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Religion is another activity in which children participate. Religious has played a a powerful force in Tanzanian society and national development. We are unsure at this time just what impact traditional animistic religion which dominated African society for millennia has had on Sub-Saharan African society, including Tanzania. Islam was the first monotheistic faith to reach East Africa including Tanzania. This began very early after Muslim warriors burst out of the Arabian desert, at first north into the Levant (7th century). The Christians Europeans arrived in the Arabian Sea (15th century). Like the Arabs, they did not seek to convert the Arabs or establish colonies, they did set up trading posts. They did not focus on the slave trade in part because the more distant and thus longer voyages substantially increased moralities and reduced profits. The religious component of the European Christian maritime outreach began to focus on conversion and missionaries began to work in Africa (mid-19th century). At the same time the British Royal Navy extended its efforts to end the slave trade into the Arabian Sea, bringing it in conflict with Arab rulers. Soon after the Scramble for Africa resulted in the European colonization of Africa during which Christianity was promoted. Tanzanians mostly identify as either Christian or Muslim, although many continue to practice animist folk beliefs as well. This includes many who identify as Christian and Muslim. The Government has been largely respectful of religious liberty. About a third of the country identifies as Christian, split between Catholics and Protestants. Catholic Christians slightly outnumber the Protestants. About a third of the population identify as Muslim. There are small numbers of minority relgious groups including traditional Africanist, Buddhist, and Hindus. Islam was the first major religion to reach Tanzania and East Africa in general (8th centyury AD). It was spread by merchants and slave traders. Christinity arrived with the Europeans, although did not make a major impact until colonization (late-19th centuty). We note missionaries who played an important role beginning in the mid-19th centuty.
Tanzanians mostly identify as either Christian or Muslim, although animist folk beliefs are still practiced. Religious has played a a powerful force in Tanzanian society and national development. We are unsure at this time just what impact traditional animistic religion which dominated African society for millennia has had on Sub-Saharan African society, including Tanzania. Only about 2 percent of Tanzanians say that they are followers of indigenous spirituality. This may be misleading ans some peoople may not want to admit to be associated with what many believe to be part of a backward belief systm. They have a concept of a supreme being just as Christians and Muslims do. A major difference is ancestor worship. Those who believe in traditional folk religion commonly traditional healers and diviners rather than modern medicine. While traditional religion is formally practiced by only a small number of Tanzanians, traditioinal attitudes perbade Tanzaniuan thought and have even had an impact on Christian and Islamic practices.
This began very early after Muslim warriors burst out of the Arabian desert, at first north into the Levant (7th century). Soon Arab merchants were moving south into the Arabian Sea (Indian Ocean). Important commodities were gold, ivory, slaves, and spices. This was the beginning of the Arab Indian Ocean Slave Trade. While Muslim Arabs conducted the slave trade, it does not seem to have turned Africans against Islam. Rather we see Africans in East Africans adopting Islam. Although this was a slow process. The Arabs did not colonize Africa, but rather established trading posts along the coast. The Sultan of Oman transferred his location to Zanzibar off the coast if modern Tanzania because of the importance of the slave trade. The Portuguese seized control of both Zanzibar and the coastal area. Omani Arabs seized back control of Zanzibar (1699).
The Christians Europeans arrived in the Arabian Sea (15th century). Like the Arabs, they did not seek to convert the Arabs or establish colonies, they did set up trading posts. They did not focus on the slave trade in part because the more distant and thus longer voyages substantially increased moralities and reduced profits. The religious component of the European Christian maritime outreach began to focus on conversion and missionaries began to work in Africa (mid-19th century). At the same time the British Royal Navy extended its efforts to end the slave trade into the Arabian Sea, bringing it in conflict with Arab rulers. Soon after the Scramble for Africa resulted in the European colonization of Africa. This meant the beginning of the end the the slave trade throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. European colonial control meant that missionaries could expand their efforts. The Germans, anxious to have an empire, seized control of what is now Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi--German East Africa (late 19th century). The British and Germans reached an amicable arrangement in East Africa. German East Africa, a quiet part of the German Empire except for the Maji Maji revolt (1905). This changed as a result of World War I, The British and French seized the German colonies. What is now Tanzania became Tanganyika. During the colonial era, missionaries converted large numbers of Africans. The various national regimes affected the Christian sects that were adopted. Lutheranism appeared during the German era. As a result, at independence (1961-64), most citizens identified as either Christians or Muslims, but with differing degrees of fervor. Available date suggests that about one-third of Tanzanians are Christian and the other third are Muslims. Christians include Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Methodists, and Baptists. The remainder of the population is considered to hold traditional beliefs. The division is usually not as clear as official statistics suggest, since many rural Tanzanians adhere to elements of their indigenous religious practice.
Most Tanzanians identify as Christian or Muslim. There is some disagreen=mebt as to the numbers, but about half of Tanzanians identify as Christians and about a third as Muslims. Ther are sugbificant variatiin rehiinally with mich of the Muslim population in Zanzibar and along the coast. There are small numbers of minority relgious groups including traditional Africanist, Buddhist, and Hindus, but Christianity and Islam dominate. Christian support for ending the slave tradein the 19th century cased hisility for Aran dominated Islam. Today there is a high degree of toleratioin among the Christiana and Arab comminities. The Government has been largely respectful of religious liberty.
