Major Faq-Tanzania

More Information about Tanzania

Culture and Religion

Tanzania has a r em arkably harmonious and understated demeanor in contrast to Kenya and several other neighbors, tribal rivalries are almost nonexistent. It's rare for a Tanzanian to identify th em selves at the outset according to tribe; primary identification is almost always as a Tanzanian. Religious frictions are also minimal, with Christians and Muslims living side by side in relatively easy coexistence. Although political differences flare up - a glance at recent events on the Zanzibar Archipelago is enough proof of this - they rarely come to the forefront in interpersonal dealings.

The workings of society are oiled by a subtle but strong social code. Tanzanians place a pr em ium on politeness and courtesy. Greetings in particular are essential, and you'll probably be given a gentle r em inder should you forget this and launch straight into a question without first inquiring as to the wellbeing of your listener and their family.

Much of daily life is shaped by the struggle to make ends meet in an economy that is ranked as one of the worlds poorest. Yet, behind these realities is the fact that Tanzania is home, and not a bad place at that. Still, homes are often in varying stages of completion, waiting for the finances needed to finish construction - is of cinderblock or mud brick, with roofing of corrugated tin or thatch, a latrine outside and water drawn from a nearby pump or river. At the other end of the spectrum are a small number of wealthy people, often the families of government ministers, who drive fancy cars and live in western style houses. The r em ainder of Tanzanians fall somewhere in-between these extr em es, although far more are closer to the first scenario than to the latter.

Most students don't have the opportunity to finish secondary school, and many of those that do have un em ployment to look forward to, especially in rural areas.

Family life is central, with weddings, funerals, and other events holding centre stage. Celebrations are grand affairs aimed at d em onstrating status, and frequently go well beyond the means of the host family. It's expected that family m em bers who have jobs will share what they have, and the extended family forms an essential support network in the absence of a government social security syst em .

AIDS is not as widespread in Tanzania as in many southern African countries. However, the Tanzanian adult population has at least a nine percent HIV/AIDS prevalence rate which prompted an increased effort at raising public awareness.

Source: Lonely Planet Tanzania

History

Most of the known history of Tanganyika before 1964 concerns the coastal area, although the interior has a number of important prehistoric sites, including the Olduvai Gorge . Trading contacts between Arabia and the East African coast existed by the 1st century AD, and there are indications of connections with India . The coastal trading centres were mainly Arab settlements, and relations between the Arabs and their African neighbours appear to have been fairly friendly. After the arrival of the Portuguese in the late 15th century, the position of the Arabs was gradually undermined, but the Portuguese made little attempt to penetrate into the interior. They lost their foothold north of the Ruvuma River early in the 18th century as a result of an alliance between the coastal Arabs and the ruler of Muscat on the Arabian Peninsula . This link remained extremely tenuous, however, until French interest in the slave trade from the ancient town of Kilwa , on the Tanganyikan coast, revived the trade in 1776. Attention by the French also aroused the sultan of Muscat 's interest in the economic possibilities of the East African coast, and a new Omani governor was appointed at Kilwa. For some time most of the slaves came from the Kilwa hinterland, and until the 19th century such contacts as existed between the coast and the interior were due mainly to African caravans from the interior.

In their constant search for slaves, Arab traders began to penetrate farther into the interior, more particularly in the southeast toward Lake Nyasa . Farther north two merchants from India followed the tribal trade routes to reach the country of the Nyamwezi about 1825. Along this route ivory appears to have been as great an attraction as slaves, and Sa'id bin Sultan himself, after the transfer of his capital from Muscat to Zanzibar, gave every encouragement to the Arabs to pursue these trading possibilities. From the Nyamwezi country the Arabs pressed on to Lake Tanganyika in the early 1840s. Tabora (or Kazé, as it was then called) and Ujiji, on Lake Tanganyika , became important trading centres, and a number of Arabs made their homes there. They did not annex these territories but occasionally ejected hostile chieftains. Mirambo, an African chief who built for himself a temporary empire to the west of Tabora in the 1860s and '70s, effectively blocked the Arab trade routes when they refused to pay him tribute. His empire was purely a personal one, however, and collapsed on his death in 1884.

The first Europeans to show an interest in Tanganyika in the 19th century were missionaries of the Church Missionary Society, Johann Ludwig Krapf and Johannes Rebmann, who in the late 1840s reached Kilimanjaro. It was a fellow missionary, Jakob Erhardt, whose famous "slug" map (showing, on Arab information, a vast, shapeless, inland lake) helped stimulate the interest of the British explorers Richard Burton and John Hanning Speke. They traveled from Bagamoyo to Lake Tanganyika in 1857-58, and Speke also saw Lake Victoria . This expedition was followed by Speke's second journey, in 1860, in the company of J.A. Grant, to justify the former's claim that the Nile rose in Lake Victoria . These primarily geographic explorations were followed by the activities of David Livingstone, who in 1866 set out on his last journey for Lake Nyasa . Livingstone's object was to expose the horrors of the slave trade and, by opening up legitimate trade with the interior, to destroy the slave trade at its roots. Livingstone's journey led to the later expeditions of H.M. Stanley and V.L. Cameron. Spurred on by Livingstone's work and example, a number of missionary societies began to take an interest in East Africa after 1860.

Source: www.tanzania.go.tz/history

Geography

Tanzania is mountainous in the northeast, where Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa 's highest peak, is situated. To the north and west are the Great Lakes of Lake Victoria (Africa's largest lake) and Lake Tanganyika . Central Tanzania comprises a large plateau, with plains and arable land. The eastern shore is hot and humid, with the island of Zanzibar lying just offshore. Tanzania contains many large and ecologically significant wildlife parks, including the famous Serengeti National Park in the north.

www.en.wikipedia.org

Language

The Swahili are legendary mariners and traders; in fact Swahili means 'people of the coast' in Arabic. The Swahili language, is basically of Bantu (African) origin. It has borrowed words from other languages such as Arabic probably as a result of the Swahili people using the Quran written in Arabic for spiritual guidance as Muslims.

As regards the formation of the Swahili culture and language, some scholars attribute these phenomena to the intercourse of African and Asiatic people on the coast of East Africa . The word "Swahili" was used by early Arab visitors to the coast and it means "the coast". Ultimately it came to be applied to the people and the language.

Regarding the history of the Swahili language, the older view linked to the colonial time asserts that the Swahili language originates from Arabs and Persians who moved to the East African coast. Given the fact that only the vocabulary can be associated with these groups but the syntax or grammar of the language is Bantu, this argument has been almost forgotten. It is well known that any language that has to grow and expand its territories ought to absorb some vocabulary from other languages in its way.

A suggestion has been made that Swahili is an old language. The earliest known document recounting the past situation on the East African coast written in the 2nd century AD (in Greek language by anonymous author at Alexandria in Egypt and it is called the Periplus of Erythrean Sea) says that merchants visiting the East African coast at that time from Southern Arabia, used to speak with the natives in their local language and they intermarried with them. Those that suggest that Swahili is an old language point to this early source for the possible antiquity of the Swahili language.

http://www.glcom.com/hassan/swahili_history.html