Dar es salam.

Mnazi Mmoja is the site of the Uhuru Torch monument commemorating freedom from colonial rule, and the Jamhuri fountain marking the occasion when Tanganyika became a Republic. Dar es Salaam was a simple fishing village in the midst of 19th Century, among other small villages along the East African coast.

During that time Sultan Sayyid Majid of Zanzibar developed the inland harbor into a port and trading centre and named that place, DARUSSALAAM meaning “Haven of Peace”. Before development of the harbor gathered momentum, the Sultan died and the progress made, resided almost to Zero and overshadowed by Bagamoyo, and important dhow port to the north.

By 1880’s Dar es Salaam started gathering new significance as a station for Christian missionaries arriving from Zanzibar and as new station for German colonial government, which thought Dar es Salaam’s protected harbor as a better alternative for steamships than dhow port in Bagamoyo. Eventually the German colonial administration was officially moved from Bagamoyo to Dar es Salaam in 1891.

Suki Shah’s St. Peter’s Catholic Church (1962) was one of the most striking in its modernity, the University of Dar es Salaam, with its array of imaginative architecture, opened in 1964 and the Kilimanjaro Hotel (1965) now the Kilimanjaro Kempinski was built by the Israelis.

Thereafter Dar es Salaam has remained Tanzania’s undoubtedly political and economic capital despite the fact that the legislature and some government offices were transferred to the country’s capital city of Dodoma in 1973. Village Museum can be found at the junction of Bagamoyo Road and Makaburini Street about 10 km northwest of the Dar es Salaam city centre. It houses a collection of authentically constructed dwellings from various parts of Tanzania each with adequate explanation in English.

Traditional music and dance performances are also held here. The Azania Front Lutheran Church is an important building to visit located near the Indian Ocean and the old post office was built on turn of 20th century but the German Missionaries and used up todate.

National Museum is along Shaban Robert Street, next to the Botanical Gardens between Samora Avenue and Sokoine drive. It is a home of important archaeological pieces, noticeably the fossil discoveries of “Zinjanthropus” from Oldupai Gorge and a number of scattered displays on various topics such as the Shiraz civilization of Kilwa, the Zanzibar slave trade and the German and British colonial periods.