Tajikistan Travel Guide

Tajikistan

Many people have never heard of or would not be able to show you where Tajikistan is on a map. That’s because Tajikistan is a remote mountainous country in the heart of the Asian continent. For most of the 20th century, it was one of the 15 constituent republics of the Soviet Union. A civil and religious war in 1992 resulted in thousands of deaths (estimates vary from 20,000 to 100,000) and the displacement of about 600,000 people. In the mid-1990s, the country was in turmoil, with shortages of everything, including bread.

More than half of the republic's area lies at elevations above 10,000 ft. (3,049 m.). Two major mountain systems, the Pamirs and Tien Shan, dominate the eastern and central part of the country, with the highest peak of the former Soviet Union, Mount Communism, rising to 24,590 ft. (7,497 m.). Two lowland areas contain most of the population: the western part of the Fergana Valley, forming a northernmost promontory of Tajikistan, and the valleys south of the capital, Dushanbe.

Despite many inroads of modern lifestyles, a great many inhabitants of this republic still live in a very traditional way. The typical settlement is a rural qishlaq, consisting of small, flat-roofed familv houses built along a river. The national costume includes an embroidered skullcap known as a tubeteyka.

Of all the Central Asian republics, Tajikistan has the largest proportion of Muslims, about 85 percent of the population. Most belong to the Sunni branch, but some remote communities in easternmost Tajikistan, in the Gorno-Badakshan Autonomous Region, are Shi'ite Muslim. Even before the country became independent, Communist forces combated Islamic opposition, which was supported by Afghan fundamentalist mujahidin. In 1992, a full-scale war erupted. The heaviest fighting subsided in early 1993, but individual incidents have continuec ever since, and the country remains unstable.

History Review
Settled for several millennia, the region of present-day Tajikistan was among the conquests of Alexander the Great in 328 B.C. Successive conquerors include Persians, Arabs, Mongols, Turks, and Russians.

In the 1860s and 1870s, present-day Tajikistan became incorporated into the Russian Empire. In the early 1920s, the area was the scene of an anti-Communist revolt. In 1924 a Tajik Autonomous Region was created as part of Uzbekistan. Tajikistan attained the status of a full Soviet republic in 1929 and, from then until 1991, was firmly controlled by Moscow. Tajikistan was among the poorest of the Soviet republics, and the civil war of recent years has only made matters worse. About 35,000 houses were destroyed in the fighting and there are shortages of basic goods, building materials, water, gas, and medicines. The government depends heavily on Russian economic assistance.

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Anonymous user updated 1 year ago