Dar es Salaam
HISTORY
Kaiserstrasse, Dar es Salaam, German East Africa, c. 1905
In 1859, Albert Roscher of Hamburg became the first European to land in Mzizima (“healthy town”). In 1866 Sultan Seyyid Majid of Zanzibar gave it its present name, an Arabic phrase meaning Abode of Peace. A popular but erroneous translation is “haven of peace” resulting from a mixup of the Arabic words “dar” (house) and “bandar” (harbour). Dar es Salaam fell into decline after Majid’s death in 1870, but was revived in 1887, when the German East Africa Company established a station there. The town’s growth was facilitated by its role as the administrative and commercial centre of German East Africa and industrial expansion resulting from the construction of the Central Railway Line in the early 1900s.
German East Africa was captured by the British during World War I and from then on was referred to as Tanganyika. Dar es Salaam was retained as the territory’s administrative and commercial centre. Under British indirect rule, separate European (e.g. Oyster Bay) and African (e.g. Kariakoo and Ilala) areas developed at a distance from the city centre. The town’s population also included a large number of South Asians.
After World War II, Dar es Salaam experienced a period of rapid growth. Political developments, including the formation and growth of the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU), led to Tanganyika attaining independence from colonial rule in December 1961. Dar es Salaam continued to serve as its capital, also when in 1964 Tanganyika and Zanzibar merged to form Tanzania. However, in 1973 provisions were made to relocate the capital to Dodoma, a more centrally located city in Tanzania’s interior. The relocation process has not yet been completed, and Dar es Salaam remains Tanzania’s primary city.
Geography
Kigamboni Ferry
Dar es Salaam is located at 6°48′ South, 39°17′ East (−6.8000, 39.2833). The city is situated on a massive natural harbour on the Eastern Indian Ocean coast of Africa.
Administratively, Dar es Salaam is broken into 3 districts: Ilala, Kinondoni, and Temeke.
Population
Samora Machel Avenue, Dar es Salaam
Dar es Salaam is the largest city in Tanzania with 2.8 million people. With a population rate increase of 4.39% annually the city has become the 3rd fastest growing in Africa (9th fastest in the world) after Bamako and Lagos, respectively. The metro population is expected to reach 5.12 million by 2020.[4]
- 1925: 30,000
- 1948: 69,000
- 1957: 129,000
- 1972: 396,000
- 2005: 2,456,100
Economy and infrastructure
Dar es Salaam Skyline
Elia Complex and Muslim Graveyard, city centre
A branch of the international Subway restaurant chain in Dar es Salaam
Dar is Tanzania’s most important city for both business and government. The city contains unusually high concentrations of trade and other services and manufacturing compared to other parts of Tanzania, which has about 80 percent of its population in rural areas. For example, about one half of Tanzania’s manufacturing employment is located in the city despite the fact that Dar holds only ten percent of Tanzania’s population. Located on a natural harbour on the Indian Ocean, it is the hub of the Tanzanian transportation system as all of the country’s main railways and several highways originate in or near the city. Its status as an administrative and trade centre has put Dar es Salaam in position to benefit disproportionately from Tanzania’s high growth rate since the year 2000 so that by now its poverty rates are much lower than the rest of the country. The Julius Nyerere International Airport connects the city with other African countries, the Middle East, India, as well as Europe. There is also a railway infrastructure (TAZARA) connecting the coastal town of Dar es Salaam to the neighbouring country of Zamiba on its western border.
Culture
Downtown Dar es Salaam includes many small businesses, many of which are run by traders and proprietors whose families originated from the Middle East and Indian sub-continent – areas of the world with which the settlements of the Tanzanian coast have had long-standing trading relations. During the daytime the heavy weight of traffic, office workers, busy merchants, street vendors and restaurateurs of the area lend it a frenetic and slightly claustrophobic air. However, after nightfall the area is relatively quiet as much of the city’s nightlife is located in more residential districts away from the city’s mainly commercial centre.
The sprawling suburbs furthest from the city centre are generally populated by Tanzanians of African descent, with the exception of Oyster Bay, where there is a large population of foreign expatriates. Although there is no racial hostility, the various ethnic communities of Dar es Salaam do not tend to mix heavily. The edges of Dar es Salaam are spreading rapidly, severely taxing the transportation network (which aside from ferries, lacks any kind of mass transit facilities) and raising the prospect of future urban overcrowding.
Due in part to the growth of the expatriate community and the increasing importance of tourism, the number of international restaurants has risen very rapidly over recent years. The city now offers a surprisingly rich and internationalised diversity of cuisine, ranging from traditional Tanzanian barbecue style options such as “Nyama Choma” (roasted meat) and “Mishkaki” (Shish Kabob – usually barbecued and served with salt and various hot peppers on the side) and the long-established traditional Indian and Zanzibari cuisine, to options from all corners of the globe including, Chinese, Thai, Turkish, Italian, and Japanese food.
