Dar es Salaam
Chief city and seaport of Tanzania, on the Indian Ocean, and administrative capital, pending the transfer of government functions to Dodoma, which was designated the official capital in 1974; population (2002 est) 2,212,700. Industries include food processing, textiles, clothing, footwear, petroleum refining, glass, printing, timber, aluminium, steel, polystyrene, machinery, and car components. Exports include copper, coffee, sisal, and cotton. As well as being the chief port and largest city, it is also the main industrial, commercial, and financial centre of Tanzania, and site of the main international airport.
History
The settlement originated when the Sultan of Zanzibar established a summer residence here in 1865. It was developed by German colonial interests from 1885 onwards, and in 1891 became capital of German East Africa. It came under British control in 1916. Dar es Salaam grew during the 1940s and became capital of the independent Tanzania in 1961. Deep-water berths were installed at the port in 1956, and considerable Zambian transit traffic developed from the late 1960s.
| Dar es Salaam is the Indian Ocean terminus of the Tazara Railway (opened in 1975), and also of the railways to the lake ports of Kigoma and Mwanza; a road links it with Ndola in the Zambian copperbelt, and oil is carried to Zambia by pipeline from Dar es Salaam's refineries. University College (1963) became the University of Dar es Salaam in 1970. The city is also the home of the College of Business Education (1965), the National Archives, the National Central Library, and the National Museum of Tanzania, which houses the important Olduvai Gorge fossils. In 1973 it was decided by a national vote to move the capital from Dar es Salaam to the inland city of Dodoma, a move which had not been fully completed by 2003. |
