Most of the 940 thousand square kilometers(1) of Tanzania are plateaus at around 1,000 meters. Along the coast is a plain, widest in the center. There are three signficant offshore islands: Zanzibar, Pemba and Mafia.
Much of the west edge is the Great Rift Valley, which is frequently neighbored by mountains. In the southwest this consists of Lake Nyassa(2). Just north of the lake, the rift splits and the nearby mountains mark the tension with heights of nearly 3,000 meters. The valley's west branch continues through Lakes Rukwa(3) and Tanganyika(4).
The East Branch of the Rift Valley cuts through the center of the plateau: through the Bahi Swamp and Lakes Eyasi, Manyara and Natron. East of these lakes are high volcanic mountains: Kilimanjjaro reaches almost 5,900 meters, and Meru nearly 4,600.
Between the rift valleys, at the nation's north border, is Lake Victoria(5), which includes several significant islands; Ukerewa is the largest. The lake, which is part of the Nile System(6), receives rivers from its southeast.
Lake Tanganyika, which is part of the Congo River system(7), receives the Malagarasi, whose basin is south of Lake Victoria.
Otherwise, between the Rift Valley branches, little water makes it to the sea.
Beyond the eastern branch's edging heights, several rivers flow to the Indian Ocean. Among them are the Rufiji, with its tributary, the Great Ruaha; and the Ruvuma(8), which marks most of Tanzania's southern border.
There is no majority first language. Swahili is being pushed more than English as a second language, but neither is native to many. The two most important first tongues are Sukuma, spoken by more than one in ten, and Rundi/ Rwanda/ Ha(9), spoken by one in 20. Both these, Swahili, and many others are Central Narrow Bantu languages, which together account for almost 19 in 20 speakers.
There is also no majority religion. Christians--both Roman Catholics and Protestants--are nearly 9 in 20; Moslems are more than 7 in 20, with the proportion rising towards the coast. Most of the rest follow local religions. For example, among those Sukuma who do not follow a world religion, there is belief in a sun-associated high god and veneration of ancestral spirits through offerings of cow dung and millet beer. When a child is seriously ill, they may placate a spirit by renaming the child after one of the ancestrors, or by having the ill one wear a necklass honoring them.
Syncretism exists among Christians. The Bujora Catholic Church, for example, is shaped like a hut, the tabernacle like a chief's house, and decorations include colored triangles (symbolizing fertility or the Christian trinity). Traditional music and dance are integrated into services.
Only one city reaches one million and it has nearly three million: Mombassa. Its monuments include a clock tower and a statue honoring World War I soldiers. Its principle museum houses hominid fossils from Olduvai Gorge.
It is speculated that people speaking languages ancestral to Hadza and Sandawe may have been in the area as long as 5-1/2 thousand years ago.(10)
The Southern Cushitic languages, like Iraqw, may have been spoken here for thousands of years, or perhaps only a thousand or so. It is presumed they originated further north, along with the rest of the Afro-Asiatic languages.
Perhaps Nilo-Saharan groups like the Luo and Masai moved into the area in the first millenium C.E. or earlier. The Masai believe they migrated from the north.
Bantu people arrived in the area long ago, reaching the lakes first, and expanding coastward and southward subsequently. Swahili evolved under the influence of gthe Indian Ocean trade, which included speakers of Persian(11), Gujarati, Konkani and Arabic as well as Swahili and its ancestors. Its influence expanded rapidly starting in the 19th century.
Islam arrived early, perhaps soon after its founding, certainly by the early 12th century.
Christianity arrived in the 19th century, along with the Germans and English.
northwest
northeast
east
southeast
south, from west of Lake Nyasa
southwest
west, across Lake Tanganyika
(1) Including inland waters.
(2) Also called Lake Malawi or Lake Niassa. It is Africa's seventh largest and is part of the Zambezi (Zambeze) River system, which is Africa's fourth longest.
(3) Really two lakes with a swampy connecting channel.
(4) Africa's second largest lake, the world's fourth.
(5) Africa's largest lake, the world's third.
(6) The world's longest river.
(7) Africa's second longest river, the world's eighth.
(8) Called the Rovuma south of Tanzania.
(9) Rundi, Rwanda, Ha, and Shubi are mutually comprensible dialects. Some consider them separate languages.
(10) Some call these Khoisan languages. Others consider that group artificial.
(11) Zanzibar derives its name from Persian.