Arusha

Coordinates: 03°22′S 36°41′E

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This article is about the city. For other uses, see Arusha (disambiguation).

Arusha
Jiji la Arusha (Swahili)

City of Arusha Region

Halmashauri ya Jiji la Arusha

Arusha City in 2021

Flag

Nicknames:

Arachuga ,Geneva of Africa, "City of Agreements"

Motto:

Jiji la Makubaliano
Arusha

Location of Arusha City

Coordinates: 03°22′S 36°41′E

Country Tanzania

Region Arusha Region

City Arusha City Council

Incorporated town 1948

Incorporated city July 2010

Government

• Type City council

• Mayor Hon. Maxmillian Matle Iranqhe

Elevation 1,400 m (4,600 ft)

Population

(2022 census)[1][2]
 • Total 617,631

Time zone UTC+3 (EAT)

• Summer (DST) UTC+3 (not observed)

Area code 027

Climate Cwb

Website City website

Arusha City is a Tanzanian city, with a population of 617,631,[1] and the regional capital of
the Arusha Region, with a population of 2,356,255 (2022 census).[2]

Located below Mount Meru on the eastern edge of the eastern branch of the Great Rift Valley,
Arusha City has a temperate climate. The city is close to the Serengeti National Park,
the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Lake Manyara National Park, Olduvai Gorge, Tarangire
National Park, Mount Kilimanjaro, and Mount Meru in the Arusha National Park.

The city is a major international diplomatic hub. It hosts the African Court[3] of the African
Union and is the capital of the East African Community. From 1994 to 2015, the city also hosted
the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, but that entity has ceased operations. Currently, it
hosts one of the headquarters of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals.

Arusha is a multicultural city with a majority Tanzanian population of mixed backgrounds:

indigenous African, Arab-Tanzanian and Indian-Tanzanian population, plus a small European
and North American minority population. Religions of the Arusha city population
include Christianity, Islam, Sikhism and Hinduism.

History[edit]
 Arusha clock tower area, 1953.

The Arusha clock tower in the Central Business

Area of Arusha City, 2005.
The current site of Arusha was first settled in the 1830s by the agro-pastoral Arusha Maasai from
the Arusha Chini community, south of Mount Kilimanjaro.[4]: page 112 They traded grains, honey, beer,
and tobacco with the pastoral Kisongo Maasai in exchange for livestock, milk, meat, and skins.
Demand for Arusha's foodstuffs increased substantially during the 1860s when the Pangani
Valley trade route was extended through Old Moshi, Arusha, and ultimately to western Kenya.[4]:
page 112
Although not yet a town, it was a regional centre with a number of urban features.[clarification needed]
[4]: page 113

Arusha was conquered by the Germans in 1896 after the murder of the first two missionaries
who attempted to settle on nearby Mount Meru. The Germans established a permanent presence
in 1900 when a military fort (a boma) was built and soldiers were garrisoned there.[4]: page
113
"The boma was a solid statement, meant to impress German moral and political order on the
surrounding countryside. Set on a rise overlooking the plains, the fortress-like building dominated
the surrounding landscape" complete with a machine gun.[4]: page 113

Many Africans were forcibly displaced from their ancestral lands by the Germans and forced to
dig lime or carry stones to construct the fort. The British took Arusha from the Germans in 1916
during World War I. German officials left the area, the British deported German missionaries and
settlers, and only a skeletal military administration of the town remained.[4]: page 114

During the 1920s, civilian administration was implemented, missionaries from the United States
arrived, British and Greek settlers reoccupied the former German farms, and the town grew,
especially after the British moved the regional administration from New Moshi to Arusha. The
extension of the railroad from Moshi to Arusha in 1928-29 greatly increased commerce.[4]: page
114
The Great Depression soon squelched commerce and Arusha in 1940 had fewer than 2,000
residents. Growth resumed during World War II and by 1948, the population had increased to
more than 5,000.[4]: page 115
By the 1950s, Arusha was "a polyglot, westernized little town; it has a Greek community, several
Germans predating World War I, and some German Jewish refugees post-dating World War
II."[5] A state of emergency was declared in the Arusha region in 1953 in response to the Mau
Mau Uprising. Journalist John Gunther noted at the time that "a loyal tribe, the Waarusha,
threatened to take violent countermeasures against the Kikuyus themselves, if the British did not.
The authorities arrested the leading Mau Mau conspirators, screened thousands more, and
deported other thousands back to Kenya."[5]

In the 1960s parts of the movie Hatari! with John Wayne were filmed at Momela Lakes and
at Mount Meru.

