Dar es Salaam

Dar es Salaam (pop. 1,400,000), former capital and largest city of Tanzania. Located on a natural harbor of the Indian Ocean, it is also Tanzania's main port and economic center. Founded by the Sultan of Zanzibar in 1866, Dar-es-Salaam, which means “House of Peace” in Arabic and Swahili, became the capital of German East Africa in 1891 and of the British Colony of Tanganyika after World War I. Tanganyika won independence in 1961, and merged with newly independent Zanzibar in 1964 to form the new state of Tanzania.

See also: Tanzania.