Republic of Tajikistan

Capital: Dushanbe
Location:  the South-east of Central Asia
Territory: 143.1 thsd. square kilometers
Population: 6920,3 thsd. persons - as of 1.01.2006
Currency: somoni, introduced in October, 2000

State borders - Length: 700 kilometers from west to east, 350 kilometers from north to south. In the west and north, Tajikistan has borders with Uzbekistan (910 kilometers) and Kyrgyzstan (630 kilometers); in the south - with Afghanistan (1030 kilometers and in the east - with China (430 kilometers).
Climate - continental. January from +220C (Panj) to -610C (Lake Bulunkul), July from -80C (Lake Bulunkul) to +450C (Panj).

The geography of the Republic of Tajikistan is mountainous with heights above sea level varying between 300 and 7495 meters. Mountains belonging to the highest ranges of Central Asia make up 93% of the total area of the country. There is the Farghona valley in the north, while in the northwest and the central parts there are the Turkmenian, Zarafshon, Hisor and Oloy mountain ranges. The southeast boasts the impressive Pomir range (its highest mountain, the Somoni's Peak, with an altitude of 7495 meters, is one of the highest summits of the world); while the southwest has the Vakhsh, Hisor and other valleys.

The highest mountains
Height above sea level, meters

 

No.	Highest Mountains	Height [m]
1	I.Somoni's Peak	7495
2	Abuali Ibn Sino's Peak	7134
3	Korjenevskaya's Peak	6974
4	Moscow's Peak	6785
5	K.Marx's Peak	6726
6	Garmo's Peak	6595
7	Soviet Officer's Peak	6233
8	Engel's Peak	6510
9	Vudor's Peak	6132
10	North Muzkol's Peak	6128
11	Mayakovskiy's Peak	6096
12	Pakhor's Peak	6083

The Republic of Tajikistan has an abundance of lake's and rivers. There are about 947 rivers longer than 10 kilometers with a total length of more than 28500 kilometers. The rivers account for 60% of all hydro-resources of central Asia.

The longest rivers (length, km through the territory of Tajikistan)

 

No.	Rivers	Length [km]
1	Panj	921
2	Amu-darya	65
3	Sir-darya	185
4	Zerafshan	306
5	Bartang - Murghab	491
6	Vakhsh	524
7	Kofarnihon	387
8	Gund	296

Tajikistan's high mountains accommodate great supplies of ice and snow. The line of perpetual snow is situated at height between 3500 and 3600 meters in the west and rises up to 5800 meters in the east. The total area of the glaciers in Tajikistan covers more than 8476 square kilometers. There are over the thousand registered glaciers with a length of more than 1.5 kilometers. Sixteen glaciers (such as Fedchenko and Grumm-Grzymailo glaciers) have length of more than 16 kilometers.

No.	Main Glaciers	Square, km2	Capacity, km3
1	Fedchenko	156.0	93.6
2	Garmo	114	6
3	Vitkovskiy	50.2	6.882
4	Academy of sciences of the USSR	48.0	5.242
5	Nalivkin	37.0	8.05
6	Bivachiy	37.0	8.05
7	Grumm-Grzhimailo	37.0	19.84

Tajikistan also abounds in lakes. There are some 1300 lakes with a total surface area of 705 km2. Karakul, Sarez and Yashikul are the largest expanses to have been created naturally. The lakes are mainly located at height of 3500 meters.

Largest lakes (surface area, km2)

No.	Rivers	Surface Area, km2
1	Karakul	380.0
2	Sarez	380.0
3	Zorkul	16.3
4	Yashikul	380.0
5	Shorkul	16.3

Tajikistan's soil, and its flora and fauna are determined by the alpine environment. The flora abounds in wild fruit-bearing trees and in numerous species of plants, which are widely used by the population

Animals are also abundant. Tajikistan boasts some 80 species of mammals, more than 365 kinds of birds, 49 kinds of reptiles, 40 kinds of fish, 10 thousands of various insects. One can observe such predators as snow leopards, lynx, bears, hyenas, otters, wolves, foxes and martens, as well as deer and rock-goats.

