Dodoma (lit.'It has sunk' inGogo), officiallyDodoma City (Jiji Kuu la Dodoma, inSwahili), is thecapital city ofTanzania.[3] With a population of 765,179,[4][3] it is also the administrative capital of bothDodoma Municipal Council and the entireDodoma Region. In July 2024, Dodoma officially surpassedArusha to become the third largest city in Tanzania on both infrastructure and population measures.In 1974, theTanzanian government announced that Tanzania's national capital would be moved fromDar es Salaam to Dodoma for social and economic reasons and to centralise the capital within the country. It became the official capital in 1996.[citation needed]
Much of Dodoma's initial design did not come to fruition until the 21st century. In May 2023, the national government under PresidentSamia Suluhu unveiled the new State House in Dodoma in a historic event stamping the relocation of government duties to the city. As a result,Dar es Salaam has remained the commercial and maritime capital of Tanzania, while also retaining the state houseIkulu and a number of government functions.
Located in the centre of the country, the town is 453 kilometres (281 mi) west of the former capital atDar es Salaam and 441 kilometres (274 mi) south ofArusha, the headquarters of theEast African Community. It is 259 kilometres (161 miles) north of Iringa through Mtera. It is also 260 kilometres (160 miles) west of Morogoro. It covers an area of 2,669 square kilometres (1,031 sq mi) of which 625 square kilometres (241 sq mi) is urbanized.
Originally a small market town known as Idodomya, the modern Dodoma was founded in 1907 byGerman colonists during construction of theTanzanian central railway. The layout followed the typical colonial planning of the time with a European quarter segregated from a native village.[5]
In 1967, following independence, the government invited Canadian firm Project Planning Associates Ltd to draw up a master plan to help control and organise the then capital of the country,Dar es Salaam, which was undergoing rapid urbanisation and population growth. The plan was cancelled in 1972, in part due to its failure to adequately address the historical and social problems associated with the city.[5]
In 1974, after a nationwide party referendum, the Tanzanian government announced that the capital would be moved from Dar es Salaam to a more central location to create significant social and economic improvements for the central region and to centralise the capital within the country.[6] The cost was estimated at £186 million and envisaged to take 10 years. The site, the Dodoma region, had been looked at as a potential new capital as early as 1915 by the then colonial powerGermany, in 1932 by the British as aLeague of Nations mandate and again in the post-independenceNational Assembly in 1961 and 1966.[7][8]
With an already-established town at a major crossroads, the Dodoma region had an agreeable climate, room for development[9] and was located in the geographic centre of the nation. Its location in a rural environment was seen as theujamaa heartland and therefore appropriate for a ujamaa capital that could see and learn from neighbouring villages and maintain a close relationship to the land.[8][10]
A new capital was seen as a more economically viable alternative than attempting to reorganise and restructureDar es Salaam and was idealised as a way of diverting development away from continued concentration in a single coastal city that was seen as anathema to the government's goal of socialist unity and development.[8] Objectives for the new capital included: that the city become a symbol of Tanzania's social and cultural values and aspirations; that the capital city function be supplemented by industrial-commercial development; and that the mistakes and features of colonial planning and modern big cities, such as excessive population densities, pollution and traffic congestion, be avoided.[5]
The Capital Development Authority (CDA) invited three international firms to submit proposals for the best location and preparation of a master plan: Project Planning Associates Ltd., ofCanada;Doxiadis Associates International, ofGreece (who had worked onPakistan's new capital ofIslamabad); and Engineering Consulting Firms Association, ofJapan. A fourth firm from Germany submitted a proposal without invitation.[8]
The winner, decided by the CDA together with independent American consultants, was Project Planning Associates, the same Canadian consultants whose plan forDar es Salaam was seen as inadequate and not responsive enough to the local conditions and needs for Tanzania's largest city.[8] Their plan envisaged a city of 400,000 persons by 2000 and 1.3 million by 2020.[10]
The official capital since 1996,[citation needed] Dodoma was envisaged as the first non-monumental capital city[10] as opposed to the monumentality and hierarchy of other planned capital cities such asAbuja,Yamoussoukro,Brasília andWashington, D.C. It rejected geometrical forms such asgrid iron and radial plans as inappropriate as the urban form was intended to undulate and curve with the existing topography and not in conflict with it so as to retain its ruralujamaa feel. As befitted Tanzania's development at the time, the car was seen as secondary in importance to public transports such as buses which were then utilised by much of the population.[10]
In 1974, Dodoma had a population of 40,000 and was chosen as the site of the new capital as opposed to nearby Hombolo or Ihumwa. The existing population size was not seen as an impediment while existing infrastructure would reduce construction costs.[8]
The city, designed over 2,500 acres (1,000 hectares), was meant to be "the chief village in a nation of villages", built at a human scale meant to be experienced on foot.[11] Its basic principles follow thegarden city model of a town set amongst a garden with green belts separating segregated zones for residents and industry.
