Dar es Salaam (/ˌdɑːr ɛs səˈlɑːm/; from Arabic: دار السلام, romanized: Dār as-Salām, lit. 'Place of Peace') is the largest city and former capital of Tanzania. With over six million people, it is the largest city in East Africa and the fifth-largest in Africa. On the Swahili coast, Dar es Salaam is an important economic centre and one of the fastest-growing cities in the world.[2]
The town was founded by the first Sultan of Zanzibar in 1865 or 1866. It was the main administrative and commercial center of German East Africa, Tanganyika, and Tanzania. The decision was made in 1974 to move the capital to Dodoma and was officially completed in 1996.[3]
Dar es Salaam is Tanzania's most prominent city for the arts, fashion, media, music, film, and television, as well as serving as its leading financial centre. It is the capital of the co-extensive Dar es Salaam Region, one of Tanzania's 31 administrative regions, and consists of five districts: Kinondoni in the north; Ilala in the centre; Ubungo and Temeke in the south; and Kigamboni in the east across the Kurasini estuary.
