Julius Kambarage Nyerere

Nyerere, Julius Kambarage (1921– ), founder and first president (1964–85) of the East African state of Tanzania. He led Tanganyika to independence (1961) and united it with Zanzibar. He believed in a one-party socialist democracy and helped overthrow Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. He was succeeded in 1985 by Hassan Mwinyi, former President of Zanzibar, a semiautonomus island off the Tanzanian coast.

See also: Tanzania.