Tanganyika Territory

Tanganyika Territory was a British League of Nations mandate between 1922 and 1946 and a British United Nations trust territory between 1946 and 1961.

Prior to the end of the First World War the territory was part of the German colony of German East Africa. After the war had broken out, the British invaded German East Africa, but were unable to defeat the German Army. The German leader in East Africa, Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck did not surrender until the German Empire had collapsed. After this the League of Nations gave control of the area to the United Kingdom who named their part of the earlier German area Tanganyika. The United Kingdom held Tanganyika as a League of Nations mandate until the end of the Second World War after which it was held as a United Nations trust territory. In 1961, Tanganyika Territory gained its independence from the United Kingdom as Tanganyika, a Commonwealth realm. It became a republic a year later but stayed in the British Commonwealth of Nations. Tanganyika now forms part of the modern-day state of Tanzania.