Dar es Salaam

Dar es Salaam, city in east Tanzania on an arm of the Indian Ocean. It is the country's largest city and former capital, chief seaport, and principal commercial, manufacturing, and educational centre. Products include processed food, textiles, clothing, footwear, refined petroleum, and metal goods. Rail links extend inland to Arusha in the north, to Lakes Tanganyika and Victoria, and to Zambia. Dar es Salaam's exports include coffee, sisal, cotton, and copper (from landlocked Zambia). Among the educational institutions in the city are the University of Dar es Salaam (1961), Kivukoni College (1961), and the College of Business Education (1965). Also here are the National Archives, the National Central Library, and the National Museum of Tanzania which has notable collections dealing with east African ethnography, archaeology, and history.

Dar es Salaam (Arabic, “haven of peace”) was founded in the 1860s as a summer residence for the sultan of Zanzibar. It was developed by German colonial interests after 1885, and in 1896 became the capital of German East Africa. Dar es Salaam came under British control in 1916, and its main growth as a modern city began in the 1940s. It became the capital of a newly independent Tanganyika in 1961 and continued as the seat of administration when Tanganyika and Zanzibar were merged to form Tanzania in 1964. In 1974 Dodoma was designated the new capital of Tanzania. However, pending completion of new administrative and communication facilities government ministries remained in Dar es Salaam. The drawn out process of transferring them to Dodoma began in the 1980s. In 1998 terrorists bombed the United States embassy in Dar es Salaam. Population 2,545,000 (1999 estimate).