Up-close and Personal With Tanzania
Tanzania is a poor but fascinating county in Africa. Tanzania, also known as the United Republic of Tanzania, was first formed when Tanganyika, a place granted independence in 1961, and Zanzibar, place granted independence in 1963, joined together in 1964. Tanzania is surrounded by eight countries known as Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Uganda, and Zambia. Being 364,900 square miles, the current population is 44,929,002 people. Tanzania's official capital is Dodoma while the commercial capital is Dar es Salaam. Two major water bodies that exist in Tanzania is Lake Victoria and the Rufiji river and some of Tanzania's main exports are coffee, cotton, and cashew nuts. Speaking mainly Kiswahili and English, the major religions in Tanzania is Christianity and Islam. In Tanzania there is three different climate zones. One is the hot, steamy coastal strip, another is the dry central plateau, and the last one is the semi-temperate mountains. Including all the different climate zones, it is hot year-round. In Tanzania, the main form of currency is the Tanzanian shilling. The current president of Tanzania is Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete after taking the place of Benjamin William Mkapa on December 21, 2005.