Sign-In
Cart
Quest for African Unity: The Union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar
Paperback
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: May 31 2026
Pages: 350
Weight: 1.03
Height: 0.73 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Godfrey Mwakikagile looks at the union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar engineered by President Julius Nyerere as a step towards regional federation after the three leaders of Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika - Jomo Kenyatta, Milton Obote and Julius Nyerere - failed to form one in 1963.
At a meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, in June 1963, they signed a declaration stating that they would form a federation before the end of the year. After failing to do so, Nyerere went on to unite Tanganyika and Zanzibar four months later in April 1964 to form Tanzania. He described the union as a step towards unity on a regional and continental basis. As he put it: If two countries can unite, then three can; if three can, then thirty can.
The union has faced some problems since it was formed more than 60 years ago, which should serve as a warning and a lesson to other countries on what they should and should not do when they want to unite.
The union is not a blueprint for regional federation. Different countries in different parts of Africa have different problems. But it is an eye opener, hence somewhat of a guide, for other countries to be on guard against some of the pitfalls they may encounter in their quest for unity. Therefore, it is a step in the right direction towards greater unity on the continent of weak states, many of them nonviable because of their weakness as separate entities.
The work also raises some fundamental questions on why other countries have failed to unite, and why the union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar is the only union of independent states ever formed on the continent since the end of colonial rule more than 60 years ago.
One main reason is that they have not even tried to unite, although some of them have: Ghana and Guinea when Kwame Nkrumah and Sekou Toure formed the Ghana-Guinea Union, and when Modibo Keita joined them later to form the Ghana-Guinea-Mali Union, even though it was more symbolic than functional. But at least they tried. And there was the confederation of Senegambia formed by Senegal and Gambia that also collapsed.
So, the question still remains: Why is it so hard for African countries to unite? If it is impossible for them to unite because they don't want to lose their sovereignities, how was it possible for Tanganyika and Zanzibar to unite?
Those are some of the questions Mwakikagile has addressed in his book, one of the important works that address problems of unity on the continent and why there is still an imperative need for continental unification as advocated by Nkrumah more than 60 years ago when he exhorted his colleagues to unite their countries under one government before it was too late, a subject he addressed in his book Africa Must Unite.
It is even more urgent now in this era of globalisation when Africa has become a prized possession for world powers and other industrialised countries competing for its natural resources including land as millions of Africans become landless in their own countries because of land grabs that go unchecked even under their own governments which should be the first to protect their own people from predators coming from outside to exploit the continent.
Yet, there is hope. As Nyerere said when Tanganyika united with Zanzibar more than 60 years ago: If two countries can unite, then three can; if three can, then thirty can.
Therein lies hope for Africa. The union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar should serve as an inspiration for people in other countries across the continent and give them hope that African countries can indeed unite if there is a will to do so, echoing Nkrumah's clarion call more than 60 years ago, Africa Must Unite.
Also from
Mwakikagile, Godfrey
Life under British Colonial Rule: Recollections of an African and a British Admi
Mwakikagile, Godfrey
Paperback
The Union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar: Formation of Tanzania and its Challenges
Mwakikagile, Godfrey
Paperback
Identity Politics and Ethnic Conflicts in Rwanda and Burundi: A Comparative Study
Mwakikagile, Godfrey
Paperback
Burundi: The Hutu and The Tutsi: Cauldron of Conflict and Quest for Dynamic Compromise
Mwakikagile, Godfrey
Paperback
The Union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar: Formation of Tanzania and its Challenges
Mwakikagile, Godfrey
Paperback
Also in
African History
Mountain Farmers: Moral Economies of Land & Agricultural Development in Arusha & Meru
Spear, Thomas
Paperback
Days of Miracle and Wonder: Paul Simon and the Trials and Triumphs of Graceland
Kahn, Ashley
Hardcover
King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa
Hochschild, Adam
Paperback
We Are Heirs of the World's Revolutions: Speeches from the Burkina Faso Revolution 1983-87
Sankara, Thomas
Paperback
Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War
French, Howard W.
Paperback
Slow Poison: IDI Amin, Yoweri Museveni, and the Making of the Ugandan State
Mamdani, Mahmood
Hardcover
The Second Emancipation: Nkrumah, Pan-Africanism, and Global Blackness at High Tide
French, Howard W.
Hardcover
Sufferings in Africa: The Astonishing Account of a New England Sea Captain Enslaved by North African Arabs
Riley, James
Paperback
The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit: A Jewish Family's Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World
Lagnado, Lucette
Paperback
A Human Being Died That Night: A South African Woman Confronts the Legacy of Apartheid
Gobodo-Madikizela, Pumla
Paperback
River of the Gods: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile
Millard, Candice
Paperback
Seeking Sexual Freedom: African Rites, Rituals, and Sankofa in the Bedroom
Sekyiamah, Nana Darkoa
Hardcover
Mirror to the Church: Resurrecting Faith After Genocide in Rwanda
Katongole, Emmanuel M.
Wilson-Hartgrove, Jonathan
Paperback
Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill
Millard, Candice
Paperback
When The World Was Black, Part One: The Untold History of the World's First Civilizations Prehistoric Culture
Understanding, Supreme
Hardcover
The Golden Trade of the Moors: West African Kingdoms in the Fourteenth Century
Bovill, E. W.
Bovill, Edward W.
Paperback
Mdw Dtr: Divine Speech: A Historiographical Reflection of African Deep Thought from the Time of the Pharaohs to the Present Paperback
Carruthers, Jacob H.
