What is the official capital of Tanzania?

The official capital of Tanzania is Dodoma. Located near the centre of the country, Dodoma is the national administrative capital, while Dar es Salaam remains Tanzania's largest commercial and maritime centre.

In 1974, Tanzania announced that it would move the capital from Dar es Salaam to Dodoma. The central location was intended to spread development inland, reduce the dominance of the coastal metropolis and place the government closer to more regions of the country. Dodoma was formally designated the capital in the 1990s, although the transfer of ministries and state institutions took many years.

Dodoma began as a small market settlement known as Idodomya and expanded during German colonial railway construction in the early twentieth century. Its later capital plan was influenced by the idea of an accessible, human-scale city set among green spaces and existing rural communities.

The main confusion is Dar es Salaam, which still dominates finance, commerce, port activity and population. That does not make it the official capital. Zanzibar City is also an important capital, but it is the seat of Zanzibar's semi-autonomous government, not Tanzania's union government.