Climate

Due to close proximity to the equator and the warm Indian Ocean, the city experiences tropical climatic conditions similar to all Tanzanian coastal cities. The city experiences hot and humid weather throughout much of the year and has a tropical wet and dry climate (Köppen: Aw). Annual rainfall is approximately 1,290 mm (51 in), and in a normal year there are two rainy seasons: "the long rains" in April and May and "the short rains" in November and December.^[2]

Infrastructure

The Tanga airport arrivals lounge.

A ship anchored in the Tanga Bay.

Early history

The first communities that called Tanga home were the Digo peoples and the Swahili states of the 11th to 16th Centuries. However, the earliest documentation about Tanga comes from the Portuguese. During their disruption of the previous trading links Tanga settlement remained a small trading post for the colonists during their occupation of the East African coast for 200 years between 1500 and 1700 when they were ousted by the Omani.^[9] The Sultanate of Oman battled the Portuguese and gained control of the settlement by mid-1700 along with Mombasa, Pemba Island and Kilwa Kisiwani.^[10] The town continued to act as a trading port for ivory and slaves under the sultan's rule.^[11] Tanga continued to be a prosperous trading hub for slaves with the Arab world up until 1873 when the European powers invaded and occupied thus abolishing the slave trade that was no longer serving the colonial powers.^[10]

Tanga under German East Africa

Der Hafen von Tanga um 1914. Illustrierte Geschichte des Weltkrieges 1914-15

Usambara Street in Tanga between 1906 and 1918.

In the 19th Century, growing interests by Europeans for the Scramble for Africa brought the Germans to Tanga. The Germans bought the coastal strip of mainland Tanzania from the Sultan of Zanzibar in 1891. This takeover designated Tanga into a township and was the first establishment in German East Africa.^[12] The town became the centre of German colonial administration before the establishment of Dar es Salaam in the early 20th century.

Tanga was chosen in 1889 as a military post of German East Africa, and it became a district office in 1891. The town saw rapid expansion and planned growth under the German occupation. A tram line was built in the city for domestic transport and a port was also built for exports. In 1896 the construction of the Usambara Railway began and was extended to Moshi by 1912. Roads, bridges and the railway enabled industrial growth in the region and many buildings and bridges that are still in operation today in the town are from the German colonial period. The local economy was based mainly on the production of sisal, which had been brought to the colony several years earlier, and population in the area grew rapidly.^[13]

Tanga under British occupation

As the coastal town closest to British East Africa, Tanga was on the front line of the East African campaign at the beginning of World War I. On 4 November 1914 a landing by British and Empire forces was repelled in the Battle of Tanga.^[14] On 13 June 1916 the Royal Navy battleship HMS Vengeance and protected cruisers Challenger and Pioneer bombarded Tanga. On 7 July the protected cruiser HMS Talbot and monitor Severn entered Manza Bay^[15] and put troops ashore who occupied the town.^[16] After the War, Britain gained control of Tanganyika and continued to develop Tanga and exploit its agricultural potential. In 1919 Tanga was the country's fourth largest city, but at independence it was the second largest city after Dar es Salaam.

Post-independence

In the early stages of independence, the Port of Tanga continued to be a gateway for the export of sisal from the region. However, following the adopting of the Ujamaa policy, global prices in sisal dwindling, the production that served the city's factories closed and the city lost its main source of income. With the government controlling the agriculture trade and the depreciation in the world prices of sisal the port began to lose revenue.^[17]