The present country came into being with the union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar in 1964. The first European arrival was the Portuguese explorer, Vasco da Gama, who visited the coast in the 15th century, after which most of the littoral region came under Portuguese control. The Portuguese also controlled Zanzibar until 1699, when they were ousted from the island by Omani-Arabs. In the late-19th century. Tanganyika was absorbed into the colony of German East Africa, as a consequence of a deal between the British and Germans one process in the European colonial carve-up of Africa.

Other than an anti-colonial rebellion in 1905 – known as the Maji Maji revolt, which was suppressed by German troops – Tanganyika was a fairly quiet part of the German empire, until the end of World War I. Then, following the German defeat, it was administered by the British under successive League of Nations and United Nations mandates. Tanganyika became independent within the Commonwealth in 1961, after a period of self-government during which the principal nationalist party, the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU), emerged as the dominant political force. Its charismatic leader, Julius Nyerere, held the post of President from independence to 1985; he occupied the position of Chairman until 1990. In 1964, Tanganyika joined with Zanzibar and became Tanzania. Prior to that, Zanzibar had been a British protectorate (established in 1890) and an independent sultanate in 1963.

The sultan of Zanzibar lasted less than 12 months as the island’s independent ruler, before beingdeposed in a coup by radicals from the Afro-Shirazi Party, which quickly amalgamated with TANU on the mainland to form the country’s sole political party, Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM, Revolutionary Party of Tanzania). Nyerere’s main objective was the successful application of socialist principles to an African agricultural society and economy. Nyerere’s ideas, particularly theintroduction of ujamaa (his theory of socialist development, applied in a developing and largely agricultural economy), were articulated in the famous Arusha Declaration. Unfortunately,mismanagement and external events conspired to wreck Nyerere’s plans, with dire consequences for the economy.

In foreign policy, Tanzania initially leant towards China (PR) rather than the USSR but has always maintained fairly good relations with the West, which have since flourished. Moreover,Tanzania has proved itself an active player in regional politics, having given consistent support to anti-colonial guerrilla movements in Southern Africa. It intervened militarily in Uganda in 1979, to overthrow the Amin regime. Relations with the post-apartheid government in South Africa have been good. Tanzania was a founder member of the Southern African Development Co-ordination Conference and has been a prominent participant in the Organisation of African Unity.

In 1985, Nyerere retired as president of Tanzania and was replaced by Ali Hassan Mwinyi, former Vice-President and President of Zanzibar. Mwinyi favoured introducing market forces into the economy and plurality into the political system. Economic reform proceeded slowly in the face of a large and fairly corrupt state bureaucracy. On the political front, amendments to the constitution allowing for the introduction of a multiparty system were endorsed by the National Assembly, early in 1992. Restrictions on opposition parties were not fully removed until the presidential election of October 1995, at which three candidates took on the CCM candidate, Benjamin Mkapa, who nonetheless won comfortably. However, there was major discontent in Zanzibar, where relations with the mainland were already strained over the conduct of the election.

In 1993, the island’s provincial government had applied to join and was accepted by the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (the island has a large population descended from Arab traders). Zanzibar has also experienced strong economic growth in recent years, in contrast with the stagnation of the mainland economy. Both factors are symptomatic of the growing distance
between the two parts of Tanzania, although there is no immediate prospect of a separation. The Rwandan genocide had a major impact on the country, not least in the form of thousands of refugees who crossed into Tanzania. Tanzania is also hosting the trials of some of the major perpetrators, who have been extradited from elsewhere in Africa (Kenya and Gabon, for example), in parallel with those in Rwanda itself. After Nyerere's resignation in 1985, his successor, Ali Hassan Mwinyi, attempted to raise productivity and attract foreign investment and loans bydismantling government control of the economy.

This policy continued under Benjamin Mkapa, who was elected president in 1995. The economy has grown, though at the price of painful fiscal reforms. The tourist industry, fuelled by Tanzania's big game population, is an important revenue earner.

The political union between Zanzibar and mainland Tanzania has weathered more than four ecadesof change. Zanzibar has its own parliament and president.