Arusha has been a crucial city in the history of modern Tanzania. Official documents ceding
independence to Tanganyika were signed by the United Kingdom at Arusha in 1961. The Arusha
Declaration was signed in 1967 in Arusha. The Arusha Accords were signed at the city of Arusha
on 4 August 1993, by representatives of competing factions in the Rwandan civil war.[citation needed]

East African Legislative Assembly.

The Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement for Burundi was signed on 28 August 2000 as
part of a process forging peace in that country through power sharing and establishing a
transitional government.[citation needed]

The January 2015 Arusha Agreement for South Sudan created a framework for the reunification
of South Sudan's ruling SPLM party, which had splintered into three creating a humanitarian
crisis as fighting between factions intensified. It provided that all SPLM members who were
dismissed be reinstated to their previous positions and a secret ballot system be adopted.[6]

In 1994 the UN Security Council decided by its Resolution 955 of 8 November 1994 that Arusha
should host the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. The establishment of the tribunal with
its foreign employees has influenced the local economy of the city increasing the cost of living for
residents. The tribunal has downsized due to its closure in 2014, but its legal successor,
the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals established by United Nations
Security Council Resolution 1966, will continue entertaining a branch in Arusha, opening on 1
July 2012. The tribunal indicted 93 individuals and sentenced 62.[7]

TUN International Residual Mechanism for

Criminal Tribunals, Arusha.
Arusha was officially declared a city on 1 July 2006 by the Tanzanian government.[8]
In 2013, a quarry located in Arusha collapsed and killed 14 miners after heavy rain.[9]

Mount Meru in the background of the city of

Arusha.
Historical population

Year Pop. ±%

1978 55,223 —

1988 102,544 +85.7%

2002 333,791 +225.5%

2012 416,442 +24.8%

source:[10]

Intergovernmental organisations[edit]
Arusha is home to a number of notable intergovernmental organisations. The city of Arusha is
the headquarters of the East African Community,[11] hosts a branch of the International Residual
Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals,[12] and the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights.[13]

Transport[edit]
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Airport[edit]
 Aircraft at Arusha Airport.

Arusha City Central Bus Terminal

Arusha is served by two airports: the Kilimanjaro International Airport for international air
travellers, some 60 kilometres (37 mi) east, approximately halfway to Moshi. The airport provides
international and domestic flights. Arusha Airport is a regional air hub in the west of the city, and
serves more than 87,000 passengers yearly.

Road links[edit]
Travel by road can be done through privately run coaches (buses)
to Nairobi, Dodoma, Babati, Morogoro, Tanga, Mbeya, Singida, Tabora, Mpanda, Kigoma, Mwan
za, Bukoba, Iringa, and Dar es Salaam.

Arusha is on the Cape to Cairo Road. There was a marker in the 1930s in Arusha indicating the
mid-point of the route.[14] It is also on the Cairo-Cape Town Highway.

Culture[edit]
The city hosts the National Natural History Museum, which contains three exhibits on early man,
plants and animals of the region, and the history of the city.[15] The Natural National History
Museum used to be an administration outpost for the Germans in the 1900s. It was opened in
1987 as a public museum and displays important assets to the scientific community such as
models of Australopithecus people, human ancestors that lived over 2 million years ago.[16]

A small museum adjacent to the Uhuru monument displays information about the proceedings of
the 1967 Arusha Declaration.

Places of worship[edit]
 The Cathedral of Arusha (Catholic Church)
Places of worship include the majority Christian churches: Archdiocese of Arusha, Anglican
Church of Tanzania, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania, Baptist Convention of Tanzania,
and Assemblies of God.[17] There are also Muslim mosques.

