A country of east-central Africa on the Indian Ocean. Inhabited since prehistoric times and settled by Bantu peoples by the tenth century, most of the region was incorporated into German East Africa starting in 1885 and passed to the British in 1920 as Tanganyika. Zanzibar, a narrow strip along the coast, was a British protectorate after 1890. Tanganyika achieved independence in 1961 and joined with Zanzibar in 1964 to form Tanzania. Dar es Salaam is the largest city; Dodoma is the capital.