Dushanbe

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Image:Duschanbe Bahnhof.jpg Dushanbe (Душанбе), population 562,000 people (2000 census), is the capital of Tajikistan. The name is derived from the Persian word for "Monday" (du "two" + shamba or shanbe "day", lit. "day two") and refers to the fact that it was a popular "Monday" market place. Dushanbe is located at Template:Coor

1 History
2 Economy
3 Sights
4 Relations
5 See also
6 External links

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History

Although archaelogical remnants dating to the 5th century BC have been discovered in the area, there is little to suggest that Dushanbe was more than a small village until around 80 years ago. In 1920, the last Emir of Bukhara briefly took refuge in Dushanbe after being overthrown by the Bolshevik revolution. He fled to Afghanistan after the Red Army conquered the area the next year. The city was briefly captured by Enver Pasha and his basmachi fighters in 1922 and served as the headquarters for Ibrahim Bek, a Tajik leader who fought the Bolsheviks.

With the Red Army victory and coming of the railroad from 1929, the city became the capital of the Tadzhik Soviet Socialist Republic. It was named Stalinabad, after Joseph Stalin, until 1961. The Soviets transformed the area into a center for cotton and silk production, and relocated tens of thousands of people to the city from around the Soviet Union. The population also increased with thousands of ethnic Tajiks migrating to Tajikistan following the transfer of Bukhara and Samarkand to the Uzbek SSR. A peaceful and relatively prosperous city under Soviet rule, Dushanbe was home to a university and the Tajik Academy of Sciences. Severe rioting occurred in 1990, after plans to relocate tens of thousands of Armenian refugees were revealed, which spurred local nationalist sentiment.

The city was badly damaged as a result of the Tajikistan Civil War (1992-1997) that sprang up in the nation shortly after its independence.

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Economy

Coal, lead, and arsenic are mined nearby. A leading cotton textile center, Dushanbe also produces silk, machinery, electrical appliances, clothing, leather goods, tractor parts, and foodstuffs.

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Sights

Haji Yakoub Mosque
Museum of Ethnography
Tajik Unified Museum

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Relations

Dushanbe is a sister city of Boulder, Colorado. The city donated a traditional Tajik-style teahouse to Boulder in the early 1980's, the only such example in the Western Hemisphere.

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