Tajikistan Travel Guide @ TravelNotes.org

Travel Notes: Asia: Tajikistan Travel Notes

Tajikistan tourist information with details about travel to and around the country. Where to stay and what to see is made easier with insider tips and hand-selected Tajikistan links, by dedicated editors and visitors to TravelNotes.org - The Online Guide to Travel.

Order Tajikistan Travel Brochures - for Free.

Central Asia

Tajikistan was a former republic of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Together with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan it forms a region known as Central Asia.

Countries neighbouring Tajikistan are: Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, China and Afghanistan.

Dushanbe (Stalinabad)

The capital of Tajikistan is in the Gissar Valley, to the east of the country.

In 1929 the village of Dyushanbe was made the capital of the newly created Tadzhik Soviet Socialist Republic and renamed Stalinabad.

With the completion of a rail link the same year, the growth of Stalinabad was rapid.

The city was expanded with the Soviet taste for wide streets and large squares. Trees were planted and in 1961 it was renamed Dushanbe; as memories of Stalin were being eradicated.

Dushanbe Weather:
View a graphical weather forecast for the week ahead in Dushanbe.

Civil War

The outbreak of civil war between pro-Communists and Islamic-democrats, in 1992, forced many Uzbeks and Russians to leave the country.

Russian troops are still stationed along Tajikistan's southern border with Afghanistan.

Ethnik Tajiks

The ethnic Tajiks are an Iranian people, with a Sunni Muslim heritage. During the seventy years of Soviet rule, when mosques were closed and the practising of religion prohibited, Tajik Muslims continued to practise Islam in secret.

The revival of Islam has seen thousands of mosques constructed in recent years.

Communism Peak

Tajikistan, independent since 1991, is a mountainous country; its highest point being Ismoili Somoni Peak (7,498 m), re-named in 1998 to commemorate an early Tajik ruler.

The mountain, in the north-western Pamirs of north-east Tajikistan, was known as Garmo Peak until 1933, and Stalin Peak until 1962; when the name of the highest point in the former Soviet Union was changed to Communism Peak (Pik Kommunizma).

Khujand (Leninabad)

The country's second largest city, Khujand, was formerly known as Leninabad.

Tajikistan Travel Guides

Books on Tajikistan Travel:
Browse Amazon's best-selling list of books on travel in Tajikistan.