Education[edit]
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The Arusha Lutheran Medical Center in

downtown Arusha.
Most Arushan children attend public schools located in almost every ward of the city. There are
five international schools in and around Arusha: International School Moshi (Arusha Campus),
Arusha Meru International School, Braeburn School, St Constantine's International School,
and Kennedy House International School.

The city of Arusha is home to the National College of Tourism - Arusha Campus, Arusha
Technical College, Tengeru Institute of community Development, The Nelson Mandela African
Institute of Science and Technology, Eastern and Southern African Management Institute, MS
Training Centre for Development Cooperation (MS-TCDC), The Institute of Accountancy
Arusha, Forestry Training Institute, Olmotonyi, Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute, Tumaini
University Makumira, and The Mount Meru University.[18]

Arcadia University hosts a film course that has led to the creation of the Arusha African Film
Festival, which allows people to come and watch films created by local people. The guidelines
allows a multitude of filmmakers to be taken into account for awards, and each year a new theme
is chosen for the festival. The AAFF is connected to the East African Film Festival, which also
gives ample opportunity for awards and credit to young filmmakers.[19]

Geography and climate[edit]

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Despite its proximity to the equator, Arusha's elevation of 1,400 metres (4,600 ft) on the southern
slopes of Mount Meru keeps temperatures relatively low and alleviates humidity. Cool dry air is
prevalent for much of the year. The temperature typically ranges between 10 and 30 °C (50 and
86 °F) with an average annual high temperature around 25 °C or 77 °F. It has distinct wet and
dry seasons, and experiences an eastern prevailing wind from the Indian Ocean, a few hundred
kilometres east. Under the Köppen climate classification system, it has a subtropical highland
climate (Cwb). Areas away from Arusha to the south and west are classified as tropical savanna
climate (Aw).

hideClimate data for Arusha

Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year

Mean daily
28 28 27 25 22 21 20 22 24 26 27 27 25
maximum
(82) (82) (81) (77) (72) (70) (68) (72) (75) (79) (81) (81) (77)
°C (°F)

Daily mean 19 19 19 19 16 14 14 15 16 18 18 18 17
°C (°F) (66) (66) (66) (66) (61) (57) (57) (59) (61) (64) (64) (64) (63)

Mean daily
10 10 11 13 11 8 9 8 8 10 10 10 10
minimum
(50) (50) (52) (55) (52) (46) (48) (46) (46) (50) (50) (50) (50)
°C (°F)

Average
50 210 10 30
rainfall 80 170 360 30 10 20 110 100 1,180
(2.0 (8.3 (0.4 (1.2
mm (3.1) (6.7) (14.2) (1.2) (0.4) (0.8) (4.3) (3.9) (46.5)
) ) ) )
(inches)

Source: Weatherbase[20]
The record[21] high since records began in 2000 is 39 °C or 102.2 °F. The record low is 7 °C or
44.6 °F. Arusha averages 29.8 days per year above 32 °C or 89.6 °F – all between November
and March. Arusha's annual rainfall average is 1,180 millimetres (46.46 in), mostly coming during
the long rainy season from March to May. Areas immediately to the north and northeast of
Arusha can see more rain and cooler temperatures due to the influence of Mt. Meru, whose rain
shadow extends toward the southeast side of the mountain.

A street in Arusha town.

Arusha and the northern highlands of Tanzania experience a bimodal rainfall pattern, with two
rainy seasons. Many crops are planted twice per year. The long masika rains from March
through May are more reliable in Arusha than in surrounding areas because of the influence of
Mt. Meru. The short vuli rains are less reliable, usually coming in November and December. The
dry kiangazi season is June to October.

Higher elevation areas north and northeast of the city are home to farmers growing bananas,
coffee, cabbage, potatoes, carrots, leafy greens, and other vegetables.

Cultivation in areas to the northwest, west, southwest, south, and southeast focuses on maize,
beans and wheat. There is a significant horticulture industry, with several companies growing
flowers for export to Europe.