Tabora is the capital of

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

Tabora Region Tabora Region (''Mkoa wa Tabora'' in Swahili language, Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative Regions of Tanzania, regions located in mid-western part of Tanzania. The regional capital is the municipality of Tabora. Tabora is bordered ...

and is classified as a municipality by the Tanzanian government. It is also the administrative seat of

Tabora Urban District Tabora Urban is one of the seven districts in the Tabora Region of Tanzania. This district is mostly the city of Tabora and its suburbs. It is bordered almost completely by the Uyui District. It has a small border with Nzega District to the nor ...

. According to the 2012 census, the district had a population of 226,999.

History

In the early 1830s, coastal traders increasingly settled in the region to take advantage of the ivory and slave caravan trade.

Swahili Swahili may refer to: * Swahili language, a Bantu language officially used in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda and widely spoken in the African Great Lakes. * Swahili people, an ethnic group in East Africa. * Swahili culture, the culture of the Swahili p ...

and

Omani Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

traders established Kazeh, near present-day Tabora, in the 1850s. By 1870, Tabora was home to a population of 5,000-10,000 people living in roughly fifty large square houses. These homes accommodated up to several hundred people each and had inner courtyards, adjacent garden plots, store rooms, servant quarters, and outbuildings for slaves. The town was surrounded by

Nyamwezi Nyamwezi may refer to: * Nyamwezi people, of Tanzania * Nyamwezi language Nyamwezi is a major Bantu language of central Tanzania. It forms a dialect continuum A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of Variety (linguistics), langu ...

villages, whose people provided produce and caravan labor. In this period the Sultan of Zanzibar appointed a representative there. It was part of the Kingdom of

Unyanyembe Unyanyembe is a town in Tanzania (formerly German East Africa) near Mwadui Airport in Shinyanga Region. It was one of the locations visited by Henry Morton Stanley during his search for Dr Livingstone. In the 19th-century it was the headquarters ...

. Tabora was a center of trade for traders from as far North as the

Buganda Kingdom Buganda is a Bantu kingdom within Uganda. The kingdom of the Baganda people, Buganda is the largest of the traditional kingdoms in present-day East Africa, consisting of Uganda's Central Region, including the Ugandan capital Kampala. The 14 m ...

. By August 1871, one-quarter of the town was burned when the forces of the Nyamwezi ruler

Mirambo Mtyela Kasanda (c. 1840–1884), better known as King Mirambo, was a Nyamwezi king, from 1860 to 1884. He created the largest state by area in 19th-century East Africa in present-day Urambo district in Tabora Region of Tanzania. Urambo district ...

sacked it. Although the

German East Africa German East Africa (GEA; ) was a German colonial empire, German colony in the African Great Lakes region, which included present-day Burundi, Rwanda, the Tanzania mainland, and the Kionga Triangle, a small region later incorporated into Portugu ...

protectorate was proclaimed over the region in 1885, as late as 1891 travellers reported it to be a lawless town. The German colonial administration did not gain control of it until later that year. As a major station on the Central Line, it became the most important administrative centre of central German East Africa. In 1916 the colonial garrison had an emergency mint at Tabora, making some gold pieces as well as large numbers of crude copper and brass

German East African rupie The was the currency of German East Africa between 1890 and 1916, continuing to circulate in the Tanganyika Territory until 1920. History The Indian rupee was the dominant currency used along the East African coast during the second half of the ...

minor coins,

Mint mark A mint mark is a letter, symbol or an inscription on a coin indicating the mint where the coin was produced. It is distinct from a mintmaster mark, the mark of the mintmaster. History Mint marks were first developed to locate a problem. If a co ...

ed with a "T". During the Tabora Offensive in the East African Campaign of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, colonial armed forces of the Belgian Congo (''Force Publique'') under the command of General

Charles Tombeur Lieutenant General Charles Tombeur, 1st Baron of Tabora (4 May 1867 – 2 December 1947) was a Belgian military officer and colonial civil servant. As well as holding several major administrative positions in the Belgian Congo, he is particularl ...

captured the town on 19 September 1916 after 10 days and nights of heavy fighting.

Socio-economic situation

Tabora and its people mainly rely on agricultural activities as either sustenance farmers or small-scale

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

farmers. Tabora also hosts a

ballast Ballast is dense material used as a weight to provide stability to a vehicle or structure. Ballast, other than cargo, may be placed in a vehicle, often a ship or the gondola of a balloon or airship, to provide stability. A compartment within ...

quarry. Water supply is managed by the Tabora Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Authority (Tuwasa), sourced from Igombe and Kazima Dams. The Igombe River is a tributary of the

Malagarasi River The Malagarasi River is a river in western Tanzania, flowing through Kigoma Region, although one of its tributaries comes from southeastern Burundi. The river also forms the western border of Tabora Region, the southern border of Kagera Region and ...

and the Malagarasi-Muyovozi Wetlands.

Food and culture

Tabora's streets are lined with century-old mango trees planted by Omani traders. Tabora is known as the fruit capital of Western Tanzania, and markets are often filled with local produce. Tabora has many small local restaurants offering typical Tanzanian restaurant food like Ugali (a thick maize porridge), chips, or rice with beans, beef or chicken. For breakfast or lunch, there is usually chipsi-mayai (chips and egg), which is basically a couple of eggs fried together with some chips. Although the food is bland, it is usually served with Tanzanian chili sauce, which gives the meal some character. A local specialty is pumpkin in peanut butter sauce. This goes with the rice pilau served widely throughout the region. For snacks there are local sambusa (samosa), some goat meat on a stick or some freshly roasted corn of the cob, all widely available in Tabora. There is a choice of fruit in the large regional market of Tabora, including pineapples, watermelons, and bananas.

