Regions of Tanzania

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Updates: 

FIPS Publication Change Notice No. 10, affecting FIPS PUB 10-4, was issued on 2006-03-23. It assigns a new FIPS code to the new Manyara region, and changes the code for the old region from which it was formed.

My investigations suggest that the capital of Pwani is probably Dar es Salaam, not Kisiju as formerly reported. I've also changed a few areas, so that the column matches the figures (for land area) on the Tanzania National Bureau of Statistics  site.

ISO 3166-2 Newsletter number I-5, dated 2003-09-05, explains that the Swahili word for regions is mkoa. It removes the hyphens from Dar-es-Salaam, and adds the new Manyara region. I have added an ISO code column to the table below, showing the new code for Manyara.

Karem Abdalla has provided me with areas and populations of the regions of Tanzania following the creation of Manyara region, which I reported here in 2002. They are shown in the table below.

The [Tanzania] Express Online , in its May 16-22, 2002 issue, writes, "Tanzania Mainland kissed goodbye to the 20th century and its 20 regions to enter the 21st century with 21 regions. This follows President Mkapa's decision to divide Arusha region into two administrative regions early this year. The demarcation was announced last week." According to the German-language Web site Tansania Information  (citing the Guardian of May 10-11, 2002), the capital of the new Manyara region is Babati, and its districts are Babati, Hanang, Kiteto, Manyara, Mbulu, and Simanjiro. If I follow the German text correctly, the southern part of Monduli district has been annexed to Babati district. The Tanzania census site , however, seems to say that Manyara was formed by taking Babati, Hanang, Kiteto, and Mbulu districts from Arusha region. My Districts of Tanzania page has the present-day districts of Manyara. Thanks to Hans Wittebol for alerting me to this change.

Change Notice 7 to FIPS PUB 10-4 is dated 2002-01-10. The only change affecting Tanzania is to the official name of one region. Ziwa Magharibi (Swahili for West Lake) has changed its name to Kagera. According to "Administrative Subdivisions of Countries", which lists the region as Kagera, this change occurred around 1984.

ISO/DIS 3166-2, the first draft of the standard, listed both Kagera (05) and Ziwa Magharibi (26) as separate regions. Actually, Ziwa Magharibi is an old name for Kagera. The error was corrected in the final draft of the standard (1998).

Country overview: 

In 1900, Zanzibar (including Pemba) was a British protectorate, and Tanganyika was part of German East Africa. After Germany's defeat in World War I, Tanganyika was mandated to Great Britain by the League of Nations. Following World War II, the mandate became a United Nations trusteeship. Tanganyika became independent on 1961-12-09; Zanzibar did likewise on 1963-12-19. The two countries joined on 1964-04-26 to form the United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar. The name was shortened to United Republic of Tanzania on 1964-10-29. Governmental functions are gradually being transferred from Dar es Salaam to Dodoma.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Tanzania
2. Dutch: Tanzania, Verenigde Republiek Tanzania (formal)
3. English: United Republic of Tanzania (formal)
4. Finnish: Tansania
5. French: Tanzanie, République-Unie f de Tanzanie f (formal)
6. German: Tansania, Vereinigte Republik f Tansania n (formal)
7. Icelandic: Tansanía
8. Italian: Tanzania f
9. Norwegian: Forbundsrepublikken Tanzania (formal) (Bokmål), Sambandsrepublikken Tanzania (formal) (Nynorsk), Tanzania
10. Portuguese: Tanzánia, Tanzânia (Brazil), República f Unida da Tanzánia f (formal)
11. Spanish: Tanzania, Tanzanía, República f Unida de Tanzania (formal)
12. Swahili: Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania (formal)
13. Swedish: Tanzania

Origin of name: 

Coined from Tan(ganyika) + Zan(zibar) + -ia (suffix for country)

Primary subdivisions: 

Tanzania is divided into 26 regions (mkoa in Swahili).

Further subdivisions:

See the Districts of Tanzania page.

