The country of Tanzania is a result of the political union between mainland Tanganyika and the off-shore islands of Zanzibar and Pemba.
* The two parts of the union attained independence from Britain separately, the mainland in 1961 and Zanzibar in 1963.
* The coastal area has been the subject of a lot of maritime rivalry first between the Portuguese and Arab traders and later between various European powers.
* It was not until the middle of the 17th century when Arab traders and slavers first entered the country.
* Zanzibar had become so important as a slaving and spice entrepot by the first half of the 18 hundreds that the Oman Sultan, Seyyid Said moved the capital there from Muscatel in 1840.
* From the beginning of the 19th century Britain's intrust stemmed when a treaty was signed with Seyyid Asides predecessor to forestall possible threats from Napoleonic France to British possessions in India.
* Seyyid Said moved to Zanzibar, the British set up their first consulate there, Britain made Oman Sultan sign treaties restricting the slave trade.
* In 1873 due to the threat of naval bombardment Sultan
Barghash (Seyyid Said's successor) signed a treaty outlawing the slave trade, although this trade continued on the mainland.
* A British protectorate was placed on Zanzibar in 1890 it remained this way until 1963 when independence was granted.
* In 1964 the Sultan was toppled in a communist-inspired revolution, during this the majority of the Arab population were massacred or expelled.
* Sultan was replaced by the Afro-Shirazi Party.
* It was during the reign of this party that Zanzibar and Pemba were merged with Tanganyika to form Tanzania.
* It was in the middle of the 19th century when the European explorers began arriving, four of the most famous being Livingstone and Stanley, Burton and Speke.
* In 1891 the Germans colonised the mainland and it was governed directly by the German government.
* The British were mandated the territory by the League of Nations after WORLD WAR 1.
* In 1954 the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU) was founded by Julius Nyerere, and they made nationalist organisations a great success.
* In 1961 Tanganyika achieved independence the country's first president was Nyerere.
* In 1967 the Arusha Declaration was created, as a result of the neglect of education, this was heavily influenced by the Chinese communist model.
* The villages were intended to be socialist organisations created by the people and governed by the people.
* Education was seen as essential to educate people into socialist ideas.
* The economy was nationalised and taxes were increased, Nyerere banned government ministers and party officials from having shares or directorships in companies or from receiving more than one salary, this was an attempt to prevent the development into an exploitative class.
* The villages since development have been transformed from peasant control to direct state control and new schemes were introduced, such as potable water, clinics, schools, fertilisers, high yield seeds and irrigation these schemes all failed due to lack of money and resentment among the peasants.
* Corruption became widespread.
* A third scheme was adopted to encourage the peasants to amalgamate their small holdings into large communially owned farms, this scheme was relatively successful and the government were prompted to adopt a policy of compulsory "villagisation" of the entire rural population.
* Nyerere turned to the People's Republic of China as his foreign partner, the Chinese built a brand new railway for Tanzania from Dar es Salaam to Kapiri Mposhi, named the TAZARA railway, due to the rise in price of oil in the 1970's Tanzania had no money to maintain the railway, there were also serious fuel shortages.
* Tanzania was bankrupted due to Nyerere's support of the guerrillas fighting for the independence of Angola and Mozambique against the Portuguese and also those fighting to overthrow the White minority government of Rhodesia.
* In 1978 Idi Amin sent his army into northern Tanzania, as a result of Tanzania supporting exiled groups who were hostile to his regime, but it was more likely that it was simply a diversion to prevent mutiny in his own country, it took months for the Tanzanians to mobilise an army but when they did face the Ugandans, the Ugandans threw down their arms and fled, the Tanzanians pushed into Uganda, they left approximately 12 000 troops within the country, Tanzania was then condemned by the OAU due to the fact that the OAU's principle is that no state should interfere with the internal affairs of another.
* Nyerere also helped to topple two other regimes in 1975 in the Comoros Islands and in 1977 in the Seychelles.
* Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda were linked together in an economic union after independence, which shared a common airline, telecommunications and postal facilities, transportations and customs, also their currencies were convertible, there was freedom of movement.
* In 1977 this fell apart as a result of political differences.
* Nyerere closed his country's borders with Kenya as a consequence of Kenya grabbing the bulk of the communities assets. These have been opened since.
* In 1985 Nyerere stepped down but he then became the chairman of his party Chana Cha Mapinduzi (the CCM-Party of the Revolution).
* Ali Hassan Mwinyi has been president since
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