ABSTRACT
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa, bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique to the south. To the east, it borders the Indian Ocean. Tanzania was formed in 1964, when, shortly after achieving independence from British colonial rule (in place since 1919), Tanganyika (the country’s mainland of around 945,000 square kilometres) merged with Zanzibar (islands of around 1,658 square kilometres off the east coast). Today, Tanzania comprises twenty–six administrative regions, a population of around 39 million people (2007 figures) and over a hundred different ethnic groups. The overall population includes a balance of Christians and Muslims, but the inhabitants of Zanzibar are almost entirely Muslim.
