Ethnic Groups in Tanzania
A BRIEF HISTORY
In the 1950’s there was an estimated one hundred and twenty tribes in Tanzania comprised of five ethnic groups: Bushmen, Nilotic, Hamitic, Nilo-Hamitic and Bantu. Physical characteristics, language structure, social organization and mode of living define them. Today the number of tribes may be greatly reduced due to reasons such as encroachment onto their life sustaining land and intrusion of their beliefs.
Bushman
Their short stature, aboriginal yellow color, language containing a variety of clicks, and a hunting-gathering mode of life define this ethnic group. They are an early culture of Africa originating from the southern part of the continent. They are responsible for the ancient rock paintings found in the Kalahari and south. Rock paintings in Tanzania have been found where this ethnic group resides today. The Hadzabe also known as the Kindinga, or in literature the Tindiga and Karigeju, live around Lake Eyasi area in northern Tanzania, and are comprised of a few hundred people only. They live a nomadic hunting and gathering life. The Sandawe who are found a little further south around Kondoa, are similar in many characteristics except for their practice in agriculture and cattle keeping or agro-pastrolism. In the 1950’s there were scattered remnants in Northwest of another tribe belonging to this ethnic group known as the Iru or Twa. It will be interesting to find out about these people and their cultural status today.
Lake Nilotes or Nilotic Speaking
These are dark skinned people but distinguished by the length of their limbs. Their origin is of the upper Nile River and has a language with contrasting pronunciation. They have very few chief-ships and are herdsmen and agriculturists with a minority practicing pastoralism. The only tribe of this ethnic group in Tanzania may be the Luo or Jaluo on the east shore of Lake Victoria. These people are fishermen.
Hamitic
These are brown skinned, fine featured, slender people. The origin is of Pre-Dynastic Egypt, Abyssinians and the Galla of today. They lost their original language and have developed a Bantu language. Chief-ship was to the highest development prior to the advent of Europeans. They imposed themselves as the rulers of the Bantu. Their greatest influence is in Rwanda and Burundi. The Tutsi originally being nomadic pastrolists would migrate into new areas and assume military power over other tribes, there has now been a long settled cattle-owning aristocracy.
Nilo-Hamites
The Nilots and Hamites blended in the Nile Valley, Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia to form this distinct group. This ethnic group occurs in two clusters, the Plain Nilotes and the Highland Nilotes. The Plain Nilotes consist of the Masai who are separated into Masai, Baraguyu, Waarusha, sections of the Dorobo (hunters in Masai-land), and Ngassi (who were in scatted traces in the Chagga of Kilimanjaro in the 1050’s). The Highland Nilotes consist of the Tatoga cluster (originally twelve tribes), Nandi (and other Kalenjin speakers), Barabaig, Kismanjeng (who almost died out), the latter two reside in the Mbulu area, Hanang, Morogoro, Iringa, Mbeya, and Rukwa.. The Taturu had small groups to the West and were nearing extinction nearly 50 years ago. The Tatoga cluster migrated into Kenya and Tanzania much before the Masai.
Bantu
The Bantu people comprise of at least 95% of the population and ethnically are a mix of Hamatic and Black skinned peoples. Bantu is a linguistic term, however, hard to define, an example of its definition is having five genders of classes. They mostly practice agro-pastrolistism. Some examples and locations of the Bantu tribes are as follows: Chagga on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro, Gogo living south-west of the Masai Steppe near Dodoma, Hehe living in central Tanzania in the Iringa district, Makonde famous for their wood carving and living in the south-east end of Tanzania, Sukuma are Tanzania’s largest tribal group and live just south of Lake Victoria, Nyamwezi living south of the Sukuma tribe, Haya living along the shores of Lake Victoria, and the Ha living in tsetse infested forest and bush along the Burundi border between Lake Victoria and Lake Tanganyika. The Sonjo people who are now increasing in number, are a tribe who speak a Bantu language, but live a similar life style to the Masai who are the Nilo-hamatic ethnic group.
Iraqw
Previously regarded as Hamatic, however, their language does not fit Hamites or any other African language. They were also thought to perhaps be the sole survivors of the Neo-Lithic group. They are now known to be Cushitic, from the Horn of Africa. With a unique origin they are therefore not included in the five ethnic groups of Tanzania. They migrated into Tanzania before the Masai and have mixed with Bantu but kept their language. The Iraqw have expanded rapidly and are agriculturists and pastoralists. They are possibly similar to the Galla people.
Full country name: United Republic of Tanzania
Population: 38.4 million (UN 2005)
Capital: Dar Es Salaam
Area: 945,087 sq km (364,900 sq miles)
Major Languages: Swahili, English, Indigenous.
