Events in Tanzanian History
Livingstone Sights Lake Nyasa
1859-09-16 British explorer David Livingstone is the first European to sight Lake Nyasa - now forms Malawi's boundary with Tanzania & Mozambique
- 1873-06-05 Sultan Bargash bin Said under British pressure closes the infamous slave market of Zanzibar in modern day Tanzania
- 1954-07-07 Formation of the TANU party (Tanganyika African National Union) in Tanzania
Historic Discovery
1960-11-04 Mary Leakey and Louis Leakey discover first Homo habilis jaw fragments (OH 7) at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania
Louis Leakey
1960-12-02 Paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey discovers 1.4 million year old Homo erectus (Olduvai Hominid 9) in Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania
- 1961-12-09 Tanganyika gains independence from Britain, takes name Tanzania - with Ukuru (Freedom) Torch lit on the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro
- 1964-10-29 The United Republic of Tanganyika & Zanzibar renamed The United Republic of Tanzania
- 1965-02-26 West Germany ceases military aid to Tanzania
- 1967-01-29 The Arusha Declaration written by Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere is issued, clarifying Tanzania's path towards Ujamaa (African socialism)
- 1970-07-12 Tanzania signs contract with China for building Tanzam-railway
- 1970-10-26 Tanzania begins building railway Lusaka-Drone ash Salaam
- 1972-09-17 Tanzania troops march in to Uganda
- 1978-10-30 Uganda troops attack Tanzania
Fall of Kampala
1979-04-11 Tanzanian army captures Kampala, the capital of Uganda forcing Ugandan dictator Idi Amin to flee into exile in Libya
- 1984-03-15 Tanzania adopts constitution
- 1990-11-09 Tanzania government of Malecela forms
- 1993-08-04 Rwandian Hutus and Tutsis sign peace treaty in Arusha, Tanzania
- 1998-08-20 U.S. embassy bombings: US military launches cruise missile attacks against alleged al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan and a suspected chemical plant in Sudan in retaliation for August 7 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania
Osama bin Laden
1998-11-20 Court in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan declares accused terrorist Osama bin Laden "a man without a sin" in regard to the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania
- 2002-06-24 The Igandu train disaster in Tanzania kills 281, the worst train accident in African history
- 2012-12-06 A 243 million year old Nyasasaurus fossil is discovered in Tanzania
- 2013-03-29 36 people are killed after a 16-floor building collapses in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
- 2013-04-02 13 people are killed in a quarry accident, in Arusha, Tanzania
- 2017-05-06 Bus crash in Arusha region, Tanzania kills 35
- 2017-08-16 Over 100 Maasai houses destroyed in Tanzania by game park authorities as part of a border dispute near Serengeti National Park
- 2018-09-20 Overloaded ferry capsizes on Lake Victoria, Tanzania, killing at least 207, with one man surviving in air lock for two days
- 2018-11-05 Taskforce set up to identify and punish LGBT people in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
- 2019-08-10 71 people die trying to siphon gas from an overturned tanker that explodes in Morogoro region, Tanzania
- 2020-10-28 Tanzania reelects President John Magufuli, with opposition parties calling the vote fraudulent
- 2021-02-21 WHO pleads with Tanzania to start reporting COVID-19 cases amid fears of a hidden epidemic in the country
- 2021-03-21 45 crushed to death in a crowd paying respects to the late President John Magufuli at a stadium in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
- 2022-11-06 Plane crashes into Tanzania's Lake Victoria killing 19 people on board, with 24 survivors [1]
Kamala Harris Visits Former Slave Port
2023-03-28 US Vice President Kamala Harris visits former slave port Cape Coast Castle in Ghana as part of her tour of Ghana, Tanzania and Zambia [1]
- 2023-12-02 Flooding and landslides in Northern Tanzania result in 63 deaths, amid ongoing massive El Nino flooding throughout East Africa [1]
Famous People from Tanzania
- 1922-04-13 Julius Nyerere, Tanzanian politician and 1st President of Tanzania (1964-1985), born in Butiama, Tanganyika (d. 1999)
- 1925-05-08 Ali Hassan Mwinyi, Tanzania politician, 2nd President of Tanzania (1985-1995), 3rd President of Zanzibar (1984-85), born in Kivure, Pwani Region, British Tanganyika
- 1933-01-13 Nurdin Jivraj, Tanzanian-British hotel magnate (Buckingham Intl.)
- 1934-04-22 Nico Ladenis, Greek-Tanganyikan-British restaurateur (Nico at 90), born in Tanganyika, Tanzania (d. 2023)
- 1938-11-12 Benjamin Mkapa, Tanzanian politician, President of Tanzania (1995-2005), born in Ndanda, Tanganyika (d. 2020)
- 1950-10-07 Jakaya Kikwete, Tanzanian politician, born in Msoga, Tanzania
- 1953-02-13 Suleiman Nyambui, Tanzanian runner (world record 5k indoor), born in Tanzania
- 1953-06-23 Filbert Bayi, Tanzanian athlete (WR 1500m: 3:32.16 1974, Mile: 3:51.0 1975; Olympic silver 3k steeplechase 1980), born in Karatu Tanzania
- 1957-01-05 Elizabeth Mrema, Tanzanian environmental leader (UN Environment Program), born in Kilimanjaro Region, Tanzania
- 1959-10-29 John Magufuli, Tanzanian politician (President of Tanzania (2015-2021), born in Chato, Tanganyika (d. 2021)
- 1960-01-27 Samia Suluhu Hassan, Tanzanian politician (1st female President of Tanzania 2021-), born in Makunduchi, Sultanate of Zanzibar
- 1966-09-22 David Adjaye, Ghanaian British architect (Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture), born in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania