Birth of Tanganyika

The years between the World Wars saw the British introducing a system of indirect rule which was aimed at promoting the establishment of indigenous political institutions and leaders. While this gave local Africans a say in political affairs, at least at lower levels, it also resulted in many local chiefs being replaced by those more friendly to the colonial government. Corruption became an additional problem and the system proved to be a disappointing failure which actually deepened discontent and widened the already existing gap between government and local leadership.

On the economic front, the British were more successful. Their 'crops for export' scheme worked well and they set up marketing cooperatives in several areas. Many of these cooperatives assumed an additional role as a voice for nationalist aspirations and protests against the colonialist systems. In 1929 a group was formed, similar to a cooperative but organised at the outset along the lines of a political rather than an economic organisation. This group, known initially as the African Association, assumed increasing importance as local resentment against colonial governement policies grew. In 1948 it was renamed the Tanganyika Africa Association (TAA) to reflect this increased level of support.

The nationalist movement was given a boost in the early 1950's with the forced relocation of the Meru tribe from western Kilimanjaro by the government to make way for European farmers. Despite their many appeals to the authorities - including the United Nations General Assembly - they were rejected, which caused them to turn to local political groups for support. These groups in turn looked to the TAA for leadership.

Although it was not directly involved in World War II, Tanganyika supplied between 80,000 and 100,000 troops for the Allied forces and benefitted greatly economically as the country itself saw no combat. With undisturbed food production and rising international food prices, Tanganyika's trade revenue increased sixfold between 1939 and 1949.

In 1953, the TAA elected Julius Nyerere as its president. Nyerere was a teacher who was educated locally at a mission school near Lake Victoria, university in Uganda and abroad at Edinburgh University for his master's degree in social sciences. Under his leadership the TAA was quickly transformed into an effective political organisation. A new constitution was drawn up and introduced on 7 July 1954 (celebrated annually as Saba Saba Day), and the TAA became the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU). Within a year Nyerere had left the teaching profession to become it's full time leader. The British government experimented with multi-racial elections over the next few years but finally, in the democratic election of 1960, TANU won all but one seat. In may 1961, Tanganyika achieved self-government and Nyerere was made Prime Minister.