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Dar es Salaam Dar
Largest city of Tanzania
From top, left to right: Aerial view of Dar es Salaam, City from MV Kigamboni, Tanzania National Stadium, Aerial view of Dar es Salaam Port
Seal
Dar es Salaam Location of Dar es Salaam
Coordinates: 06°48′58″S 39°16′49″E / 6.81611°S 39.28028°E / -6.81611; 39.28028
Country	Tanzania
Zone	Coastal Indian Ocean
Districts	List Ilala Kigamboni Kinondoni Ubungo Temeke
Government
• Regional Commissioner	Albert Challamila
• Lord Mayor	Isaya Mwita Charles
Area [1]
• Total	1,493 km2 (576 sq mi)
• Water	0 km2 (0 sq mi)
Population  (2022 census)
• Total	5,383,728
• Density	3,600/km2 (9,300/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+3 (EAT)
Postcode	11xxx
Area code	022
HDI (2018)	0.631 medium · 2nd
Website	dcc.go.tz

Dar es Salaam (/ˌdɑːr ɛs səˈlɑːm/; from Arabic: دَار السَّلَام, romanized: Dār as-Salām, lit. 'Abode of Peace') is the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania. It is also the capital of the Dar es Salaam Region. With a population of over five million people, Dar es Salaam is the largest city in East Africa and the sixth-largest in Africa. Located on the Swahili coast, Dar es Salaam is an important economic center and one of the fastest-growing cities in the world.^[2]

The town was founded by Majid bin Said, the first Sultan of Zanzibar, in 1865 or 1866. It was the main administrative and commercial center of German East Africa, Tanganyika, and Tanzania. The decision was made in 1974 to move the capital to Dodoma which was officially completed in 1996.^[3]

Dar es Salaam is Tanzania's most prominent city for arts, fashion, media, film, television, and finance. It is the capital of the co-extensive Dar es Salaam Region, one of Tanzania's 31 administrative regions, and consists of five districts: Kinondoni in the north; Ilala in the centre; Ubungo and Temeke in the south; and Kigamboni in the east across the Kurasini estuary.

History

In the 19th century, Mzizima (Swahili for "healthy town") was a coastal fishing village on the periphery of Indian Ocean trade routes.^[4][5] In 1865 or 1866, Sultan Majid bin Said of Zanzibar began building a new city very close to Mzizima^[5] and named it Dar es Salaam. The name is commonly translated from Arabic as "abode (home) of peace", from dar ("house"), and es salaam ("of peace").^[5] Dar es Salaam fell into decline after Majid's death in 1870, but was revived in 1887 when the German East Africa Company established a station there. The town's growth was facilitated by its role as the administrative and commercial centre of German East Africa and industrial expansion following the construction of the Central Railway Line in the early 1900s.^[6]

In the East African campaign of World War I, British and Empire forces captured German East Africa. The Royal Navy bombarded the city with the monitor Mersey on 21 July 1916 and battleship HMS Vengeance on 21 August.^[7] The German colonial authorities surrendered the city on 3 September.^[8] German East Africa became the British Tanganyika Territory.

Dar es Salaam remained the administrative and commercial centre. Under British indirect rule, European areas such as Oyster Bay and African areas (e.g., Kariakoo and Ilala) developed separately from the city centre. The city's population also included a large number of workers from British India, many of whom came to take advantage of trade and commercial opportunities. After World War II, Dar es Salaam experienced a period of rapid growth.^[9]

Political developments, including the formation and growth of the Tanganyika African National Union, led to Tanganyika's independence from colonial rule in December 1961. Dar es Salaam continued to serve as its capital, even when Tanganyika and the People's Republic of Zanzibar merged to form Tanzania in 1964. In 1973, provisions were made to relocate the capital to Dodoma, a more centrally located city in the interior. The relocation process to Dodoma was completed, although Dar es Salaam continued to be the location of most government offices.^[10]

In 1967, the Tanzanian government declared the ujamaa policy, which made Tanzania lean towards socialism. The move hampered the potential growth of the city as the government encouraged people not to move into cities and instead remain in Ujamaa socialist villages. By the 1980s, the policy failed to combat the increasing poverty and hunger that Tanzania faced, and had delayed necessary development. This situation led to the liberalization policy of the 1980s that essentially ended socialism and silenced its proponents within Tanzania's government through political repression.^[11][12]

Until the late 1990s, Dar es Salaam was not regarded in the same echelon as Africa's leading cities like Cairo, Nairobi, Johannesburg, Lagos, or Addis Ababa. During the 2000s, businesses opened and prospered; growth expanded in the construction sector, with new multi-storey buildings, bridges and roads;^[13] Tanzanian banks headquartered in the city became better regulated^{[clarification needed]}; and the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange expanded. The port is prominent for entrepot trade with landlocked countries like Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia, and the eastern portion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The city's skyline features tall buildings, among them the 35-storey PSPF Tower (finished in 2015) and the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) Tower, the tallest in the country (completed in 2016).^[14]

