1958–1964: (Tanganyikan and Zanzibar Independence — Nyerere Building Trust with the Administration While Establishing TANU as the Most Effective Grassroots O…

1958–1964: (Tanganyikan and Zanzibar Independence — Nyerere Building Trust with the Administration While Establishing TANU as the Most Effective Grassroots Organization on the Continent, Persuading White Settlers to Support TANU, Independence in 1961, Zanzibar’s Violent 1963 Revolution Overthrowing the Arab Government with Roots in Nineteenth-Century Racial Tensions, and the 1964 Amalgamation into Tanzania): In Tanganyika, Nyerere spent the late 1950s building up the trust of the colonial administration while establishing TANU as a territory-wide organization with some of the most effective grassroots mobilization on the continent. The transfer of power was initially characterized by a multiracial constitution providing disproportionate voice for minority European and Asian communities, influenced by developments in neighboring Kenya. But Nyerere skillfully persuaded white settlers’ representatives to support TANU, and the movement won a majority in the 1958 assembly elections. Independence was granted in 1961. The British held Zanzibar until 1963, but within weeks of independence the island underwent a violent revolution in which the Arab government was overthrown by African rebels — an explosion of vengeful hostility rooted in racial tensions dating to the nineteenth century. In early 1964, Nyerere oversaw the amalgamation of Tanganyika and Zanzibar into Tanzania, though Zanzibar would experience political turbulence for decades centered on its relationship with the mainland.