Paperback
Jews Under Moroccan Skies: Two Thousand Years of Jewish Life
Ricketts, George
Elmaleh, Rapha'el
Paperback
We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families: Stories from Rwanda
Gourevitch, Philip
Paperback
Ancient African Empires: An Enthralling Guide to the Major Kingdoms and Civilizations of Africa
Wellman, Billy
Hardcover
Politically Unconscious: The Psychic Aftermath of the Sudanese Revolution
Khougali, Mohamed
Paperback
The Lumumba Plot: The Secret History of the CIA and a Cold War Assassination
Reid, Stuart A.
Paperback
Cuba and the Independence War in Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde: The Fall of the Last Colonial Empire in Africa
Dreke, Victor
Paperback
Another Man's War: The True Story of One Man's Battle to Save Children in the Sudan
Childers, Sam
Paperback
Nuer: A Description of the Modes of Livelihood and Political Institutions of a Nilotic People
Evans-Pritchard, E. E.
Hardcover
Kaffir Boy: The True Story of a Black Youths Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa
Mathabane, Mark
Paperback
Hidden Treasures of the Ethiopian Bible in English Complete: Uncovering the Secrets of the Deuterocanonical Apocrypha, Enoch, and Lost Writings
Thornfield, Alexander J.
Paperback
Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War
French, Howard W.
Hardcover
Algiers, Third World Capital: Freedom Fighters, Revolutionaries, Black Panthers
Mokhtefi, Elaine
Paperback
Country of My Skull: Guilt, Sorrow, and the Limits of Forgiveness in the New South Africa
Krog, Antjie
Paperback
Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa
Stearns, Jason K.
Paperback
Pan-Africanism and Communism: The Communist International, Africa, and the Diaspora, 1919-1939
Adi, Hakim
Paperback
Scapegoats of the Empire: The True Story of Breaker Morant's Bushveldt Carbineers
Witton, Edward
Paperback
Three Sips of Gin: Dominating the Battlespace with Rhodesia's Famed Selous Scouts
Bax, Timothy
Paperback
World History: A Visual Journey From The Dawn Of Civilization To The 21st Century
Alive, History Brought
Paperback
By Flesh and Toil: How Sex, Race, and Labor Shaped the Early French Empire
Lamotte, Mélanie
Hardcover
A School for My Village: A Promise to the Orphans of Nyaka
Kaguri, Twesigye Jackson
Linville, Susan Urbanek
Paperback
In the Company of Heroes: The Personal Story Behind Black Hawk Down
Durant, Michael J.
Hartov, Steven
Paperback
African Saints Saints, Martyrs, and Holy People from the Continent of Africa
Quinn, Frederick
Paperback
They Poured Fire on Us from the Sky: The True Story of Three Lost Boys from Sudan
Deng, Alephonsion
Deng, Benson
Ajak, Benjamin
Paperback
World History, Volume 2: from 1400 (paperback, b&w)
Nelson, Brooke
Kordas, Ann
Lynch, Ryan J.
Paperback
When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism, and the Genocide in Rwanda
Mamdani, Mahmood
Paperback
This Child Will Be Great: Memoir of a Remarkable Life by Africa's First Woman President
Sirleaf, Ellen Johnson
Paperback
Operation Legacy and Other Stories: Graphic Histories from Africa
Getz, Trevor R.
Diptée, Audra A.
Paperback
When The World Was Black, Part One: The Untold History of the World's First Civilizations Prehistoric Culture
Understanding, Supreme
Paperback
African History: Explore The Amazing Timeline of The World's Richest Continent - The History, Culture, Folklore, Mythology & More of Africa
Brought Alive, History
Paperback
Mythology: Captivating Greek, Egyptian, Norse Celtic and Roman Myths of Gods, Goddesses, Heroes, and Monsters
Clayton, Matt
Hardcover
When the World was Black Part Two: The Untold History of the World's First Civilizations Ancient Civilizations
Understanding, Supreme
Paperback
The Kebra Nagast: King Solomon, The Queen of Sheba & Her Only Son Menyelek - Ethiopian Legends and Bible Folklore
Budge, E. a. Wallis
Paperback
People in Motion: Flexible States and Porous Boundaries in the History of Coastal West Africa
Barnes, Sandra T.
Hardcover
Nineveh and Its Remains: With an account of a visit to the Chaldæan Christians of Kurdistan, and the Yezidis, or devil-worshippers; and an enqu
Layard, Austen Henry
Paperback
The Heretic of Cacheu: Crispina Peres and the Struggle Over Life in Seventeenth-Century West Africa
Green, Toby
Hardcover
Ripples from the Zambezi: Passion, Entrepreneurship, and the Rebirth of Local Economies
Sirolli, Ernesto
Paperback
The Kingdom of God in Africa: A History of African Christianity
Gitau, Wanjiru M.
Shaw, Mark
Paperback
Lessons From the Rhodesian Bush War: A Study in Survival, Rural Defense, and Collapse
Shift, Don
Paperback
When the World Was Black Part Two: The Untold History of the World's First Civilizations - Ancient Civilizations
Understanding, Supreme
Hardcover
Red Rubber: King Leopold II's Regime; the Belgian Slave Trade in the Congo over Twenty Years, 1890-1910
Morel, Edmund Dene
Paperback
THE END OF NORMAL - A Witness to the Unravelling of White Power in South Africa
Du Preez, Max
Paperback