Tanganyika | ||||||||||
League of Nations Mandate from 20 July 1922 until 18 April 1946 and thereafter United Nations trust territory until 9 December 1961 | ||||||||||
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Anthem God Save the King/Queen |
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Capital | Dar es Salaam | |||||||||
Languages | English | |||||||||
Government | Constitutional monarchy | |||||||||
Monarch | ||||||||||
• | 1922–1936 | George V | ||||||||
• | 1936 | Edward VIII | ||||||||
• | 1936–1952 | George VI | ||||||||
• | 1952–1961 | Elizabeth II | ||||||||
Governor | ||||||||||
• | 1922–1925 | Sir Horace Archer Byatt | ||||||||
• | 1925–1931 | Sir Donald Charles Cameron | ||||||||
• | 1931–1934 | Sir George Stewart Symes | ||||||||
• | 1934–1938 | Sir Harold MacMichael | ||||||||
• | 1938–1941 | Sir Mark Aitchison Young | ||||||||
Historical era | 20th century | |||||||||
• | Established | 20 July 1922 | ||||||||
• | Disestablished | 9 December 1961 | ||||||||
Currency | East African shilling | |||||||||
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Today part of | Tanzania |
Tanganyika was a territory administered by the United Kingdom from 1916 until 1961. The UK initially administered the territory as an occupying power with the Royal Navy and British Indian infantry seizing the territory from the Germans in 1916. From 20 July 1922, British administration was formalised by Tanganyika being created a British League of Nations mandate. From 1946, it was administered by the UK as a United Nations trust territory.
Before the end of the First World War the territory was part of the German colony of German East Africa. After the war had broken out, the British invaded German East Africa, but were unable to defeat the German Army. The German leader in the African Great Lakes, Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck did not surrender until the German Empire had collapsed. After this the League of Nations gave control of the area to the United Kingdom who named their part of the earlier German area Tanganyika. The United Kingdom held Tanganyika as a League of Nations mandate until the end of the Second World War after which it was held as a United Nations trust territory. In 1961, Tanganyika gained its independence from the United Kingdom as Tanganyika, a Commonwealth realm. It became a republic a year later but stayed in the Commonwealth of Nations. Tanganyika now forms part of the modern-day state of Tanzania.
The name "Tanganyika" is derived from the Swahili words tanga ("sail") and nyika ("uninhabited plain", "wilderness"). It might, therefore, be understood as a description of using Lake Tanganyika: "sail in the wilderness".