GEOGRAPHY AND ENVIRONMENT
An elephant passing by Mt. Kilimanjaro
At
947,300 square kilometres (365,800 sq mi), Tanzania is approximately
the same size as Egypt. It borders Kenya and Uganda to the north; Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west; and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. Tanzania is located on the eastern coast
of Africa and has an Indian
Ocean coastline approximately 800 kilometres
(500 mi) long. It also incorporates several offshore islands, including Unguja (Zanzibar), Pemba, and Mafia. The country is the site of Africa's highest and lowest
points: Mount
Kilimanjaro, at 5,892 metres (19,331 ft) above sea
level, and the floor of Lake Tanganyika, at 352 metres (1,155 ft) below sea level,
respectively.
Tanzania
is mountainous and densely forested in the northeast, where Mount
Kilimanjaro is situated. Three of Africa's
Great Lakes are partly within Tanzania. To the north and
west lie Lake
Victoria, Africa's largest lake, and Lake Tanganyika, the continent's deepest lake, known for its unique
species of fish. To the southwest lies Lake Nyasa. Central Tanzania is a large plateau, with plains and
arable land. The eastern shore is hot and humid, with the Zanzibar
Archipelago just offshore.
The Kalambo water falls in the southwestern region of Rukwa are the second highest in Africa and are located near
the southern tip of Lake Tanganyika. The Menai Bay Conservation Area is Zanzibar's largest marine protected area.
Climate
varies greatly within Tanzania. In the highlands, temperatures range between 10
and 20 °C (50 and 68 °F) during cold and hot seasons respectively.
The rest of the country has temperatures rarely falling lower than 20 °C
(68 °F). The hottest period extends between November and February
(25–31 °C or 77.0–87.8 °F) while the coldest period occurs between
May and August (15–20 °C or 59–68 °F). Annual temperature is
20 °C (68.0 °F). The climate is cool in high mountainous regions.
Tanzania has two major rainfall regimes: one is uni-modal (October–April) and the
other is bi-modal (October–December and March–May). The former is experienced
in southern, central, and western parts of the country, and the latter is found
in the north from Lake
Victoria extending east to the coast. The bi-modal
regime is caused by the seasonal migration of the Intertropical Convergence Zone.
Over
one third of Tanzania's land area (a greater proportion than in any other
country) is set aside in protected areas for conservation. Tanzania has 16
national parks, as well as a variety of game and forest reserves. Gombe Stream National Park, in western Tanzania, is known as the site of Jane Goodall's studies of chimpanzee behaviour. Tanzania is highly biodiverse and contains a
wide variety of animal habitats.
On Tanzania's Serengeti plain, white-bearded wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus mearnsi) and other bovids participate in a large-scale annual migration. Tanzania
is also home to 130 amphibian and over 275 reptile species, many of them
strictly endemic and included in the IUCN Red Lists of different countries.
Demographics
Main article: Demographics of Tanzania
According
to the 2012 census, the total population was 44,928,923.[2] The under 15 age group represented 44.1% of the
population.
Population
distribution in Tanzania is extremely uneven. Most people live on the northern
border or the eastern coast; much of the remainder of the country is sparsely
populated. Density varies from 13.1 people per square kilometer in Lindi Region to 3,133.2 per square kilometer in Dar es Salaam.
Approximately 70% of the population is rural; this figure has been declining
for the last several decades. Dar es Salaam (pop. 4,630,000[68] is the largest city and commercial capital. Dodoma (pop. 410,000 located in the centre of Tanzania, is the
capital of the country and hosts the National Assembly.
Other major cities include Mwanza (pop. 710,000), Arusha (pop. 420,000), Mbeya (pop. 390,000), and Morogoro (pop. 320,000).
The
population consists of more than 120 ethnic groups, of which the Sukuma, Nyamwezi, Chagga, and Haya have more than 1 million members. Around 99% of
Tanzanians are of African descent; there are small numbers of people of Arab,
European, and Asian descent.[69] The majority of Tanzanians, including the Sukuma and the
Nyamwezi, are Bantu. Nilotic peoples include the nomadic Maasai and Luo, both of which are found
in greater numbers in neighbouring Kenya. The Sandawe speak a language that may be related to the Khoe languages of Botswana and Namibia, while the language of the Hadza, although it has similar click consonants, is a language isolate. There are also a few Cushitic-speaking remnant groups, such as the Iraqw. Tanzania has a high prevalence of albinos,[71] and they have been the victims of violence in
recent years.
According
to 2010 official Tanzania statistics, the total
fertility rate in Tanzania was 5.4 children born per woman
with 3.7 in urban areas and 6.1 in rural areas.
Religion
Gaddafi
Mosque in Dodoma is one of the largest mosques in
East Africa
Azania Front Lutheran Church built by German missionaries in 1898
Main article: Religion
in Tanzania
Religion
is very important in Tanzanian life. Approximately 93% of Tanzanians say that
religion is "very important" in their lives, one of the highest rates
in the world. Recent surveys have indicated that Tanzania is a predominantly
Christian country, with a large Muslim minority. A 2008-2009 Pew survey found
60% of respondents to be Christian, 36% to be Muslim, 2% to follow traditional
African religions, and 1% to be unaffiliated. The same Pew survey found that 51% of Tanzanian
Christians described themselves as Catholic, and 44% described themselves as
Protestant.
