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
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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
Weather:
View a graphical weather forecast for the week ahead in Dushanbe.
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.
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.
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).
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.
The country's second largest city, Khujand, was formerly known as
Leninabad.
Books
on Tajikistan Travel:
Browse Amazon's best-selling list of books on travel in Tajikistan.
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