Climate

Tabora has a

tropical savanna climate Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry "winter") and ''As'' (for a dry "summer"). The driest month has less than ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''Aw'') with two seasons of approximately equal length. The

wet season The wet season (sometimes called the rainy season or monsoon season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. Generally, the season lasts at least one month. The term ''green season'' is also sometimes used a ...

is from November to April and is followed by a

dry season The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The t ...

from May to October.

Transport

Tabora is small enough to walk from one side of town to the other. Bicycle taxis, motorbike taxis and regular taxis are available.

Road links

Tabora at the moment is served by mostly paved road T18 from

Singida Region Singida Region (''Mkoa wa Singida'' in Swahili language, Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative Regions of Tanzania, regions. The region covers a land area of . The region is comparable in size to the combined land area of the nation sta ...

Kigoma Kigoma is a city and lake port in Kigoma-Ujiji District in Tanzania, on the northeastern shores of Lake Tanganyika and close to the border with Burundi and The Democratic Republic of the Congo. It serves as the capital for the surrounding Kigoma ...

and partly unpaved road T8 from

Mbeya Mbeya is a city located in south west Tanzania, Africa, with an urban population of 649,000 in 2023. Mbeya is the capital of the surrounding rural Mbeya Region, Mbeya region (population, with Mbeya, totals approx. 2 million). Mbeya is situated a ...

Mwanza Mwanza City, also known as Rock City to the residents, is a port city and capital of Mwanza Region on the southern shore of Lake Victoria in north-western Tanzania. With an urban population of 1,104,521 and a population of 3,699,872 in the region ...

passing through the district. Salt flats to the west prevent a direct road from connecting to

. In January 2013, the Tanzanian government announced the commencement of work to upgrade to tarmac level the Tabora-

Urambo Urambo is one of the seven districts of the Tabora Region of Tanzania. It is bordered to the north by the Kaliua District, to the east by the Uyui District, to the southeast by the Sikonge District, and to the southwest by the Katavi Region. It ...

road and the Nyahua-Tabora- Ndono road. In December 2012, Prime Minister

Mizengo Pinda Mizengo Kayanza Peter Pinda (born 12 August 1948) is a Tanzanian CCM politician who was the 11th prime minister of Tanzania from 2008 to 2015. He was a Member of Parliament from 2000 to 2015. Life and career Pinda was born in the former nort ...

stated the Tanzanian government's intent to upgrade the Tabora- Inyonga-

Mpanda Mpanda is a city in Katavi Region of Tanzania, East Africa with a postcode number 50100. It is the administrative centre of Katavi Region, Mpanda District and is itself one of the four districts of the region. Mpanda is a "frontier town" in t ...

road to tarmac level before 2015. In August 2011, Deputy Minister for Works Harrison Mwakyembe told the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

that the government had begun to tarmac the Tabora- Puge-

Nzega Nzega is a city in central Tanzania. It is the district headquarter of Nzega District. Transport Paved Trunk roads T3 from Morogoro to the Rwanda border and T8 from Tabora to Mwanza Mwanza City, also known as Rock City to the residents, is a ...

road.

Railway links

Tabora is served and is a junction on the Central railway line, which goes east to

Dar es Salaam Dar es Salaam (, ; from ) is the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania. It is also the capital of the Dar es Salaam Region. With a population of over 7 million people, Dar es Salaam is the largest city in East Africa by population and the ...

, west to

on to the

Lake Tanganyika Lake Tanganyika ( ; ) is an African Great Lakes, African Great Lake. It is the world's List of lakes by volume, second-largest freshwater lake by volume and the List of lakes by depth, second deepest, in both cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. ...

and north to the port of Mwanza on

Lake Victoria Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. With a surface area of approximately , Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake by area, the world's largest tropics, tropical lake, and the world's second-largest fresh water lake by surface are ...

. Trains leave three times a week in any direction. In 2017, a new station on the

standard gauge railway A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...

is proposed.

Airport

Tabora is served by the Tabora Airport which is located 7 kilometers south of the centre of town. Renovation of the airport was completed in 2015.

Precision Air Precision Air Services Plc (operating as Precision Air; Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange, DSE:PAL) is a List of airlines of Tanzania, Tanzanian airline based at Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam. The airline operates scheduled pa ...

started flying to the airport three times a week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, east from

Julius Nyerere International Airport Julius Nyerere International Airport is the international airport of Dar es Salaam, the largest city in Tanzania. It is located in Kipawa ward of Ilala District in Dar es Salaam Region of Tanzania. The airport has flights to destinations in ...

and west from

Education

Tabora is home to a number of educational institutions, including:

Tabora Girls Secondary School

A public boarding school located in Tabora,

. It was established in 1928 by the British Colonial rulers. It is one of the oldest girls only school in Tanzania. The school was originally established to educate the daughters of local chiefs as prospective wives of other chiefs sons who were also educated around the same area at Tabora Boys Secondary School. The school has produced students who were among the first women leaders in the country, such as Anna Abdallah one of the first woman district commissioners, Julie Manning the first woman to study law in Tanzania, Getrude Mongella the first President of the Pan-African Parliament.

Tabora Boys Secondary School

A public school in Tanzania founded in 1922. The school was established to educate sons of African Chiefs and wealthy tribesmen. The school first followed a tribal structure where students were assigned to dormitories based on their tribe, and received education on their respective tribal customs. In its early days the school was considered the 'Eton of Tanganyika'. The first self-government cabinet in 1961 had eight ministers whose five were all from Tabora Boys. Among the famous people who studied at this school are Rashidi Kawawa and the father of the Tanzanian nation, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere.