Meru with their farm "Momella" eventually becoming part of Arusha National Park. Kenyon Painter later became one of the town's most significant investors, having invested over a million dollars in the area. He built Arusha's first post office, church and other landmarks.
In March 1916 the British occupied Arusha. The British expelled the German settlers, reallocated the German estates to British settlers, and claimed vast new tracts themselves.
In the 1960s parts of the movie Hatari! with John Wayne were filmed at Momella.
Arusha is has a been a crucial in the history of the modern Tanzania. Princess Margaret visited Arusha in 1956. Official documents ceding independence to Tanganyika were signed by the United Kingdom at Arusha in 1961. Also, the Arusha Declaration was signed in 1967 in Arusha.
The Arusha Accords were signed at Arusha on August 4, 1993, by representatives of competing factions in the Rwandan civil war.
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 employees has influenced the local economy of Arusha. The tribunal is about to downsize 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.
Arusha officially became a city on 1 July
