From the Cradle of Humankind to a Nation of Many Voices: A Short History of Tanzania
Fossils older than our species, a coast shaped by centuries of ocean trade and a young nation that chose unity. The story behind the safari.
Most people come to Tanzania for the animals. It is worth knowing, before you land, that you are also walking into one of the oldest stories on earth.
Where it all began
In the Ngorongoro Conservation Area sits Olduvai Gorge, a steep ravine where researchers, most famously the Leakey family, uncovered fossils and stone tools left by early human ancestors across almost two million years. Not far away at Laetoli, a trail of footprints pressed into volcanic ash around 3.6 million years ago shows that our distant relatives were already walking upright. It is a strange and humbling thing to stand in that landscape and realise how long people have been looking at the same horizon.
The Swahili coast
For well over a thousand years, the Tanzanian coast and its islands were part of a vast Indian Ocean trading world. Dhows rode the monsoon winds between East Africa, Arabia, Persia and India, carrying gold, ivory, spices, cloth and ideas. Out of that exchange grew Swahili culture and the Swahili language, a Bantu language rich with words from Arabic and beyond. The ruins of Kilwa Kisiwani, once one of the wealthiest trading towns on the coast, are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Zanzibar became the heart of that world, and in the nineteenth century the Sultan of Oman moved his capital there. Its history also holds real pain, including a central role in the East African slave trade. In Stone Town, the Anglican cathedral stands on the site of the former slave market, and the memorial beside it is one of the most moving places on the island. It deserves a quiet hour of your trip.
Colonial years
In the late nineteenth century the mainland became part of German East Africa. After the First World War it passed to British administration under the name Tanganyika. Like much of the continent, its borders and economy were shaped by people far away.
A nation that chose unity
Tanganyika won its independence peacefully in 1961, led by Julius Nyerere, a former schoolteacher still known affectionately as Mwalimu, the teacher. Zanzibar became independent in 1963, and in 1964 the two joined to form the United Republic of Tanzania. The name itself is a blend of the two.
One of Nyerere's most lasting decisions was to promote Swahili as a shared national language. In a country home to more than a hundred ethnic groups, that common language helped build a strong sense of being Tanzanian first. Ask almost anyone who has spent time there and they will mention the same things: the warmth, the calm, the sense of a place at ease with itself.
Tanzania today
Dodoma is the official capital and Dar es Salaam is the largest city and commercial hub. A remarkable share of the country's land is set aside for national parks, game reserves and conservation areas, including the Serengeti and Kilimanjaro, both World Heritage Sites. It is a young, fast changing country with very deep roots, and it is all the more rewarding to visit once you know a little of where it has come from.
