(Arabic. “haven of peace”), the capital of the United Republic of Tanzania. Political, economic, and cultural center of the country. Located on the shore of the Indian Ocean. The climate is subequatorial; the mean August temperature is about 23°C, the mean January temperature about 28°C. Precipitation amounts to approximately 1,500 mm annually. Population. 272,800 (1967; 128,000 in 1957). Populated primarily by peoples of the Eastern Bantu group.
Dar-es-Salaam was founded in 1862 by the sultan of Zanzibar on the site of the fishing village of Mzizima. In 1887 it was seized by the German East Africa Company and became the administrative center of German East Africa in 1891. In 1916 the city was captured by British troops, and from 1919 to 1961 it was the center of the British colonial administration of Tanganyika. In 1961 it became the capital of the independent state of Tanganyika, and since 1964 it has been the capital of Tanzania.
Dar-es-Salaam is a center of processing industry. It has meat-packing, tobacco, flour-milling, brewery, and other enterprises, most of which in 1967 had become the property of the state or were controlled by it (51 percent of the shares). The city produces varnishes, paints, furniture, and metal tares. It has a fishing industry. Small craft are built here. It is the country’s principal seaport (with a cargo turnover of 600,000–700.000 tons a year). Two-thirds of the country’s exports (sisal hemp, cotton, peanuts, hides, gold, and diamonds) and copper from the Republic of Zaire pass through the port. Dar-es-Salaam is connected by railroad with the town of Kigoma on Lake Tanganyika. It is a highway terminal and has an international airport. An oil pipeline from Dar-es-Salaam to Zambia was completed in 1968.
Dar-es-Salaam is the site of a university, a college for training administrative personnel, technical and medical colleges, a school of business, and scholarly institutions carrying on research in forestry, the literature of East Africa, the Swahili language, and other areas. Dar-es-Salaam also has the Little Theater, the National Museum of Tanzania, and a botanical garden.