A number of historical buildings and elements of urban planning, such as parts of the harbour and streets going back to colonial times, still exist. The Old Boma, one of the city's oldest buildings, was built in 1866-67 by Majid bin Said, sultan of Zanzibar, and enlarged under German rule. The Botanical Gardens now are close to the National Museum of Tanzania. The present-day State House goes back to Majid bin Said, and were the seat of the German and later the British colonial governments. Along with the Azania Front Lutheran Church, built between 1899 and 1902,^[15] and the Roman Catholic St. Joseph's Cathedral, constructed around the same period,^[16] Ocean Road Hospital also belongs to a number of early historical buildings in Dar es Salaam.^[17]

Geography

Dar es Salaam is located at 6°48' S, 39°17' E (−6.8000, 39.2833),^[18] on a natural harbour on the coast of East Africa, with sandy beaches in some areas.

Districts of Dar es Salaam region

Dar es Salaam Region is divided into five administrative districts,^[19] four of which are governed by municipal councils^[a] that are affiliated with the city's suburbs or wards. The regional commissioner is Aboubakar Kunenge.

Kinondoni

Kinondoni is the most populated of the districts. It houses half of the city's population and several high-income suburbs.

• Masaki, Oyster Bay and Ada Estate are the high-income suburbs located along the central beach. During the Colonial Era, they were the major European suburbs of the city. Diplomats and expatriates currently reside in these areas. Oyster Bay Beach (also known as Coco Beach) is the only white sandy beach east of Kinondoni.
• Mikocheni and Regent Estate are also suburbs within the district. These are high and middle-income areas with Mikocheni B enjoying a higher population density than Mikocheni A and Regent Estate. According to the 2012 census, the Mikocheni ward had a population of 32,947.^{[23]: page 75}

• Msasani is a peninsula to the northeast of the city center and home to expatriates from the United Kingdom and other western countries. It contains a mixture of traditional shops and western-oriented resorts and stores including the redevelopment of the former Msani Slipway shipyard by architect Antoni Folkers
• Mbezi Beach is the beachfront suburb located along the northern Dar es Salaam Beach. It contains several tourist hotels, residences and a kite-surfing area by Upepo Avenue.
• Sinza, Kijitonyama, Magomeni, Kinondoni and Mwenge are more ethnically mixed than the areas above and are located west of Dar es Salaam's Central Business District.

Ilala

The administrative district of Ilala contains almost all government offices, ministries, and the Central Business District. It is the transportation hub of the city, as the Julius Nyerere International Airport, Central Railway Station and Tazara Railway Station are all within the district's boundaries. The residential areas are mainly middle- to high-income, among them:

• Upanga and Kisutu have the highest concentration of Asian communities within Dar es Salaam, with residents of Indian and Arabic descent. These areas contain colonial houses and mansions built in Indian, Arabic and European styles. Upanga is divided into Upanga East and Upanga West.
• Kariakoo is the shopping district of the city: shops, bazaars, and merchants sell products from foodstuffs to hardware. The Kariakoo Market contains the only underground section of the city. It is the major supply point of the food consumed by all Dar es Salaam residents.
• Tabata, Segerea and Ukonga are located slightly farther west from the city center.
• Ilala, among the middle-income suburbs very near to the city center, is marked by the Askari Monument and suffers from gang activity.^[24]

Temeke

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Temeke is the fifth industrial district of the city, where manufacturing (both heavy and light industry) is located. To the east is the Port of Dar es Salaam, the largest in the country. Temeke is believed to have the largest concentration of low-income residents due to industry. It is home to military and police officers as well as port officials.

• Kurasini, located on the harbour, contains Dar es Salaam Port, the Police College, the Mgulani Police Barracks and the Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair grounds. The main residents are police officers and port officials.

• Chang'ombe is one of the few higher-income areas in Temeke. It has maintained this status due to the presence of African high colonial officers and some industry owners from the Colonial Era. Chang'ombe houses the Dar es Salaam University College of Education, the National Stadium and Uhuru Stadium.
• Temeke, Mtoni, Tandika, Kijichi, and Mbagala are middle to low-income suburbs, of which the last is the largest suburb in the entire district.

Ubungo

The Ubungo terminal serves as a transportation link to most large Dar es Salaam urban nodes.^{[clarification needed]} The narrow-gauge commuter rail runs from there to the city centre, with ten level crossings along the route.

This district is characterised with a lot of potential social and economic centres such as industries i.e. Urafiki textile industry, bus station and vatious institutes and universities such as National Institute of Transport(NIT)

Kigamboni

Kigamboni (also known as South Beach), a beachfront suburb on a peninsula, is home to an economically diverse population. Access to the suburb is mainly by ferry, although the Kigamboni Bridge provides an alternative.

Climate

Dar es Salaam experiences tropical climatic conditions, typified by hot and humid weather throughout much of the year due to its proximity to the equator and the warm Indian Ocean. It has a tropical savanna climate (Köppen: Aw/As). Annual rainfall is approximately 1,150 millimetres or 45 inches, and in a normal year there are two rainy seasons: the "long rains" in April and May, and the "short rains" in November and December.