 The mainland portion of what is now Tanzania was named by a British civil servant in 1920, from the Swahili words tanga (sail) and nyika (bright arid plain). Thus what was known formerly as German East Africa became Tanganyika Territory.  Zanzibar won independence on 10 December 1963 and on 26 April 1964 merged with Tanganyika to form the United Republic of Tanzania. Official Name: United Republic of Tanzania Area:945,000 sq. km Time:GMT +3 Population:29 million Population Density: 31/sq. km Urban/Rural Split:22% / 78% Literacy rate:68 per cent Capital City:Dodoma Government: Multiparty Parliamentary Democracy Head of State:President Benjamin Mpaka Language:English and Kiswahili Currency:Tanzania Shilling (TSh) Exchange Rate:TSh 600 = US$1

 An Estimated 1,600,000 people are living with Aids  Of that number 970,000 are children  Most of these children are unable to receive care and are orphaned  There are numerous projects to help fund AIDS research and care for these people such as Climb Mount Kilimanjaro

 People of Tanzania are known as Tanzanians  The population of Tanzania is comprised of indigenous peoples and Pakistani, Indian, Arab, and European subpopulations  There are different class systems in the culture. The traditional elite includes descendants of kings and paramount chiefs.  The modern elite includes many individuals in the government, successful businesspeople, and highly educated individuals.  Beggars in urban areas and street children have become more visible and are often victims of police brutality.  Marriages are arranged by the parents of the bride and groom, but are becoming less common in urban settings.  For those wealthy enough to afford it, marriage may include a separate dowry ceremony and, several months later, a church wedding followed by traditional ceremonies.

 Puberty ceremonies for boys and girls are practiced.  Elaborate ceremonies may involve circumcision of boys and several kinds of genital surgery on girls. Unsterile surgical procedures performed on girls may have severe health consequences.  Both boys and girls attend school if the parents can afford the fees.  If not, the boy is allowed to go and the girl remains home to help her mother until she gets married and moves away.  Students are supposed to respect their teachers, and corporal punishment is still practiced in Tanzanian schools.  The wealthy send their older children to boarding schools both within and outside the country  Young men and women in rural areas are not supposed to show mutual affection in public in daylight, although this rule is often broken in urban centers.

 The Government of the United Republic of Tanzania is a unitary republic based on multiparty parliamentary democracy.  All state authority in the United Republic are exercised and controlled by the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania and the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar. Each Central Government has three organs: The Executive; Judiciary; and The Legislature that have powers over the conduct of public affairs. In addition, Local Government Authorities assist each central government.  The Government of the United Republic of Tanzania has authority over all Union Matters in the United Republic and over all other matters concerning Mainland Tanzania and the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar has authority in Tanzania Zanzibar over all matters, which are not Union Matters.

 Cotton  Fish and shrimp  coffee,  cashew nuts  cloves (grown mainly on the offshore islands)  tea  Beans  precious stones  timber and sisal  Sugar  pyrethrum  coconuts  peanuts  Textiles, clothing, shoes, batteries, paper, and cement are products sold to neighboring countries.  Throughout most of the country, however, production and marketing are severely constrained by very poor infrastructure, from roads and railroads to communication and power networks.  Today, a wider variety of high quality items from many countries around the world are available in shops and markets, however their high prices prohibit all but the wealthy from purchasing them.

 This year alone Tanzania will receive $2.69 million from Japan Social Development Fund to support food fortification in rural areas  Tanzania had an external debt of U.S. $5.311 billion (end of December 2008),  Domestic debt increased to U.S. $1.67 billion from U.S. $1.43 billion during December 2006 to December During 2007, external debt service payments amounted to U.S. $42.0 million compared with U.S. $90.3 million paid in  The drastic fall in the actual debt service is associated with the debt relief arising from the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative (HIPC) and Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI), and accumulation of arrears on non- serviced debts.

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