6 ATLASES
History of Tanzania in maps
Tanzania as it appears in 6 interactive history atlases, from 1890 to 2015: Tanzania, German East Africa / Tanganyika, German East Africa. Each era below lists who ruled the land and when control changed, linked to the dated map that shows it.
WW2 is free in full, and chapter 1 of every atlas is free. A free account opens 3 more chapters a day. Starter, at $9 a month, opens all 21 with no daily limit — see the plans.
Free printable Feminism and the Tunisian Revolution study guide, sent by email ↓
What was Tanzania before it was Tanzania? The sections below follow this land through every era covered by the Maps of History atlases: who ruled it, what it was called, and when control changed. Each line links to the dated map. Modern borders serve as an approximation, as each atlas says on the map itself.
Tanzania · Industrial Revolution
| Colony or dependency — the opening position | |
| Colony or dependency |
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
German East Africa / Tanganyika · Haiti and Kenya independence
German East Africa was governed from Dar es Salaam. The Maji Maji rising of 1905–07 was crushed with famine and great loss of life. After the First World War, Britain governed the territory as Tanganyika under a League of Nations mandate that limited settler land grants. Julius Nyerere’s TANU led Tanganyika to independence on 9 December 1961. It united with Zanzibar in 1964 as Tanzania.
| Under colonial rule — the opening position | |
| Other states and societies |
HAITI AND KENYA INDEPENDENCE: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
German East Africa · WWI
In German East Africa, Lettow-Vorbeck conducted a four-year fighting retreat that tied down 130,000 imperial troops (Ch. 9). Africans bore a terrible cost: porters died in the hundreds of thousands, while requisition brought famine. The peace partitioned the territory into League mandates, Tanganyika under Britain and Ruanda-Urundi under Belgium. Empire had a new name, but continued.
| Germany and its allies — the Central Powers — the opening position | |
| Entente-aligned & imperial territories |
Tanzania · Cold War
| NATO & core Western allies — the opening position | |
| Non-aligned & neutral |
COLD WAR: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Tanzania · Decolonization of Africa
Tanganyika won independence peacefully in 1961 and joined Zanzibar to form Tanzania in 1964. Julius Nyerere, “Mwalimu,” the teacher, was the era’s most respected leader. In the 1967 Arusha Declaration he set out Ujamaa, an honest homegrown socialism founded on self-reliance and equality. Its economic results were poor, but his nation-building held a plural country together where others fractured. Nyerere also did something rare among his contemporaries: he handed power on voluntarily.
| British-ruled — the opening position | |
| Independent Africa |
DECOLONIZATION OF AFRICA: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Tanzania · Feminism and the Tunisian Revolution
| Authoritarian, one-party or colonial rule — the opening position | |
| No reform yet / outside this story | |
| Right won in law |
FEMINISM AND THE TUNISIAN REVOLUTION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
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