Tanzania
Find a premier Hotel & Resort at
Hilton Hotels.
or book Sheraton Hotels and Resorts
|
Background:
|
Shortly after independence,
Tanganyika and Zanzibar merged to form the nation of
Tanzania in 1964. One-party rule came to an end in
1995 with the first democratic elections held in the
country since the 1970s. Zanzibar's semi-autonomous
status and popular opposition have led to two
contentious elections since 1995, which the ruling
party won despite international observers' claims of
voting irregularities. |
|
Languages:
|
Kiswahili or Swahili (official),
Kiunguju (name for Swahili in Zanzibar), English
(official, primary language of commerce,
administration, and higher education), Arabic
(widely spoken in Zanzibar), many local languages
note: Kiswahili (Swahili) is the mother
tongue of the Bantu people living in Zanzibar and
nearby coastal Tanzania; although Kiswahili is Bantu
in structure and origin, its vocabulary draws on a
variety of sources, including Arabic and English,
and it has become the lingua franca of central and
eastern Africa; the first language of most people is
one of the local languages |
|
Exchange rates:
|
Tanzanian shillings per US dollar -
NA (2002), 876.41 (2001), 800.41 (2000), 744.76
(1999), 664.67 (1998) |
|
