Dar es Salaam

Dar es Salaam

City flag City seal
City nickname: Dar
Location of Dar es Salaam
Mayor	Adam Kimbisa
Area –Land –Water	[[]] 162.5 km² 0 km²
Population –Total ( 2005) – Density	Metropolitan area 2,456,100 ( 2005)
Latitude Longitude	6°48' S 39°17' E
Official website: []

Dar es Salaam ( Arabic: دار السلام Dār as-Salām), formerly Mzizima, is the largest city (population 2,500,000 estimated 2003), economic centre and former capital of Tanzania. The city serves as the capital for the surrounding Dar es Salaam Region as well as, arguably, the de facto current capital of Tanzania. Though inland Dodoma is the official capital, the vast majority of federal government employees live in Dar and most major political figures maintain residences here. Located on a harbour on the Indian Ocean, its main railways originate in or near the city. Local industries include trade, food products, textiles, cement, and pharmaceuticals. About one half of Tanzania's manufacturing employment is located here despite the fact that Dar holds only ten percent of the population. Dar es Salaam is located at 6°48' South, 39°17' East (-6.8, 39.28333). [1]

Though the city has a low violent crime rate, this is increasing along with the already high number of instances of theft as inequality increases and the amount of money available from Tanzania's thriving aid industry increases. One common nickname of the city is "Bongo" (meaning "brain" in Swahili), essentially implying that street smarts are what is needed to survive here.

The economically important Tazara railway runs from Dar es Salaam to Lusaka, Zambia.

Administratively, Dar es Salaam is broken into 3 districts: Ilala, Kinondoni, and Temeke.

History

In 1859, Albert Roscher of Hamburg became the first European to land in Mzizima ("healthy town"). In 1866 Sultan Seyyid Majid of Zanzibar gave it its present name, an Arabic phrase meaning Haven of Peace. Dar es Salaam fell into decline after Majid's death in 1870, but was revived in 1887, when the German East Africa Company established a station there. The town's growth was facilitated by its role as the administrative and commercial centre of German East Africa and industrial expansion resulting from the construction of the Central Railway Line in the early 1900s.

German East Africa was captured by the British during World War I and from then on referred to as Tanganyika. Dar es Salaam was retained as the territory's administrative and commercial centre. Under British indirect rule, separate European (e.g. Oyster Bay) and African (e.g. Kariakoo and Ilala) areas developed at a distance from the city center. The town's population also included a large amount of South Asians.

After World War II, Dar es Salaam experienced a period of rapid growth. Political developments, including the formation and growth of the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU), led to Tanganyika attaining independence from colonial rule in December 1961. Dar es Salaam continued to serve as its capital, also when in 1964 Tanganyika and Zanzibar merged to form Tanzania. However, in 1973 provisions were made to relocate the capital to Dodoma, a more centrally located city in Tanzania's interior. The relocation process has not yet been completed, and Dar es Salaam remains as Tanzania's primary city.

One of the deadly 1998 U.S. embassy bombings occurred in Dar es Salaam; the other was in Nairobi, Kenya.

Culture

Downtown Dar es Salaam has a very Arabic and Indian flavor to it, with many small business proprieters being of those origins. Many of the buildings and general layout of the downtown area have a frenetic, claustrophic feeling that lends itself to street vendors and restauranteers doing a good business.

The areas outside the city center are of a newer construction and are more spread out and disorganized ( sprawling). There are very heavily populated by Africans, except for Oyster Bay, which still has a large "western" population. Unfortunately, though there is little in the way of open racially motivated hostility, the various ethnic communities of Dar es Salaam do not intermingle heavily. The edges of Dar es Salaam spreading are growing outward rapidly, taxing the transportation system and giving rise to fears that the city will start to suffer problems from Urban overcrowding in the near future. A few local restaurants specialize in traditional Indian or Zanzibari cuisine, while many other establishments, such as the New Protein Bar, serve traditional Tanzanian foods such as "Nyama Choma" (roasted meat) or "Mishkaki" (Shish Kabob) with salt and various hot peppers. There are also an ever-increasing number of international restaurants as the expatriot community and tourism grow.

There are a few museums such as the National Museum, the Village Museum, or the Botanical Gardens that one can visit, and within an hour's drive North is Bagamoyo, home to the Kaole ruins. There are beaches on the Kigamboni peninsula East of Dar es Salaam and on Kigamboni Island to the North that residents and tourists frequently visit. The National Stadium hosts periodical football matches between rival Tanzanian clubs and Dar es Salaam's Simba club, as well as international matches.

The first cineplex in Tanzania to show first-run Western and Indian releases was opened in Dar es Salaam in December of 2003.

Trivia

The building that houses The National Audit Office of Tanzania used to be a car salesroom before it was nationalised by the state shortly after independence.

Bongo is the commonly-used nickname for Dar es Salaam. The use of the word can be traced to the mid-1980s. Bongo is Swahili for 'brains'. It is thought that due to the hard economic times during Nyerere's rule, the only way one could survive was by using his brains. 'Bongoland' sometimes refers to Tanzania.

Masaki and Mikocheni are suburbs of Dar es Salaam

Photos

State House Building - Ikulu in Dar-Es-Salaam	Round about at the Askari Monument	Samora Machel Avenue with N.I.C. House	Ferry to Kigamboni, skyline of the city in background
Beach on the half island Kigamboni	Shopping street in Buguruni	Mafuta Building at Sunset	Arusha from the Air
Askari Monument	Dar Es Salaam International Airport	Fans Celebrate the Arrival of The football Team Young African Sports Club (Yanga)	National Stadium
Mnazi Mmoja	Sunset Kigamboni	Ferry at Kigamboni	Msimbazi Orphanage