ABSTRACT
Tanganyika became an independent state within the British Commonwealth in 1961 and adopted a republican form of government in 1962. In 1964 it entered into a political union with Zanzibar and the name Tanzania was adopted. Tanganyika is the largest but also the poorest of the four East African states. In 1891 this part of East Africa, nominally under the suzerainty of the Sultan of Zanzibar, was taken over as a Protectorate by Germany. The greater part of Tanganyika is plateau. Crops grown include millet, cassava, maize and groundnuts, but these are uncertain and poverty is widespread. Commercial production is small, but some European settlers have successful sisal plantations and profitable cotton growing around Kilosa and Morogoro in the Central railway zone and within 200 miles of Dar-es-Salaam. Minerals played a small role in Tanganyika’s economy until relatively recent years.