Major Religions: Islam, Christian, Indigenous
Life Expectancy: 46 years (men), 46 (women) (UN)
Monetary Unit: Tanzanian Shilling
Main Exports: sisal, cloves, coffee, cotton, cashew nuts, minerals, tobacco
GNI per Capita: US $300 (World Bank, 200)
Inernet domain: .tz
International dialing code: +255
President: Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete
A land of plains, lakes and mountains with a narrow, low-lying coastal belt, Tanzania is East Africa's largest country.
The bulk of the country is a highland plateau, some of it semi-desert and the rest savannah and scattered bush.
The highest mountains - Meru (4556m/14,943ft) and Kilimanjaro (Africa's highest at 5895m/19,335ft) - are in the north-east along the Kenya border.
Timeline: Tanzania
A chronology of key events:
1498 - Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama visits Tanzanian coast.
1506 - Portuguese succeed in controlling most of the East African coast.
1699 - Portuguese ousted from Zanzibar by Omani Arabs.
1884 - German Colonisation Society begins to acquire territory on the mainland.
1886 - Britain and Germany sign an agreement allowing the Germans to set up a sphere of influence over mainland Tanzania, except for a narrow piece of territory along the coast which remained the authority of the sultan of Zanzibar, while Britain enjoys a protectorate over Zanzibar.
1905-06 - Indigenous Maji Maji revolt suppressed by German troops.
British rule
1916 - British, Belgian and South African troops occupy most of German East Africa.
1919 - League of Nations gives Britain a mandate over Tanganyika - today's mainland Tanzania.
1929 - Tanganyika African Association founded.
1946 - United Nations converts British mandate over Tanganyika into a trusteeship.
1954 - Julius Nyerere and Oscar Kambona transform the Tanganyika African Association into the Tanganyika African National Union.
Independence
1961 - Tanganyika becomes independent with Julius Nyerere as prime minister.
1962 - Tanganyika becomes a republic with Nyerere as president.
1963 - Zanzibar becomes independent.
1964 - Sultanate of Zanzibar overthrown by Afro-Shirazi Party in a violent, left-wing revolution; Tanganyika and Zanzibar merge to become Tanzania, with Nyerere as president and the head of the Zanzibar government and leader of the Afro-Shirazi Party, Abeid Amani Karume, as vice-president.
1967 - Nyerere issues the Arusha Declaration, which calls for egalitarianism, socialism and self-reliance.
1977 - The Tanganyika African National Union and Zanzibar's Afro-Shirazi Party merge to become the Party of the Revolution, which is proclaimed as the only legal party.
1978 - Ugandans temporarily occupy a piece of Tanzanian territory.
1979 - Tanzanian forces invade Uganda, occupying the capital, Kampala, and help to oust President Idi Amin.
Multiparty politics
1985 - Nyerere retires and is replaced by the president of Zanzibar, Ali Mwinyi.
1992 - Constitution amended to allow multiparty politics.
1995 - Benjamin Mkapa chosen as president in Tanzania's first multiparty election.
1999 October - Julius Nyerere dies.
2000
- Mkapa elected for a second term, winning 72% of the vote.
2001 March - Tanzanian governing party, Chama Cha Mapinduzi, and main opposition in Zanzibar, Civic United Front, agree to form joint committee to restore calm and to encourage return of refugees from Kenya.
2001 July - Huge new gold mine, Bulyanhulu, opens near northern town of Mwanza, making Tanzania Africa's third largest producer of gold.
2005 October - Governing CCM wins Zanzibar elections.
2005 December - Jakaya Kikwete, foreign minister and ruling CCM candidate, wins presidential elections. He replaces Benjamin Mkapa, who retires after a decade at the helm.
2005 December- A new genus of monkey, The Kipunji, discovered in Tanzania
2006 April - High Court outlaws traditional practice of entertaining candidates during elections. Critics of "Takrima" - the giving of tips - said it encouraged corruption.
2006 June - Visiting Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, on his seven-nation African tour to secure energy deals and strengthen economic ties, signs agreements to help Tanzania's health, transport and communications sectors.
2006 August - The African Development Bank announces the cancellation of more than 640 million dollars of debt owed by Tanzania, saying it was impressed with Tanzania's economic record and the level of accountability of public finance.
2007 January- United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed Tanzania's Foreign Minister to the number 2 job at the United Nations
2007 March- Leaders from southern African nations are in Dar es Salaam for emergency talks on the crisis in Zimbabwe
Founding president remained a political force until his death.