History of Tanzania

In Laetoli , 20 km from Sadiman volcano, footprints of upright hominids were found, who lived about 3.6 million years ago.

In the Olduvai Gorge, 2 million years ago, individuals of the species Homo habilis lived. In Garusi I, north of the eastern shore of Lake Nyasa , a fragment of the right upper jaw with premolars was found, which is conventionally called the African meganthropic ^[1] .

To the south of the southern peak of Mount Mumba (northeastern shore of Lake Eyasi (Nyarassa)), remains of a pre-paleoanthropus ( Afrikantrop , or early archaic sapiens, or Homo heidelbergensis , Kabwe group) of Ayasi 1, 130 thousand years ago, and fragments of 3 more skulls were found ^{[ 2]} .

Microlites from the Mumba Rock Shelter Cave ( en: Mumba Cave ), located near Lake Eyashi , date back 130 thousand years ago ^[3] .

The Olduvai Homo sapiens OH 83 from the PLK location, found in the upper level of the Ndutu layers, dates back to the interval 32-60 thousand years ago ^[4] .

Initially, the territory of present Tanzania was inhabited by peoples related to the Bushmen and Hottentots, who were engaged in hunting and gathering. Then, in the I millennium BC. e., from the Ethiopian highlands came the Cushite tribes.

A 3137-year-old female infant I3726, exhumed in Luxmanda ( en: Luxmanda ), has a mitochondrial haplogroup L2a1 ( en: Haplogroup L2 (mtDNA) ). Analysis of the genome showed that it has 62.2% -62.8% of the hunter-gatherers who inhabited Ethiopia apprx. 4500 l. BC., and 37.2-37.8% of the pre-ceramic Neolithic B. Mitochondrial haplogroup L4b2a2c was determined for sample I0589 from Zanzibar (Kuumbi Cave, 1400 BP), mitochondrial haplogroup L0a was determined for sample I1048 from Pemba (Makangale Cave, 1400 BP), mitochondrial lapa2a was determined for sample I2298 (Makangale Cave, 600 BP), ^{5 ]} .

By the beginning of our era, Bantu tribes came to the territory of present Tanzania.

Around the middle of the 1st millennium BC e. on the coast of present Tanzania appeared Persian merchants, and then - Arab. It was then that a new ethnic community emerged - Swahili . It was composed of local coastal tribes and aliens from Iran , Arabia , as well as from India .

Swahili engaged in international trade - ivory, gold, slaves were exported from Africa, and handicrafts, fabrics, and food were imported.

At the beginning of the 16th century, Portuguese appeared on the coast of present Tanzania. Since 1505, they have captured almost all port cities, but in the second half of the 17th century, Arabs and Negroes managed to expel the Portuguese.

After the expulsion of the Portuguese, economic activity revived. Arabs and local residents, claiming their Arab origin, actively engaged in the slave trade. Negro slaves were supplied to the countries of the Middle East, as well as to India and to European planters on islands in the Indian Ocean. As a result, some areas in the depths of present-day Tanzania were significantly depopulated in the 18th century.

Thanks to the slave trade, the beginnings of statehood in Tanzania occurred in the deep regions. They began to take shape among the peoples of Shambhala , Chagga , Hehe , Haya , Nyamweze . For example, the "state" of the supreme leader of the Shambhala tribe named Kimveri extended from the slopes of Kilimanjaro to the coast of the Indian Ocean. The “country” of the hehe tribe also emerged - under the leadership of the supreme leader Muyugumba.

But in the middle of the 19th century, many Europeans appeared on the coast of modern Tanzania - traders and missionaries (from Britain, France, Germany, and even from the USA). The British acted particularly aggressively, which simply forbade the Sultan of Zanzibar to engage in the slave trade.

In 1885, German Karl Peters landed on the coast of Tanzania (he was then 29 years old). He quickly concluded agreements with the leaders of 12 tribes on a protectorate, that is, on their transfer under German rule, and in 1888 he leased the entire coastal part of Tanzania from the Sultan of Zanzibar for 50 years.

The worried British in November 1890 entered into a protectorate treaty with the Sultan of Zanzibar, and in 1891 Peters announced the creation of the imperial colony of German East Africa .

The Germans wanted to turn German East Africa into their settlement colony. They created plantations there and cultivated rubber noses , coffee , cotton , sisal. Since 1902, they began to build railways connecting coastal ports with deep areas. By 1914, the number of German settlers reached 5.4 thousand.

In 1905-1907 in the south-west of modern Tanzania, the Maji-Maji uprising took place - African workers employed in cotton plantations rebelled against the intensifying repressive measures and the German colonial authorities. The uprising was brutally crushed, in its places almost the entire local population was exterminated.

In August 1914, a world war broke out, and Tanzania became a theater of operations . The troops of the Germans and local residents were led by Colonel von Lettow-Forbeck , who fought with his soldiers against the troops of Britain, Belgium and Portugal, raiding the colonies of these countries until November 1918, until he was informed that Germany had entered into a truce with the Entente.

After World War II, Tanzania came under British guardianship. The British continued to develop a plantation economy, primarily sisal, as well as cotton and coffee.

On December 9, 1961, Britain granted independence to Tanganyika (the mainland of present-day Tanzania), and on December 10, 1963, to Zanzibar , the remaining sultanate . However, on January 12, 1964, an uprising broke out in Zanzibar, the power of the Sultan was overthrown, and on April 26, 1964, the leadership of the Republic of Tanganyika and the People’s Republic of Zanzibar and Pemba announced the creation of the United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar. On October 29, 1964, the name was shortened, and the country became known as Tanzania.

In Tanzania, led by Julius Nyerere , the “nation-building” line was proclaimed. A “voluntary campaign” has begun across the country to involve young people, women, and the elderly in the construction of public facilities, roads, and bridges. This duty was combined with military training. At the same time, many of the leaders of the ruling party TANU (Tanganyik African People's Union) engaged in personal enrichment. In 1966, rebellions of students who refused to perform labor duties broke out. The Tanzanian authorities successfully suppressed these rebellions by military force.

In January 1967, the leadership of TANU, with its Arusha Declaration, announced a program for building socialism in Tanzania. After that, banks, industrial enterprises, foreign trade organizations, as well as agricultural plantations (including those belonging to foreigners) were nationalized in the country.

Collective farms began to be created in the countryside, according to the concept of Tanzanian socialism, Ujamaa . These innovations met with particular resistance in Zanzibar - it got to the point that the main party leader was killed in 1972. In retaliation, the Tanzanian authorities executed dozens of "conspirators."

In the mid-1970s, Operation Maduka was planned — the complete nationalization of all retail trade in the country, but it ended in failure.

The one-party system of government that existed since the 1970s ceased to exist in 1995 when elections were held on a democratic basis.

• Tanzania
• History of Zanzibar
• Zanzibar (Sultanate)
• Republic of Tanganyika
• Zanzibar and Pemba
• Zanzibar revolution

• Ovchinnikov V. E. The history of Tanzania in modern and modern times / Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Institute of Africa, Institute of universal. stories. - M .: Science . The main edition of oriental literature, 1986. - 272, [16] p. - (History of Africa). - 1700 copies.