Tanzania ( /ˌtænzəˈniːə/), officially the United Republic of Tanzania (Swahili: Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is the country that was formed by the union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar in 1964. It is located in East Africa, bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north; Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west; and Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern border lies on the Indian Ocean.
The country is divided into thirty regions: five on the semi-autonomous islands of Zanzibar and twenty-five on the mainland in the former Tanganyika. The head of state is President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, elected in 2005. Since 1996, the official capital of Tanzania has been Dodoma, where the country's parliament and some government offices are located. Between independence and 1996, the main coastal city of Dar es Salaam served as the country's political capital. Today, it remains Tanzania's principal commercial city and de facto seat of most government institutions. It is the major seaport for the country and its landlocked neighbours.
The name Tanzania derives from the first syllables of the names of the two states, Tanganyika and Zanzibar, that united to form the country.
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