Dar es Salaam (Arabic: دار السلام‎ Dār as-Salām, "harbour of peace"), formerly Mzizima, is the largest city in Tanzania. It is also the country's richest city and a regionally important economic centre. Dar es Salaam is actually an administrative province within Tanzania, and consists of three local government areas or administrative districts: Kinondoni to the north, Ilala in the centre of the region, and Temeke to the south. The Dar es Salaam Region had a population of 2,497,940 as of the official 2002 census. Though Dar es Salaam lost its official status as capital city to Dodoma in 1974 (a move which was not complete until 1996), it remains the centre of the permanent central government bureaucracy and continues to serve as the capital for the surrounding Dar es Salaam Region.

On December 20, 2011, the heaviest rains in 57 years resulted in unprecedented flooding that devastated many areas of the city. As of December 23, the flooding had caused 13 casualties and left nearly 5,000 people homeless.