Early History

INTERIOR

Tanzania's human history covers a period of almost 10,000 years, reaching back to the times of the early hunter-gatherer communities that lived in the area south of Olduvai Gorge. These peoples are believed to have been Khoisan-speakers. Between three and five thousand years ago, they were joined by Cushitic-speaking peoples from North Africa, specifically the Ethiopian Highlands, who had begun to make their way southwards into the same territory. Moving sometimes in larger groups, but more often as individual clans, these tribes introduced basic techniques of agriculture, food production and, as time went by, cattle farming. Slowly, they absorbed the hunter-gatherer communities that had inhabited the area for so long. From around 1000BCE, a series of migrations began which had a major impact on the settlement of the region.

Bantu-speaking peoples from the distant Niger delta in West Africa started to move slowly east through modern day Cameroon and Congo, arriving in East Africa around the 1st century BCE, and spreading throughout much of present-day Tanzania. These new residents not only possessed more advanced agricultural skills, but also brought with them technologies such as iron-working and steel-production. They absorbed many of the Cushitic peoples who had preceded them, as well as most of the remaining Khoisan-speaking inhabitants. Somewhat later, smaller groups of Nilotic peoples began to arrive in Tanzania from what is now southern Sudan, both integrating and battling with the area's Bantu-speakers. This influx continued through to the 18th century, with the most significant migrations taking place in the 15th and 16th centuries. Most of these Nilotic peoples were pastoralists, and many settled in the less fertile areas of north-central Tanzania where their large herds would have sufficient grazing land.

In most of Tanzania, an informal system of ntemi chiefs emerged. The ntemi system, though structured, was flexible and benevolent. A council served the chiefs and performed a role that was as much advisory as it was authoritarian. By the 19th century there were estimated to have been more than 200 ntemi chiefs in Western and Central Tanzania, with a population of approximately 200,000 under their leadership.


COASTAL

The Phoenicians first explored the coast in about 600BCE. According to the 1st century Periplus of the Eurythian Sea they traded with a town called Rhapta. This is thought to have been on the Tanzanian coast, at a major estuary such as that of the Pangani or Rufiji. The East African coast was known as Azania to the ancient Greeks and functioned as an important trading post as early as 400BCE but was almost certainly inhabited by Bantu-speaking people well before then.

It seems that there were also trade links with the Roman Empire as Rhapta is mentioned in Ptolemy's 4th century Geography and a few 4th century Roman coins have been found at the coast. In the early part of the first Millenium CE, permanent settlements were established as traders, first from the Mediterranean and later from Persia and Arabia, came ashore and began to intermingle with the indigenous Bantu-speakers. This gave rise to both the Swahili language and culture. It is worth noting that the word Swahili means literally 'of the coast' and is derived from the Arabic word 'sahil'. Together with the Arabian traders came Islam which by the 11th century was well entrenched. Over the next few centuries, trading outposts were established all along the coast as well as on the islands of the Zanzibar archipelago and Kilwa.

Between the 13th and 15th centuries these settlements flourished, with trade in ivory, gold and other goods extending as far away as India and China. More than 30 Swahili city-states were operating between the 13th and 15th centuries, a large number of which were in modern-day Tanzania. This period is known as the Shirazi Era after the sultans who ruled these city-states, most of whom claimed descent from the Shiraz region of Persia. Each city-state had its own sultan and they rarely interfered in each other's affairs. Many Arabic influences crept into coastal architecture and cities were centred around a central mosque, normally constructed out of rock and coral. In 1498 Vasco da Gama became the first European to reach East Africa, and by 1525 the Portuguese had subdued the entire coast. Portuguese control lasted until the early 18th century, when Arabs from Oman established a foothold in the region.

Under the Omani arabs, the focus expanded westwards and powerful trade routes developed which stretched as far as Lake Tanganyika and Central Africa. Until the beginning of the 19th century there was relative peace along the coast, under Omani rule and Shirazi commerce. The 19th century was to bring a period of rapid change in Tanzania, with stronger links established between the coast and the interior as well as between East Africa and Europe.