Relation of Current Issues to the Colonial History

There has been a great deal of debate about the causes of the serious problems in present-day Africa, including Tanzania. Some say that the problems are mostly “self-inflicted” as the result of political mistakes and Tanzania’s decision to adopt socialism and collectivize agriculture.1 Others point to the country’s colonial past as the root of all of its problems even though European rule only lasted in Tanzania, for less than a century.2 Tanzania’s problems, including its extreme poverty, appear to have been caused by a mix of factors.

Tanzania has avoided some of the biggest problems that a number of other African nations have faced. For example, because few European colonists settled in Tanzania and, therefore, the white population has always been very small, Tanzania has not had to overcome apartheid as some of its neighbors, such as South Africa and Rwanda, have.3 Unlike some other African states, the Tanzanian mainland has also avoided major ethnic conflicts among its various tribes. This is mainly because there are so many tribes in Tanzania (nearly 120 language groups) and none of them are dominant. Also, even if they speak another language, most Tanzanians also speak Swahili, which has helped produce a relatively unified society.4 On the other hand, Zanzibar has experienced ethnic tensions, and it traces those tensions directly to colonialism. In the late 1940s, the British rulers of Zanzibar encouraged the formation of associations along ethnic lines, and these associations later became political parties, which ended up increasing and exploiting ethnic tensions.5

Like nearly every other African nation, Tanzania has suffered negative consequences from the manner in which Africa was partitioned by the Europeans. Since the Europeans carved up the continent based mainly on their own interests and negotiations, and not internal characteristics of the continent, the nation states that emerged upon independence faced unusual economic and structural challenges. In Tanzania, there is little natural cohesion between the Tanzanian mainland and Zanzibar because their histories are so different.6 The Tanzanian mainland would seem to have more in common with its East African neighbors, Kenya and Uganda, which share geographical features such as Lake Nyasa, but they are not joined together because the British and Germans initially split up control over them, and when England later gained control over all three, Tanzania’s status as a trusteeship created a hurdle to union. When the three East African nations gained independence at different times, they continued to go their separate ways.7 The manner in which the Europeans had drawn borders also caused problems. For example, the Kagera River created a natural border between tribes that are now mostly located in Uganda and tribes that are now mostly located in Tanzania. However, the British and Germans drew the boundary line so that a piece of traditionally Ugandan territory, north of the river, was included in Tanzania. That boundary has been the subject of conflicts ever since between Uganda and Tanzania.8

Although the European colonists contributed new infrastructure to Tanzania, such as roads and railways, nearly all of that infrastructure was designed to transport goods from interior plantations and mines to ports for international trade.9 Very little was spent on connecting different parts of the country or connecting one African country with another, with the result that Tanzania has a hard time trading within its borders or trading with its neighbors. This problem was compounded by the colonists’ focus on growing cash crops for international sale, so that most East African countries ended up growing mostly the same crops and, therefore, had nothing to trade with one another.10 This lack of connecting infrastructure has worked against African unity and cooperation.

As noted above, the population of Tanzania is heavily concentrated on the coast, and there are vast empty areas in the interior of the country. The location of Tanzania’s capital has contributed to this problem. The European colonists established Dar es Salaam as the colonial capital of the Tanzanian mainland. Dar es Salaam is located on the coast and far removed from the rest of the country. This served the colonists’ interests, because they wanted to be close to the ports to control the flow of international trade. However, the result in contemporary times is that most of the financial and educational resources of Tanzania are concentrated on the coast, which limits the inland population’s access to them and causes people to move to the city even if there are not many opportunities for them there.11 Tanzania has been trying to fix this situation by moving its capital to Dodoma, which is more centrally located. However, it is too poor to move all of the capital infrastructure or to fully develop Dodoma. Also, as a practical matter, it may be impossible to persuade the private businesses and resources that have established themselves in Dar es Salaam to move.

In theory, Tanzania could fix many of the problems associated with its colonial history by building new roads and railways, developing new crops and other products, spending more money on its new capital, etc., but as one of the poorest nations in Africa and the world, it simply doesn’t have the money to do so. Tanzania is particularly hindered by its socialist past. Foreign businesses and financial investors hesitate to invest in Tanzania because they fear nationalization of their businesses and investments. As Tanzania moves further and further away from its radical socialist past, it hopes that businesses will recognize its strengths, such as its ethnic unity, and decide to invest in the country.

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1. Iliffe, John. Africans: The History of a Continent. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Print. 254.

2. Wesseling, H L. Divide and Rule: The Partition of Africa, 1880-1914. Trans. Arnold J Pomerans. Westport: H.L. Wesseling, 1996. Print. 372-373.
Ieuan LL. Griffiths. The African Inheritance. 63.

3. “Tanzania.” Encyclopedia of Africa South of the Sahara. 4 vols. Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1997. Reproduced in History Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/History/

4. "Early History." zanzient.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2010. http:www.zanzient.org/Zanzibar/history/historia.html

5. Griffiths. The African Inheritance. 166.

6. Griffiths. The African Inheritance. 3.

7. Griffiths. The African Inheritance. 90.

8. Griffiths. The African Inheritance. 192.

9. Griffiths The African Inheritance. 195.

10. Griffiths. The African Inheritance. 99, 108.

11. Griffiths. The African Inheritance. 108.