Witness History
Witness History
Tanzania adopts Swahili to unite the country
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November 30, 2023
10 minutes
Available for over a year
After Tanzania, then called Tanganyika, became independent from Britain in 1961, the country's leader, Julius Nyerere, made Swahili the national language to unite its people.
Walter Bgoya tells Ben Henderson about his conversations with Nyerere and how the policy changed Tanzania.
(Photo: Julius Nyerere. Credit: Keystone via Getty Images)