Julius Nyerere

Who was Julius Nyerere?

Julius Kambarage Nyerere was a Tanzanian politician who served as the first President of Tanzania and previously Tanganyika, from the country's founding in 1961 until his retirement in 1985.

Born in Tanganyika to Nyerere Burito, Chief of the Zanaki, Nyerere was known by the Swahili honorific Mwalimu or 'teacher', his profession prior to politics. He was also referred to as Baba wa Taifa. Nyerere received his higher education at Makerere University in Kampala and the University of Edinburgh. After he returned to Tanganyika, he worked as a teacher. In 1954, he helped form the Tanganyika African National Union.

In 1961 on independence, Nyerere was elected Tanganyika's first Prime Minister, and following the declaration of a republic in 1962, the country's first President. In 1964, Tanganyika became politically united with Zanzibar and was renamed Tanzania. In 1965, a one-party election returned Nyerere to power. During the first years, Nyerere created a single-party system and used "preventive detention" to eliminate trade unions and opposition.

In 1967, influenced by the ideas of African socialism, Nyerere issued the Arusha Declaration, which outlined his vision of ujamaa, a concept that came to dominate his policies. However, his policies led to economic decline, systematic corruption, and unavailability of goods. In the early 1970s, Nyerere ordered his security forces to forcibly transfer much of the population to collective farms and, because of opposition from villagers, often burned villages down. This campaign pushed the nation to the brink of starvation and made it dependent on foreign food aid.