Tajikistan — map and facts

About Tajikistan

Tajikistan is a landlocked republic in Central Asia with a population of approximately 10 million people. Its capital and largest city is Dushanbe. The country is governed as a presidential republic, though in practice it has been ruled since 1994 by President Emomali Rahmon, making it one of the world's longest-serving authoritarian leaderships. Tajikistan is the smallest country by area in Central Asia and the poorest by GDP per capita, with its economy heavily dependent on aluminium production, cotton cultivation, and remittances from migrant workers abroad, particularly in Russia. Hydroelectric power is a significant national resource given the country's mountainous terrain and abundant rivers. Tajikistan uses the somoni as its currency. The official language is Tajik, a form of Persian written in Cyrillic script, with Russian serving as an important language of interethnic communication. The population is predominantly Muslim, with Sunni Islam being the most common denomination. Tajikistan shares borders with Afghanistan, China, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan.

Geography and Landscape

Tajikistan is one of the most mountainous countries in the world, with over 90 percent of its territory covered by mountains. The Pamir Mountains dominate the eastern part of the country, often called the "Roof of the World," with Ismoil Somoni Peak (formerly Communism Peak) reaching 7,495 metres and being the highest point in the former Soviet Union. The western lowlands along the Amu Darya and Syr Darya river systems support the majority of agriculture and population. The Fergana Valley in the north is a fertile agricultural region shared with Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. The Vakhsh River is a major waterway and the site of the Nurek Dam, one of the world's tallest earth-filled dams, which generates most of the country's electricity. Lake Karakul in the Pamirs is one of the largest high-altitude lakes in Asia. The climate varies dramatically from continental in the valleys to alpine conditions in the mountains, where permanent snow and glaciers are widespread. Tajikistan holds some of the largest glacier reserves in Central Asia.

History

The territory of modern Tajikistan has been inhabited since antiquity and was part of several ancient states including the Achaemenid Persian Empire and the empire of Alexander the Great. The region was home to the Sogdian civilisation, which flourished as a centre of trade along the Silk Road. The Arab conquest of the seventh century brought Islam to the region. The Samanid dynasty, which governed from the ninth to tenth centuries, is regarded as a golden age of Tajik culture and Persian-language literature, with the poet Rudaki considered the father of Persian poetry. Mongol invasions in the thirteenth century caused widespread devastation. The region subsequently came under Timurid and later Uzbek Khanate rule. Russia expanded into Central Asia during the nineteenth century, absorbing the region by the 1880s. Soviet rule began after 1917, and Tajikistan was established as a Soviet Socialist Republic within the USSR in 1929. Independence came in 1991 following the Soviet Union's dissolution, though a devastating civil war lasting from 1992 to 1997 caused tens of thousands of deaths.