About a third of the Tanzanian population identify as Muslim. The majority of Muslims are Sunni. The Shiʿi adherents include an Ismāʿīlī community under the spiritual leadership of the Aga Khan. Some sources suggest that the Christian population is higher than a third, but this may be because while quite a number if people say that they Christians, but are only nominally so. Even among those who are more solidly Muslim or Christian, there remains a considerable degree of traditional folk beliefs. Religious belieffs tend to be more important than in Europe and the Americas, but less fervent than in the Arab world. Islam was the first major monotheistic religion to reach Tanzania and East Africa in general. It was spread by merchants, any of whom became slave traders. Islam gradually spread throughout what is modern Tanzania. Today most Muslims inhabit Zanzibar and Pemba, or live in or near Dar es Salaam, Kigoma, Tabora, Tanga, Kondoa, and Singida. A large Muslim population also lives in towns along the Ruvuma River. The Muslim population today varies regionally. Zanzibar is more than 99 percent Muslim. Zanzibar became the Arab (Muslim) stronghold because it was an island and could not be attacked by the large African population om the mainland. It becamne the heart of the Arab slave catching industry in East Africa. This is also why on the mainland, Muslim communities are concentrated in coastal areas.
About a third of the of the country identifies as Christian, split between Catholics and Protestants.
Roman Catholics arrived in Tanzania and other African countries first. The Catholic Portuguese were the the first to reach Tanzania, after Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope (1499). The Portuguese had no real interst in colonizing Tanzania at the time. This was the same pattern along the Atlantic African coast as the Portuguese moved south toward the Cape of Good Hope. They and the Spanish who dollowed them, were content to establish coastal trading posts. (This was different than the policies pursued by the Spanish Conquistadores in the New World.) This did not change until the 19th century. And it occurred as a result of two primary developments. The first development was the Abolitionist Movement in the the Christian world. I(There was no abolitionist movemennt in th Arab or wider Muslim world). The second development was that the Europeans began to colonize sub-Saharan Africa -- the Scramble for Africa. The colonia power in what is now Tanzanai (but did not include Zanzibar) was Germany. And with colonzation, missionaries followed. Germany was a multipdenominational country, with substanial Catholic and Protestant populatioms. The first Catholic missionaries were the Holy Ghost Fathers, the Benedictine Monks, and the White Fathers. They not only preached, but trained locals to be catechists who greatly expanded the evangelical effort. Catholics today comprise over 30 percent of the Tanzanian population, outnumbering Protestants. Protestant missionaries arrived in the 19th Century along with the Catholic missionaries. They included the Augustana Lutheran Mission, Seventh-Day Adventists, and the Moravian Mission. There was a lively competition between Protestant and Catholic missiinarie not only in Tanzania, but throughout Africa. The German colonial authorities to minimize the possibly destabiling comptition assigned pecific areas to the different missionary groups. Of course the Protestants were themselves divided. Today, the main Protestant groups in Tanzania include Lutherans, Moravians, Anglicans, Pentecostals, and Adventists. Protestants today constitute a little more than 25 percent of the population. Christian missionaries appeared in the mid-19th century, but expanded significantly with German colonization. Catholic and Protestant missionaries not only preached, but played an important role in developing Tanzanian soiciety by building schools, hospitals, and social halls.
Muslims and Christian missionaries in the 19th century clashed. The primary reason for this hostility was that the missionaries participation in European campaign against slavery which was primary commercial endevor of the Arabs who were the heart of Islam. The Europoean colonial powes led by Britain banned the slave trade which resuk]ted in lingering Muslim animosity. This has gradually wained and the relationship between Muslims and Christians is now largely tolerant. Most Tanzanian Muslims are Sunni. Between 80 and 90 percent of the Muslim population is Sunni. The rest includes several Shi'a subgroups, mostly of Asian descent. Tanzania's Muslim affairs are today supervised by two organizations. The National Muslim Council of Tanzania, founded in 1969, oversees the mainland. The Supreme Muslim Council, formed in 1991, administers the Muslim affairs on Zanzibar and the other offshore islands.
Mwalimu Julius K. Nyerere became Prime Minister of British-administered Tanganyika in 1960. Britain granted Tanganika independence within the Commonwealth (1961). He continued as Prime Minister in independent Tanganyika. As Britain continued granting independence to its colonies, the situation on Zanzibar became unstable. After riots on Zanzibar following independence (1963), the island was united with Tanganika to form Tanzania (1964). Tanzania after independece was like most African coubtries was diminated by a strong man--Nyerere who follow the wudesopread belief uin Africa that soicialism was the wave of the future. This did notv work out any better in Tanzania than anywhere else in Africa. He did ger one thing right. He introduced what he described as Ujamaa (familyhood), a form of vaguely articulated African socialism which he said focused on justice and equality. Even during the post independence Socialist era, however, Nyerere maintained a ubstantial degree of religious freedom. 【Westerlund】
Westerlund, David."Freedom of religion under Socialist rule in Tanzania, 1961-1977, " Journal of Church and State Vol. 24, No. 1 (Winter 1982), pp. 87-103.
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