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Tanzania is the "cradle
of mankind" for it was here, in the Olduvai Gorge, that Dr Louis Leakey discovered
the fossilized remains of Homo habilis, or "handy man," calculated to
be 1.75 million years old and the forerunner of modern man.
Tanzania was occupied
by various African tribes most recently the Masai from Kenya, who have retained
their proud traditions. Arab merchants visited the coast some 2,000 years ago
and settled in Zanzibar around the eighth century AD later establishing trade
routes into the interior. The intermarriage of Arabs and local people created
a new people with their own language- Kiswahill (Swahili) whose word for a journey
-Safari- has become the international description of a trip into the wild.
| The
Portuguese established temporary settlements in the 16th century, supplemented
by the Omanis in the late 17th century who developed the infamous slave trade.
| The
scramble for Africa by the European powers at the end of the 19th century led
to occupation of the mainland by Germany although Zanzibar became a British protectorate.
After World War I, Germany was forced to surrender its territory to the British.
| | Tanganyika,
as the mainland was then known, achieved independence in 1961. Zanzibar became
independent two years later and shortly afterwards joined with the mainland to
become the United Republic of Tanzania. | | | |
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