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The name Tanzania is a merger of the states of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, which united in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, and later the same year, as United Republic of Tanzania.
Waves of migration formed the nation that is now Tanzania—from the first men, the Australopithecines, homo habilis and homo erectus that were discovered in the country—to the Germans, Britons, Chinese and African neighbors who came to the land either as captors or as escapees from the turmoil in their respective countries.
From the 1880s to 1919, Tanzania was a German colony. The Germans built railroads and schools in the country but would not let Tanzanians ride in the railroads or go to German schools.
After World War I, the League of Nations assigned the country under British Imperial rule. A former school teacher and intellectual, Julius Nyerere, became minister of the British-governed Tanganyika and later became prime minister as he championed the country's transition to a peaceful independence in 1961.
Soon after independence, Nyerere ushered the Arusha Declaration, an experiment that codified the country's commitment to Pan-African Socialism, which aimed for social solidarity, collective sacrifice, and ujamaa or "familyhood."The declaration includes nationalization of all banks and major industries.
The leftist Zanzibar Revolution overthrew the last sultan in neighboring Zanzibar, making the island merge with Tanganyika on 1964.
After inflation hit in the late ‘70s, Tanzania allied with Communist China to get funds for its socialist endeavors. The Chinese agreed to help, in the condition that it exports its laborers to Tanzania. This caused displacement of Tanzania's farmers and in turn, massive starvation.
To answer the country's dilemmas of extreme poverty and social injustice, the government agreed to accept conditional loans from the International Monetary Fund. A huge "Structural Adjustment" occurred, making the country deregulate financial and agricultural sectors.
Although Tanzania's Gross Domestic Product steadily rises from economic activities such as tourism, poverty persists and living conditions continue to fall. To provide assistance, volunteers from all around the world constantly arrive at Tanzania to help in areas such as education and healthcare.