There is also a lively music scene in Dar es Salaam which is divided among several styles. The longest standing segment is live dance bands such as Kilimanjaro, Twanga Pepeta and FM Academia. Taarab which was traditionally strong in Zanzibar has also found a niche but remains small compared both to dance music and “Bongo Flava”, a broad category that represents the Tanzanian take on Hip Hop and R&B, which has quickly become the most popular locally produced music. This type of music is especially strong among the youth and it seems that its pull is reducing the interest in performing and hearing dance music. Songs by artists such as Ferooz name check Dar districts such as Sinza. Traditional music, which locally is used to refer to tribal music is still performed but typically only on family oriented occasions such as weddings.
Much like the popular music of other major cities Dar es Salaam’s hip music of the day Bongo Flava is a cultural escape for youths that speaks to topics of everyday life such as “HIV/AIDS, scraping a life together, the difficulty of meeting basic needs, class and wealth barriers, holding your head high despite everything.”
This Rap scene has been present and growing for the past ten years as City life has drawn much of the youth in surrounding areas have made the trek into a more urban lifestyle in search of a new better beginning.
In the 1970s the Ministry of National Youth Culture aimed to create a national culture, which stressed the importance of music. Dar es Salaam became the new music center in Tanzania, with the local radio exposing new bands and dominating the music and cultural scene. With this ujamaa, or family, mentality governing culture and music a unified people’s culture was created. However, with the intervention of the IMF and World Bank, Dar es Salaam became a center of city crime, gangs, and violence, which lead to the rise of hip hop music. Throughout the years, the radio en Dar es Salaam has played a major role in the dissemination of music because many people don’t have televisions and cassettes are used over CD’s. In addition, creating music in Dar es Salaam involves pure dedication because they receive little pay due to inadequate copyright laws. In addition, most rappers in Dar es Salaam are literate and well educated.
A variety of museums, including the National Museum, the Village Museum and the Botanical Garden are all very close by. Within an hour’s drive north is Bagamoyo, which is home to the Kaole ruins. There are beaches on the Msasani peninsula north of Dar es Salaam and in Kigamboni to the south where residents and tourists alike frequently visit. Trips to the nearby islands of the Dar es Salaam Marine Reserve are a popular daytrip from the city and a favourite spot for snorkeling, swimming and sunbathing. The National Stadium hosts Dar es Salaam’s Young Africans Football Club, Simba football club, Other Tanzanian football clubs, and many other international matches.
The first cineplex in Tanzania to show first-run Western and Indian releases was opened in Dar es Salaam in December 2003
Globalization
Globalization has affected many of the cultural expressions in Dar es Salaam, in particular, hip hop music and culture. The hip hop scene in Dar es Salaam articulates a blending of local cultural struggles and the indigenization of global influences. Hip hop music and culture arrived in Tanzania, taking its cues from various African American styling. Birgit Quade, highlights Tanzanian hip hop’s connection to US culture when she writes: “What makes hip-hop a global phenomenon is that its draws upon style, music, and look that is not restricted to any local region or language…In the mid-1980s, young people who saw the first hip-hop films and videos coming from America and started break-dancing and rapping.” The adaptations of language, fashion, style, and content within Tanzanian hip hop culture have evolved gradually. The result of this evolution has created a localized form of hip hop, often showcasing native dialectic lyrical performances and traditional garbs. While hip hop in Dar es Salaam is a clear reflection of Tanzanian localized struggle and culture, it also engages in and compromises with aspects of Western culture.
Education
Dar es Salaam is also the educational centre of Tanzania. The city is home to the University of Dar es Salaam, the Open University of Tanzania, the Hubert Kairuki Memorial University (HKMU) as well as the International Medical and Technological University (IMTU). Other institutes of higher education include the Institute of Financial Management (IFM), Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology (DIT) and the College of Business Education (CBE).
Dar es Salaam also boasts some of the finest schools in Tanzania. The following are schools that provide secondary education, O Levels and A Levels in Tanzania, according to the NECTA (National Examination Council Of Tanzania) syllabus.
Some of the International Schools in Dar are IST, International School of Tanganyka,HOPAC, Haven of Peace Academy, Dar es Salaam International Academy (DIA),DIS, Dar es Salaam International School, and Laureate.
Some of the other private secondary education schools include The Agakhan Mzizima Secondary School and Shaban Robert Secondary School.It has the famous Indian school where C.B.S.E Foreign is taught up to 12th standard. Many of the Indian expats who come to work here have their children studying in this school.
Zanzibar
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The new flag of Zanzibar was hoisted for the first time in January 2005.
http://www.zanzibar.net/zanzibar/webcam/
History
A Zanzibari woman photographed by the Coutinho brothers, c. 1890
The presence of microlithic tools attests to 20,000 years of human occupation of Zanzibar. The islands became part of the historical record of the wider world when Arab traders discovered them and used them as a base for voyages between Arabia, India, and Africa. Unguja offered a protected and defensible harbour, so although the archipelago offered few products of value, the Arabs settled at what became Zanzibar City (Stone Town) as a convenient point from which to trade with East African coastal towns. They established garrisons on the islands and built the first mosque in the Southern hemisphere.
