Tanzania - Country history and economic development



EARLY CENTURIES A.D. Bantu farmers migrate to Southern Africa from the west and south, largely displacing the original ethnic groups that used a click-tongue language similar to that of South Africa's Bush-men and Hottentots.

8TH-12TH CENTURY. Arab, Persian, and Indian traders and immigrants build several highly developed cities and trading states along the coast, including Kibaha, a settlement that held ascendancy until the Portuguese destroyed it in the early 1500s.

1498-1506. The Portuguese explore the East African coast and claim control over the entire area. Control is nominal, however, and the Portuguese are driven out by the early 18th century.

MID-19TH CENTURY. European exploration of the interior begins, led by German missionaries and English explorers.

1840. Sultan Seyyid Said of the Omani Arabs moves his capital from Muscat to Zanzibar, promoting a lucrative trade in slaves and ivory.

1876. The British succeed in forcing Said to abolish the slave trade.

1884. Karl Peters, head of the Society for German Colonization, concludes a series of treaties with chiefs from the interior, establishing a German protectorate over the area.

1886-1890. Anglo-German agreements are negotiated that delineate British and German spheres of influence in the interior. Also, Zanzibar becomes a British protectorate, administered through an Arab sultan.

1905-07. The Maji Maji rebellion against European rule erupts, resulting in a total of 120,000 African casualties from fighting or starvation.

1918. The United Kingdom assumes complete control of Tanganyika.

1954. Julius Nyerere establishes the nationalistic Tanganyika African National Union (TANU).

1956. The Afro-Shirazi Party is founded in Zanzibar, led by Abaid Karume.

1959. The United Kingdom agrees to grant Tanganyika internal self-government and Nyerere becomes chief minister of the new government.

1959. Tanganyika achieves full independence and soon after becomes a republic within the Commonwealth with Nyerere as president.

1963. Zanzibar achieves independence.

1964. Tanganyika forms a union with Zanzibar, thereby creating the United Republic of Tanzania and embarking on a path towards the realization of socialism based on the ideology of Ujamaa.

LATE 1970s. Soaring oil prices in conjunction with Ujamaa's villagization policies seriously undermine the economy.

1977. TANU and the Afro-Shirazi Party merge into the Chama Cha Mapinduzi.

1977. Idi Amin's Ugandan invasion of Tanzania costs the Tanzanian government US$500 million to repel, exacerbating the severe economic situation.

1985-86. Nyerere is succeeded by Ali Hassan Mwinyi, who accepts the International Monetary Fund's and World Bank's Structural Adjustment Package (SAP) in order to qualify for further borrowing and a rescheduling of debt payments. The SAP focuses on acquiring macroeconomic stability, privatizing the economy, and export promotion.

1995. The first multi-party elections are held, resulting in a CCM victory.

1995. The Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility is negotiated with the IMF, emphasizing rapid privatization of parastatals.

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