Dodoma

Official capital (replacing Dar es Salaam in 1974) of Tanzania; 1,132 m/3,713 ft above sea level; population (2002) 150,600. Dar es Salaam remains the administrative capital, pending the transfer of government functions to Dodoma, a move intended to be completed by 2005. Dodoma is a centre of communications, linked by rail with Dar es Salaam, and Kigoma on Lake Tanganyika, and by road with Kenya to the north and Zambia and Malawi to the south. There is an airport. Dodoma is a marketplace for locally-grown coffee and peanuts, but has a limited industrial base, which includes the manufacture of bricks.

The town was founded in 1907 under German colonial rule during construction of the central Tanzanian railway. Between World War I and Tanzanian independence in 1964 it was a provincial administrative centre. In 1973 it was decided by a national vote to move the capital from Dar es Salaam to Dodoma, because of its more central location and cooler climate due to its high altitude (1,120 m/3,674 ft). The transfer started in 1974, with the National Assembly relocating immediately, however some government offices remained in Dar es Salaam.