The regions are subdivided into districts (wilaya in Swahili). There were 129 districts in 2003. Subordinate to the districts are divisions, under the divisions are wards, and under the wards (except in urban districts) are villages.

Territorial extent: 

1. Kagera includes Bumbiri, Ikusa, Bukerebe, Nabuyongo, and other islands in Lake Victoria.
2. Lindi includes Songa Manara Island in the Indian Ocean.
3. Mara includes Lukuba Island and a few other small islands in Lake Victoria.
4. Mwanza includes Ukerewe, Rubondo, Ukara, Maisome, Kome, Irugwa, and other islands in Lake Victoria.
5. Pemba North and Pemba South share Pemba Islands.
6. Pwani includes Mafia Island in the Indian Ocean.
7. Tanga includes Mwambawamba Island and other small islands in the Pemba Channel.
8. Zanzibar North, Zanzibar South and Central, and Zanzibar West share Zanzibar Island. Tumbatu Island is in Zanzibar North; Uzi and Pungume Islands are in Zanzibar South and Central.

Origins of names: 

1. Dar es Salaam: Arabic dar as-salam: home of peace
2. Iringa: Hehe lilinga: fort
3. Tabora: Nyamwezi matoborwa: sweet potatoes
4. Zanzibar: from an Arabic word for blacks

Change history: 

Divisions of Tanganyika in 1922 were: Arusha, Bagamoyo, Bukoba, Daressalam, Dodoma, Iringa, Kilwa, Kondoa-Irangi, Lindi, Mahenge, Morogoro, Moshi, Mwanza, Pangani, Rufiji, Rungwe, Songea, Tabora, Tanga, Ufipa, Ujiji, and Usambara. Numerous changes occurred between then and independence.

1. ~1961: Dar es Salaam province split from Eastern; West Lake province split from Lake.
2. 1964-04-26: Tanganyika and Zanzibar merged. Tanzania now consisted of these twelve provinces:

1. ~1966: Tanzania reorganized into twenty regions.
2. ~1967: Zanzibar Shambani (Rural) region split into Zanzibar Shambani North and Zanzibar Shambani South, which later became Zanzibar North and Zanzibar South and Central.
3. ~1971: Rukwa region created from parts of Mbeya and Tabora.
4. 1972-07-01: Lindi region split from Mtwara.
5. 1974-01-01: Dar es Salaam region split from Coast.
6. ~1982: Name of Coast region changed to Pwani; Pemba region split into Pemba North and Pemba South.
7. ~1984: Name of West Lake region changed to Kagera.
8. ~2002-05: Manyara region split from Arusha (former HASC code TZ.AR, FIPS code TZ01).

Other names of subdivisions: 

1. Dar es Salaam: Daressalam (German)
2. Kagera: West Lake (obsolete); Ziwa Magharibi (Swahili-obsolete)
3. Pemba North: Kaskazini Pemba (Swahili); Pemba Septentrional (Spanish)
4. Pemba South: Kusini Pemba (Swahili); Pemba Meridional (Spanish)
5. Pwani: Coast (obsolete)
6. Zanzibar: Sansibar (German); Zanzíbar (Spanish)
7. Zanzibar North: Kaskazini Unguja (Swahili); North Unguja, Zanzibar Rural North, Zanzibar Shambani North (variant); Zanzibar Septentrional (Spanish)
8. Zanzibar South and Central: Kusini Unguja (Swahili); South Unguja, South Zanzibar, Unguja South & Central, Zanzibar Rural South, Zanzibar Shambani South (variant); Zanzibar Meridional/Central (Spanish)
9. Zanzibar West: Mjini Magharibi (Swahili); Unguja Town & West, Urban West, Zanzibar Mjini, Zanzibar Urban, Zanzibar Urban/West (variant); Zanzibar Occidental (Spanish)

Population history:

Source: 2002 Population and Housing Census  from a Tanzanian government website. Manyara was included in Arusha in 1967 and 1978 figures. Apparently, in all other cases, data have been adjusted to reflect present-day boundaries.