As part of the move of the government, a capitol complex was envisaged and designs by international teams offered competing visions and versions of the siting and layout of a capitol complex. These competing proposals, some paid for by foreign governments as a form of aid and others by the firms involved, were presented as early as 1978.
However, it was not until 2006 that theChinese government delivered a finished parliament building in Dodoma. The final location of the parliament was not in its original intended location in the master plan, with that location now being developed as a site for auniversity.[7]
As much of the initial design never came to fruition over the past 40 years, government offices and embassies have resisted moving offices to Dodoma. As a result, many government offices remain inDar es Salaam, which remains the commercial and thede facto capital of Tanzania.[12][7]
Out of the total population, 199,487 people (48.5 percent) are male while 211,469 people (51.5 percent) are female. The average household size is 4.4 people.[4] TheRoman Catholic Church reports that 19.2% of the population areRoman Catholics.[13] Dodoma is populated by different ethnic groups because it is a government administrative centre, although the indigenous ethnic groups are theGogo,Rangi, andSandawe. There are also smallIndian minorities.[citation needed]
The population count as of 2022 was recorded as 3,085,625 in Dodoma region of 41,311 km2, while Dodoma city increased from 410,956 in 2012 to 765,179 in 2022, covering 2,607 km2, or annual rate of 6.4% in ten years.[14]
Dodoma features asemi-arid climate[15] with warm to hot temperatures throughout the year. While average highs are somewhat consistent throughout the year, average lows dip to 13 °C (55.4 °F) in July. Dodoma averages 610 millimetres or 24 inches of rainfall per year, the vast majority of which occurs during itswet season between December and April. The remainder of the year comprises the city's dry season.
There are several universities in Dodoma, which include theOpen University of Tanzania, which has campuses in several cities in Tanzania,St Johns University of Tanzania, owned by the Anglican Church of Tanzania, andUniversity of Dodoma, with about 35,000 students. Both universities opened in 2007. In addition there is the Mipango Institute and the CBE.
The Anglican Church runs the only international school in Dodoma, Canon Andrea Mwaka School ("CAMS"). CAMS, established in 1950, provides education to children from Nursery to Form 4. The education is based on the English National curriculum and the school offers students the opportunity to take IGCSE examinations. An estimated 280 students are taught at the school.[citation needed]
The city is served by Dodoma Railway Station, located near Kikuyu Avenue, through which runs theCentral Railway Line, which connects Dodoma over a distance of 465 kilometres (289 mi) withDar es Salaam in the east. In 2019, Tanzania Railways commissioned a study into a Dodoma commuter rail network.[21]
TheCairo-Cape Town Highway passes through Dodoma. A major highway connects Dodoma with Dar es Salaam via theMorogoro in the east. To the west, there are roads toMwanza andKigoma going throughSingida andTabora. The Great North Road links the city withBabatiandArusha to the north, viaKondoa and Iringa, Njombe, Songea, Mbeya and Vwawa to the south viaMtera.
The city is represented in theTanzanian Premier League byfootball club Dodoma Jiji FC, which used to be calledPolisi Dodoma. The club is run by the city council of Dodoma. Other older clubs, include CDA, Waziri Mkuu, Kurugenzi, Mji Mpwapwa, and Dundee.There is also a rising interest in other sports, particularlybasketball.
^Britannica,Dodoma, britannica.com, USA, accessed on June 24, 2019
^abcdBeeckmans, Luce (2018). "The Architecture of Nation-building in Africa as a Development Aid Project: Designing the capital cities of Kinshasa (Congo) and Dodoma (Tanzania) in the post-independence years".Progress in Planning.122:1–28.doi:10.1016/j.progress.2017.02.001.
^abcdefHayuma, A.M. (1980). "Dodoma: The planning and building of the new capital city of Tanzania".Habitat International.5 (5–6):653–680.doi:10.1016/0197-3975(80)90007-7.
^"Dodoma Climate Normals 1991–2020".World Meteorological Organization Climatological Standard Normals (1991–2020). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Archived fromthe original on 16 September 2023. Retrieved16 September 2023.
^"Klimatafel von Dodoma / Tansania"(PDF).Baseline climate means (1961–1990) from stations all over the world (in German). Deutscher Wetterdienst. Retrieved22 May 2016.
