Tajikistan (Tajik: Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston), formally the Republic of Tajikistan (Tajik: Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhuriyi Tojikiston) is a country in Central Asia. The country is about 3.5 times the size of the Netherlands and has 9.5 million inhabitants. The capital is Dushanbe.

Geography

According to ABBREVIATIONFINDER, Tajikistan is a country in Central Asia, bordering China, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. The country measures a maximum of 700 by 450 kilometers. The country is very mountainous, the Pamir forms a large part of the country. More than half of the land area is at an altitude of more than 3,000 meters. The highest point is the 7,495 meter high Ismoil Somoni Peak. The east and north of Tajikistan have several mountain ranges with eternal snow and glaciers. The capital Dushanbe is located at an altitude of about 800 meters. The south and north of Tajikistan also have lower valleys, with the north of Tajikistan partly located in the Fergana Valley, which is poorly accessible from the rest of the country due to the mountain ranges. The border with Afghanistan is formed by the Panj River and the Amu Darya.

The country largely has a continental climate with cold winters and hot summers, especially in the lower parts. Large parts of the country are quite dry because of the great distance from the sea. The extreme southwest has a more subtropical continental climate. The capital Dushanbe has a Mediterranean climate with characteristics of a continental climate, the average maximum temperature varies from 8°C in January to 36°C in July. There is less than 600 mm of precipitation per year.

Demographics

Gorno-Badakshan Autonomous Region.

By 1930, Tajikistan crossed the 1 million inhabitants mark and reached the 5 million inhabitants mark by 1990, which had almost doubled to 9.5 million inhabitants by 2020. The country has a relatively high population growth. See Tajikistan population density. The only major city is the capital Dushanbe, which has more than 800,000 inhabitants. Only Khujand has more than 100,000 inhabitants, the population of Tajikistan is still relatively rural, in the areas where agriculture is possible are many villages.

The largest population group is the Tajiks, an Iranian ethnic group who speak Persian. The Uzbeks make up about 14% of the population, other population groups are small. In the 2010 census, 35,000 Russians were counted, less than 10% of the original population at the time of the Soviet Union. The official language of Tajikistan is Persian, which is also referred to here as Tajik and is also written in Cyrillic. Russian is still widely used by the government and in the business world.

The Tajiks are a large regional population group with an estimated 18 to 27 million people, the majority of whom therefore live outside Tajikistan itself. More Tajiks live in Afghanistan as well as in Uzbekistan than in Tajikistan itself.

Tajikistan is divided into one autonomous region (Gorno-Badakhshan), two regular regions (Sughd and Khatlon), the so-called ‘Districts of Republican Subordination’ and the capital Dushanbe. The Districts of Republican Subordination is a deviant area in central Tajikistan consisting of 13 districts directly under national administration. Gorno-Badakhshan is an autonomous region in eastern Tajikistan, comprising 45% of the area but only 3% of the population. In addition to a visa, foreigners who want to visit Gorno-Badakshan also need a permit, the so-called ‘GBAO Permit’.

Economy

Tajikistan is one of the poorest countries in Asia, almost half of the GDP comes from money that Tajiks in Russia send back to their country. Corruption, instability and economic mismanagement are major threats to the Tajik economy. A large part of the population works in agriculture, a considerable part to provide for their own food. Tajik’s main industrial complex is the Tajik Aluminum Company west of Dushanbe. This factory consumes approximately 40% of all electricity in Tajikistan. The country has great potential for the development of hydropower. Between 1961 and 1980, the 300-meter high Nurek Dam was built to generate hydropower and control the water discharge to the Amu Darya. This was one of the largest projects ever carried out in Tajikistan. A second large Rogun Dam started construction in 1976, but construction was halted after the fall of the Soviet Union. The project was restarted in 2017 with Chinese support.

History

The area of ​​what is now Tajikistan has been under the control of various empires in ancient times, most notably various forms of the Persian Empire and the Mongol Empire. In the 19th century, Central Asia gradually came under the control of the Russian Empire, between 1864 and 1885 the Russians conquered southern Central Asia, including Tajikistan. In 1924, the Tajikistan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was established as part of the Uzbekistan Soviet Republic, but in 1929 Tajikistan became a full-fledged republic within the Soviet Union. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, agriculture was developed in southern Tajikistan. From the 1950s, attempts were made to further develop Tajikistan, but this was difficult. However, under the Soviet Union, free education was offered, which virtually eliminated illiteracy. In the 1970s, a large aluminum factory was built west of Dushanbe, the main industrial complex in otherwise underdeveloped Tajikistan.

In 1991, the Soviet Union fell apart and Tajikistan became an independent country. The Tajik Civil War broke out almost immediately, which lasted from 1992 to 1997. Different clans and factions fought against each other in this. Most of the points of conflict were in the south in the Dushanbe region, but the whole country was affected to some extent. Since 1992, Emomali Rahmon has been the president of Tajikistan. The country maintains military ties with both Russia and the West.