
| SGD | Singapore Dollars | 0.542540 | 1.84318 |
| SKK | Slovakia Koruny | 0.0208441 | 47.9751 |
| ZAR | South Africa Rand | 0.0883340 | 11.3207 |
| KRW | South Korea Won | 0.000759354 | 1,316.91 |
| ESP | Spain Pesetas ** | 0.00523174 | 191.141 |
| XDR | IMF Special Drawing Rights | 1.24862 | 0.800882 |
| SDD | Sudan Dinars | 0.00384615 | 260.000 |
| SEK | Sweden Kronor | 0.0964189 | 10.3714 |
| CHF | Switzerland Francs | 0.593789 | 1.68410 |
| TWD | Taiwan New Dollars | 0.0286531 | 34.9002 |
| THB | Thailand Baht | 0.0230087 | 43.4619 |
| TTD | Trinidad and Tobago Dollars | 0.163399 | 6.12000 |
| TRL | Turkey Liras | 0.000000763622 | 1,309,549.07 |
| VEB | Venezuela Bolivares | 0.00108696 | 920.000 |
| ZMK | Zambia Kwacha | 0.000239866 | 4,169.00 |
| Tanzania : Geographic coordinates | 6 00 S, 35 00 E |
| Tanzania : Population growth rate | 2.61% |
| Tanzania : Birth rate | 39.65 births/1,000 population |
| Tanzania : Death rate | 12.95 deaths/1,000 population |
| Tanzania : People living with HIV/AIDS | 1.3 million |
| Tanzania : Independence | 26 April 1964 |
| Tanzania : National holiday | Union Day (Tanganyika and Zanzibar), 26 April |
| Tanzania : Constitution | 25 April 1977 |
| Tanzania : GDP | purchasing power parity - $25.1 billion |
| Tanzania : GDP - per capita | purchasing power parity - $710 |
| Tanzania : Electricity - consumption | 2.134 billion kWh |
| Tanzania : Exports | $937 million coffee, manufactured goods, cotton, cashew nuts, minerals, tobacco, sisal |
| Tanzania : Imports | $1.57 billion consumer goods, machinery and transportation equipment, industrial raw materials, crude oil |
| Tanzania : Telephones | 127,000 |
| Tanzania : Mobile cellular | 30,000 |
| Tanzania : Radio broadcast stations | AM 12, FM 11, shortwave 2 |
| Tanzania : Radios | 8.8 million |
| Tanzania : Television broadcast stations | 3 |
| Tanzania : Televisions | 103,000 |
| Tanzania : Internet country code | .tz |
| Tanzania : Internet Service Providers (ISPs) | 6 |
| Tanzania : Internet users | 25,000 |
| Tanzania : Railways | 3,569 km |
| Tanzania : Highways | 88,200 km |
| Tanzania : Waterways | N/A |
| Tanzania : Pipelines | crude oil 982 km |
| Tanzania : Ports and harbors | Bukoba, Dar es Salaam, Kigoma, Kilwa Masoko, Lindi, Mtwara, Mwanza, Pangani, Tanga, Wete, Zanzibar |
| Tanzania : Merchant marine | 8 ships |
| Tanzania : Airports | 126 |
| Tanzania : Heliports | N/A |
| Tanzania : Military branches | Army, Navy, and Air Force |
| Tanzania : Military expenditures | $21 million |