Timeline: Tanzania

A chronology of key events:

1498 - Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama visits Tanzanian coast.

Tanzania is home to Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest peak 2005: The last snows of Kilimanjaro 2005: Neighbours row over Kilimanjaro

1506 - Portuguese succeed in controlling most of the East African coast.

1699 - Portuguese ousted from Zanzibar by Omani Arabs.

1884 - German Colonisation Society begins to acquire territory on the mainland.

1886 - Britain and Germany sign an agreement allowing Germany to set up a sphere of influence over mainland Tanzania, except for a narrow piece of territory along the coast which stays under the authority of the sultan of Zanzibar, while Britain enjoys a protectorate over Zanzibar.

1905-06 - Indigenous Maji Maji revolt suppressed by German troops.

British rule

1916 - British, Belgian and South African troops occupy most of German East Africa.

1919 - League of Nations gives Britain a mandate over Tanganyika - today's mainland Tanzania.

1929 - Tanganyika African Association founded.

1946 - United Nations converts British mandate over Tanganyika into a trusteeship.

1954 - Julius Nyerere and Oscar Kambona transform the Tanganyika African Association into the Tanganyika African National Union.

Independence

1961 - Tanganyika becomes independent with Julius Nyerere as prime minister.

1962 - Tanganyika becomes a republic with Nyerere as president.

First president Julius Nyerere; a political force until his death 1999: Julius Nyerere - The conscience of Africa 2000: Tanzania after Nyerere

1963 - Zanzibar becomes independent.

1964 - Sultanate of Zanzibar overthrown by Afro-Shirazi Party in a violent, left-wing revolution; Tanganyika and Zanzibar merge to become Tanzania, with Nyerere as president and the head of the Zanzibar government and leader of the Afro-Shirazi Party, Abeid Amani Karume, as vice-president.

1967 - Nyerere issues the Arusha Declaration, which calls for egalitarianism, socialism and self-reliance.

1977 - The Tanganyika African National Union and Zanzibar's Afro-Shirazi Party merge to become the Party of the Revolution, which is proclaimed as the only legal party.

1978 - Ugandans temporarily occupy a piece of Tanzanian territory.

1979 - Tanzanian forces invade Uganda, occupying the capital, Kampala, and help to oust President Idi Amin.

Multi-party politics

1985 - Nyerere retires and is replaced by the president of Zanzibar, Ali Mwinyi.

Tanzania's exports pass through Dar es Salaam's port Founded in 1862 by sultan of Zanzibar Capital of German East Africa, 1891-1916 Capital of Tanzania 1964-74 Population: 2.3 million

1992 - Constitution amended to allow multi-party politics.

1995 - Benjamin Mkapa chosen as president in Tanzania's first multi-party election.

1999 October - Julius Nyerere dies.

2000 - Mkapa elected for a second term, winning 72% of the vote.

2001 26 January - Tanzanian police shoot dead two people in Zanzibar while raiding the offices in Zanzibar town of the Civic United Front (CUF) party.

CUF chairman Ibrahim Lipumba charged with unlawful assembly and disturbing the peace.

Zanzibar violence

2001 27-28 January - At least 31 people are killed and another 100 arrested in Zanzibar in protests against the government's banning of opposition rallies calling for fresh elections; Tanzanian government sends in troop reinforcements.

Semi-autonomous Zanzibar saw revolution in 1964 Profile: Zanzibar 2004: Zanzibar marks 40th anniversary 2004: Tourism 'bypasses' Zanzibar's locals

2001 March - Tanzanian governing party, Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), and main opposition in Zanzibar, CUF, agree to form joint committee to restore calm and to encourage return of refugees from Kenya.

2001 April - Tens of thousands of opposition supporters march through the commercial capital, Dar-es-Salaam, in the first major joint demonstration by opposition parties in decades.

2001 July - Huge new gold mine, Bulyanhulu, opens near northern town of Mwanza, making Tanzania Africa's third largest producer of gold.

2001 November - Presidents of Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya launch regional parliament and court of justice in Arusha to legislate on matters of common interest such as trade and immigration.

President Mkapa, lauded for promoting a free-market economy

2001 December - Britain approves controversial deal to sell military air traffic control system to Tanzania. Critics say it is a waste of money.

2002 June - Nearly 300 killed in Tanzania's worst train disaster after passenger train loses power and rolls into freight train at high speed.

2002 August - Opposition criticises president for ordering presidential jet costing $21m (£14m).

2005 March-April - Political violence in semi-autonomous Zanzibar ahead of voter registration for October poll.

2005 October - Governing CCM wins Zanzibar elections.

2005 December - Jakaya Kikwete, foreign minister and ruling CCM candidate, wins presidential elections. He replaces Benjamin Mkapa, who retires after a decade at the helm.

NEW GENUS IDENTIFIED The Kipunji - a new genus of monkey discovered in Tanzania Monkey goes up a notch

2006 April - High Court outlaws traditional practice of entertaining candidates during elections. Critics of "Takrima" - the giving of tips - said it encouraged corruption.

2006 June - Visiting Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, on his seven-nation African tour to secure energy deals and strengthen economic ties, signs agreements to help Tanzania's health, transport and communications sectors.

2006 August - The African Development Bank announces the cancellation of more than $640m of debt owed by Tanzania, saying it was impressed with Tanzania's economic record and the level of accountability of public finance.

2007 January - Britain's Serious Fraud Office visits Tanzania to probe the controversial purchase of an air traffic control system in 2001. A British paper reports that the British defence company, BAE Systems, allegedly paid a Tanzanian middleman a commission of $12m to win the order.

2007 July - Former US president Bill Clinton launches a programme aimed at making subsidised malaria drugs available in a pilot scheme that could spread to the rest of Africa.

2008 January - Central Bank Governor Daudi Ballali is sacked after an international audit finds the bank made improper payments of more than $120m (£60m) to local companies.

2008 February - President dissolves his cabinet following a corruption scandal which forced the premier and two ministers to resign.