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Witness History: Tanzania adopts Swahili to unite the country

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Tanzania adopted Swahili to unite the country

30/11/2023 GMT

Tanzania adopts Swahili to unite the country

BBC World Service - Witness History, Tanzania adopts Swahili to unite the country

Tanzania's leader, Julius Nyerere, made Swahili the official language in the early 1960s

After Tanzania's independence in 1961, the country's leader, Julius Nyerere, made Swahili the national language to unite its people. Walter Bgoya recounts how the country changed.

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)

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