During the Age of Exploration, the Portuguese Empire was the first European power to gain control of Zanzibar, and kept it for nearly 200 years. In 1698, Zanzibar fell under the control of the Sultanate of Oman, which developed an economy of trade and cash crops, with a ruling Arab elite. Plantations were developed to grow spices, hence the moniker of the Spice Islands (a name also used of Dutch colony the Moluccas, now part of Indonesia). Another major trade good was ivory, the tusks of elephants killed in mainland Africa. The third pillar of the economy was slaves, giving Zanzibar an important place in the Arab slave trade, the Indian Ocean equivalent of the better-known Triangular Trade. Zanzibar City was the main trading port of the East African slave trade, with about 50,000 slaves a year passing through the city. The Sultan of Zanzibar controlled a substantial portion of the East African coast, known as Zanj, which included Mombasa and Dar es Salaam, and trading routes which extended much further inland, such as to Kindu on the Congo River.
Sometimes gradually, sometimes by fits and starts, control came into the hands of the British Empire; part of the political impetus for this was the 19th century movement for the abolition of the slave trade. The relationship between Britain and the nearest relevant colonial power, Germany, was formalized by the 1890 Helgoland-Zanzibar Treaty, in which Germany pledged not to interfere with British interests in insular Zanzibar. That year, Zanzibar became a protectorate (not a colony) of Britain. From 1890 to 1913, traditional viziers were appointed to govern as puppets, switching to a system of British residents (effectively governors) from 1913 to 1963. The death of one sultan and the succession of another of whom the British did not approve led to the Anglo-Zanzibar War. On the morning of 27 August 1896, ships of the Royal Navy destroyed the Beit al Hukum Palace; a cease fire was declared 45 minutes later, and the bombardment subsequently became known as The Shortest War in History.
The islands gained independence from Britain in December 1963 as a constitutional monarchy. A month later, the bloody Zanzibar Revolution, in which several thousand Arabs and Indians were killed and thousands more expelled, established the Republic of Zanzibar and Pemba. That April, the republic merged with the mainland former colony of Tanganyika, or more accurately, was subsumed by the much larger entity. This United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar was soon renamed as a portmanteau, the United Republic of Tanzania, of which Zanzibar remains a semi-autonomous region. Zanzibar was most recently in the international news with a January 2001 massacre, following contested elections.
Fauna
Zanzibar has many animal species from the African mainland who traveled from the mainland during the last ice age. These included the Zanzibar leopard, which some think is extinct.
Political status
Zanzibar also has its own Revolutionary Council and House of Representatives (with 50 seats, directly elected by universal suffrage to serve five-year terms) to make laws especially for it; these make upthe semi-autonomous Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar.
Unguja comprises three administrative regions: Zanzibar Central/South, Zanzibar North and Zanzibar Urban/West. The second-largest island has two regions: Pemba North and Pemba South.
Since the early 1990s, the politics of the archipelago have been marked by repeated clashes between two political parties: the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) and the Civic United Front (CUF). Violence erupted over contested elections in 2000 and 2005, with the CUF claiming both times to have had their rightful victory stolen from them. Following 2005, negotiations between the two parties aiming at the long-term resolution of the tensions as well as a power-sharing accord took place, but suffered repeated setbacks, most notably in April 2008, when the CUF walked away from the negotiating table following a CCM call for a referendum to approve of what had been presented as a done deal on the power-sharing agreement.
Education
The island is home to Zanzibar University.
Culture
The Michenzani apartment blocks in Stone Town, once the pride of East German development cooperation with Zanzibar, have turned into an area of urban decay.
Zanzibar is a conservative, Sunni Muslim society. Its history was influenced by the Arabs, Persians, Indians, Portuguese, British and the African mainland.
Stone Town is a place of winding lanes, circular towers, carved wooden doors, raised terraces and beautiful mosques. Important architectural features are the Livingstone house, the Guliani Bridge, and the House of Wonders. The town of Kidichi features the hammam (Persian baths), built by immigrants from Shiraz, Iran during the reign of Barghash bin Said.
Zanzibar was the first region in Africa to introduce colour television, in 1973. The current TV station is called TvZ. The first television service on mainland Tanzania was not introduced until some twenty years later.
Zanzibar criminalised gay and lesbian sex in 2004. In September 2006, a radical Islamic group on the archipelago, Uamsho, forced organizers to abandon plans to mark the 60th birthday of the late Freddie Mercury (born Farouk Bulsara into the Parsi community of Stone Town, who reached fame as the lead singer of the rock group Queen), saying he violated Islam with his openly bisexual lifestyle.
Economy
Pemba Island was once the world’s leading clove producer, although when the national government decided to privatize the clove market, the island went into an economic slump. Zanzibar exports spices, seaweed and fine raffia. It also has a large fishing and dugout canoe production. Tourism is a major foreign currency earner.
During May and June 2008 Zanzibar suffered a major failure of its electricity system which left the island without mains electricity for nearly a month (May 21 – June 19) and entirely dependent on alternative methods of electricity generation (mainly diesel generators). This led to a serious and ongoing shock to the island’s fragile economy (mainly based on international tourism).
