26 April: Tanzania

Today is the anniversary of the date in 1964 when the nation of Tanzania was established. 10 things you might not know about Tanzania:

1. The nation of Tanzania began on 26 April 1964 when the mainland Tanganyika merged with the Zanzibar Archipelago. The name of the country is a reflection of this union, the "Tan" coming from Tanganyika and the "Zan" from Zanzibar.
2. There are several famous national parks in the country. The Serengeti is Africa's largest national park, and the word means "the place where the land runs on forever". Over a million species of animal live here. Gombe Stream National Park is where Jane Goodall carried out her studies of chimpanzees in the 1960s. Ruaha National Park is known for having the largest population of Elephants in Africa.
3. Tanzania has a huge concentration of animals per square kilometre, with more than 4 million wild animals and representatives of 430 species and subspecies. These include the coconut crab, the largest crab in the world, which is found on Chumbe Island, Zanzibar.
4. The Capital is Dodoma and the largest city is Dar es Salaam.
5. The country is the site of Africa's highest and lowest points: Mount Kilimanjaro, at 5,895 metres (19,341 ft) above sea level, and the floor of Lake Tanganyika, at 352 metres (1,155 ft) below sea level.
6. It is also where you will find Ngorongoro, the world’s largest volcanic crater, which has a diameter of 19 km and is 600 m deep.
7. The world’s earliest human skull was found in the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania.
8. Most of the population of roughly 47.4 million live on the northern border or eastern coast. Population density varies considerably from just 12 people per square kilometre in the Katavi Region to 3,133 per square kilometre in the Dar es Salaam Region.
9. Around 120 different languages are spoken by the people there. The language used in parliament, courts and in primary schools is Swahili; higher courts, universities and secondary schools use English although eventually the government plans to discontinue the use of English in schools. Some of the ethnic languages have so few speakers that they are in danger of becoming extinct.
10. The Maasai people live in Tanzania - they are the people who wear neck rings to make their necks longer.