Dar es Salaam (Arabic: دار السلام [translation: "Abode of Peace"] Dār as-Salām, cf. "Yer u-salem"), formerly Mzizima, is the largest city in Tanzania. With a population estimated around 2,500,000, it is also the country's richest city and a regionally important economic centre. Though Dar es Salaam lost its official status as capital city to Dodoma in 1996, it remains the centre of the permanent central government bureaucracy and continues to serve as the capital for the Dar es Salaam Region.