TANZANIA
The
United Republic of Tanzania is located in eastern Africa on the
Indian Ocean between Mozambique and Kenya and includes the island
of Zanzibar. The capital, Dar es Salaam, is located along the
eastern coast on the Indian Ocean. Tanzania covers an area roughly
twice the size of California. The terrain includes coastal plains,
a central plateau, and highlands in the north and south. It is
home to Mt. Kilimanjaro (the highest point in Africa), Lake Victoria
(the second largest lake in the world), and the Great Rift Valley.
The climate varies from tropical along the coast to temperate
in the highlands. Natural resources include hydropower, tin, phosphates,
iron ore, coal, diamonds, gemstones, gold, natural gas, and nickel.
More than 37.1 million people live in Tanzania. Kiswahili or Swahili
(Kiunguju in Zanzibar) and English are the official languages;
Arabic and numerous other local languages are spoken as well.
The population is overwhelmingly native African (99%), most of
whom are Bantu (95%). Religious practices on the mainland include:
Christian (30%), Muslim (35%), and indigenous beliefs (35%).
The nation gained its independence on April 26, 1964. Its constitution
went into effect on April 25, 1977, and underwent major revisions
in 1984. Tanzania’s president and vice president are elected by
popular vote for five-year terms. The move to multiparty politics
has been complicated by the omnipresent ruling party of current
President Benjamin Mkapa from the Chama Cha Mapinduzi party (CCM).
Although other parties have been allowed to register, CCM maintains
its dominance through near media monopoly but also a network of
community and workplace cells to monitor all social activity outside
of religion.
Tanzania’s primarily agrarian economy is constrained by geography
and environmental factors such as low and erratic rainfall, soil
erosion and deforestation. Only 8 percent of Tanzania’s land is
under cultivation, although about 80% of its population are employed
in agriculture. The principal cash crops of coffee, cotton, sisal
and tobacco have been affected by instability in world market
demand and rising costs of imported fuel, fertilizers, and equipment.
An
infrastructure that is deteriorating due to internal and external
causes also affects the country’s economy. Communications and
transport have been neglected, for example. Tanzania has 127,000
landline telephones, 115,000 Internet users, and 2.8 televisions
per 1000 people. Its 134,000 motor vehicles travel 52,800 miles
of highway. The southern third of the country is especially isolated,
even from inferior transport services.
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