HISTORY
Tanzania is the “cradle of mankind” for it was here, in the Olduvai Gorge, that Dr Louis Leakey discovered the fossilised remains of Homo habilis, or “handy man,” calculated to be 1.75 million years old and the forerunner of modern man. Tanzania was occupied by various African tribes most recently the Masai from Kenya, who have retained their proud traditions. Arab merchants visite the coast some 2,000 years ago and settled in Zanzibar around the
eighth century AD later establishing trade routes into the interior. The inter-marriage of Arabs and local people created a new people with their own
language - Kiswahili (Swahili) whose word for a journey - safari - has become the international escription of a trip into the wild.The Portuguese established temporary settlements in the 16th century, supplanted by the Omanis in the late 17th century who developed the infamous slave trade.The scramble for Africa by the European powers at the end of the 19th century led to occupation of the mainland by Germany although Zanzibar became a British protectorate. After World
War I, Germany was forced to surrender its territory to the British. Tanganyika, as the mainland was then known, achieved independence in 1961. Zanzibar became independent two years later and shortly afterwards joined with the mainland to become the United Republic of Tanzania.