Among Protestants, Lutherans (13% of Tanzanian
Christians), Pentecostals (10%), Anglicans (10%), and adherents of African initiated churches (5%) dominate. The Pew survey found about 41% of
Tanzania's Muslim population to be Sunni, 20% to be Shia, 15% to be Ahmadiyya, 20% to be "just a Muslim", and 1% to be
something else. Muslims are generally concentrated in coastal areas and in Zanzibar (where about 99 percent of the population is Muslim). There are also active communities of other religious
groups, primarily on the mainland, such as buddhists and bahá'Ãs.
LANGUAGE
Over
100 different languages
are spoken in Tanzania, making it the most
linguistically diverse country in East Africa. Among the languages spoken in
Tanzania are members of all four of Africa's language families (Bantu, Cushitic, Nilotic, and Khoisan) Swahili and English are the Tanzania's official languages. Swahili
is used in parliamentary debate, in the lower courts, and as a medium of
instruction in primary school; English is used in foreign trade, in diplomacy,
in higher courts, and as a medium of instruction in secondary and higher
education.
In connection with his Ujamaa social policies, Nyerere
encouraged the use of Swahili as a means of unifying the country's many ethnic
groups. Today, about 10% of Tanzanians speak Swahili as a first language, and
up to 90% speak it as a second language. Most Tanzanians thus speak both
Swahili and a local language; many educated Tanzanians are trilingual, also
speaking English. The widespread use and promotion of Swahili is contributing
to the decline of smaller languages in the country. Young children increasingly
speak Swahili as a first language, particularly in urban areas.
Education and health
The
literacy rate in Tanzania is estimated to be 73 percent. Education is
compulsory for seven years, until children reach age 15, but most children do
not attend school this long, and some do not attend at all. In 2000,
57 percent of children age 5–14 years was attending school. As of 2006,
87.2 percent of children who started primary school were likely to reach
grade 5.
As of
2012, life expectancy at birth was approximately 61 years. The under-five
mortality rate was 54 per 1000 live births.
The leading cause of death in children under 5 years old
in 2010 was pneumonia. The other leading causes of death for these children
were malaria, diarrhoea, and prematurity. According to a 2007 study, malaria in Tanzania
"causes major obstacles to social and economic development". The maternal
mortality rate in 2010 was estimated at 460/100,000
live births.About 14% of women had undergone female genital mutilation.
The
prevalence of HIV/AIDS was approximately 3.1% as of 2012. Anti-retroviral treatment coverage for people with advanced HIV
infection was 30 percent in 2011 – 7 percent below the average
for the continent. According to the 2011 UNAIDS Report, HIV prevalence has
declined among pregnant women attending antenatal clinics, young people (ages
15–24 years) and men in the general population.
2006
data shows that 55 percent of the population had sustainable access to
improved drinking water sources and 33 percent had sustainable access to
improved sanitation.
Culture
The music of
Tanzania includes traditional African music, string-based taarab, and a distinctive hip hop known as bongo flava. Famous taarab singers are Abbasi Mzee, Culture Musical
Club, Shakila of Black Star Musical Group. Internationally known traditional
artists are Bi
Kidude, Hukwe Zawose and Tatu Nane.
Tanzania
also has its own distinct African rumba music, termed muziki wa dansi ("dance music"); important artists include Simba Wanyika, Remmy Ongala, and Orchestra
Makassy.
Tanzania's
literary culture is primarily oral.Major oral literary forms include folktales, poems,
riddles, proverbs, and songs. The greatest part of the oral literature in
Tanzania that has been recorded is in Swahili, though each of the country's
languages has its own oral tradition. the country's oral literature is currently
declining because of changes in family structure that make transmission of oral
literature more difficult and because of the devaluation of oral literature
that has accompanied Tanzania's development. Tanzania's written literary tradition is still
relatively undeveloped; Tanzania does not have a strong reading culture, and
books are often expensive and hard to come by.Most Tanzanian literature is in Swahili or English. Major figures in Tanzanian written literature include Shaaban Robert, Muhammed
Said Abdulla, Abdulrazak
Gurnah, and Penina Mlama.
Historically,
there have been only limited opportunities for formal art training in Tanzania,
and many aspiring Tanzanian artists have left the country to pursue their
vocation.Nonetheless, two Tanzanian art styles have achieved international
recognition. The Tingatinga school of painting, founded by Edward
Said Tingatinga, consists of brightly colored enamel
paintings on canvas, generally depicting people, animals, or daily life. After
Tingatinga's death in 1972, other artists adopted and developed his style; the
genre is now the most important tourist-oriented style in East Africa. Makonde is both a tribe in Tanzania (and Mozambique) and a modern
sculpture style. It is known for the high Ujamaas (Trees of Life) made of the
hard and dark ebony tree. Tanzania is also a birthplace of one of the most
famous African artists – George Lilanga.
One of
Tanzania’s and other parts of eastern Africa's, most common cultural dishes is Ugali. It is usually composed of corn and is similar in
consistency to a stiff paste or porridge, giving it its second name of corn
meal porridge. Mixtures of cassava and millet flours are locally used for
ugali. Rice and cooked green bananas are also important staples. Beef, goat
meat, beans, yoghurt and a wide range of fish and green leafy vegetables all
add nutrients to the dishes.
Football (soccer) is very popular throughout the country, with
fans divided between two major clubs, Young
Africans F.C. (Yanga) and Simba S.C. Other popular sports include netball, boxing, running, and rugby. Tanzania competes in the Commonwealth
Games as well as in the African Championships in Athletics.
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