Celebrating 64th Independence Anniversary

DAR ES SALAAM: ON a warm December night in 1961, Tanganyika entered history as a new nation.

Thousands gathered in Dar es Salaam as the Union Jack was lowered and the green, black and yellow flag rose for the first time.

The celebrations swept across the capital, marking the end of British rule and the beginning of self-determination.

At the same moment, Lieutenant Alexander Nyirenda climbed Mount Kilimanjaro to light the Torch of Freedom at the summit—an act crafted to signal hope, dignity and unity.

For Julius Nyerere, then Prime Minister, the torch was a promise that independence would carry light beyond Tanzania’s borders.

Tanganyika’s path to this moment stretched back through decades of international oversight, from its days as part of German East Africa to its administration by Britain under League of Nations and later UN trusteeship.

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The rise of nationalism and the organisation of TANU turned that oversight into a march toward sovereignty.

Independence arrived on 9 December 1961 with Tanganyika briefly becoming a Commonwealth realm, but the young nation quickly moved to full republican status in 1962 with Nyerere as its first president.

The union with Zanzibar in 1964 reshaped the political landscape, laying the foundations for modern Tanzania.