At present, there are 4 natural reserves ("Tigrovaya balka", "Romit", "Dashti Jum", "Zorkul"), 13 sanctuaries and 2 national parks in Tajikistan. The total protected are makes 21% of the total territory of the republic.

Tajikistan is also richly endowed with mineral deposits. Currently, more than 400 deposits have been identified, about 100 of which are being exploited. Some 40 kinds of mineral raw materials are being extracted, such as fossil minerals (about 10), ores and non-metallic resources (about 90)/

Tajikistan has the largest coal reserves in Central Asia. The estimated total geological coal reserves amount to some four billion tons. Eighty percent is coking coal. Deposits have been discovered for many rare and precious metals such as zinc, lead, bismuth, molybdenum, tungsten, gold, silver, antimony, mercury and fluorite, as well as gas and petroleum, among others.

Agricultural capacities of Tajikistan

No.	Agricultural Lands	Capacities
1	Arable lands	864,4 thousands ha.
2	Irrigated lands	592,3 thousands ha.
3	Total sown areas	900,2 thousands ha.
4	Including grain legumes	401,9 thousands ha.
5	Total industrial crops	294 thousands ha.
6	Including cotton-plant	262,9 thousands ha.
7	IPotato plant	27,9 thousands ha.
8	Potato plant	35,8 thousands ha.

Dushanbe – the capital of Tajikistan

Dushanbe (Stalinabad until 1961), is situated in the center of Hissar Valley, 750-930 meters above sea level. The snow-capped Hissar mountain range rises to the north and east of the city, and on the south it is bounded by the Kafirnihan River.
It is a young city, and cannot compare with such ancient Central Asian towns as Samarkand and Bukhara in age, history of architectural monuments. The “real age” of the city is a subject of scientific dispute. Numerous finds of archeologists, ethnographers and historians, which where made last year (copper wedge – shape axe, elegant, beautiful earring made of gold and silver alloy, a bronze, gilded fragment of the harness in the center of which there is a relief picture of Dionysus’ head – a Greek god, treasure of Sassanid’s dynasty silver coins), proves that people inhabited this place more than 2,000 years ago and attests to the high level of culture
in handicraft and town planning in ancient Dushanbe.
We first heard mention of Dushanbe in 1676. At the time it was a small, poor village on the cross-roads of caravan routes connecting the Hissar Valley with Bukhara and Samarkand, the Pamir and Afghanistan. The Tajik word “Dushanbe” means Monday. The weekly bazaar was held in the village on Mondays, and that was what the place come to be cold.
At the beginning of the century, Dushanbe was a group of adjacent settlements – the kishlaks of Dushanbe, Sariasiya and Shahmansur with one hundred clay-houses. Water was brought from the river in wineskins. There was just one paraffin street lamp for the whole Dushanbe, which shed its faint light over the bazaar square.
The year 1929 marks the beginning of Dushanbe rapid development as the principle town in Tajikistan. In this year the town covered an area of five hectares. There were two bus lines in the town. A factor of paramount
importance was the construction of the Termez-Dushanbe railway, for until ten or goods, even good materials, had to be brought here by camel.
In this year, Dushanbe was made of the new Soviet Tajik republic and renamed Stalinabad – a name it bore until the historical reinvention of the Khrushchev era.
The region was developed as a cotton and silk processing centre and tens of thousand of people were relocated here, turning the rural village into a large, urban administrative and industrial center.
The first hydroelectric plant in Tajikistan was built on the Varzab River, not far from the town, and electricity came to Dushanbe. By 1940, it had developed into quite a modern town.
Since 1960 Dushanbe has had its own TV centre. Covering a relatively small area of twelve thousand hectares it is home to almost 40 percent of the country’s industrial enterprises and more than 700.000 people (official statistic, and more than 1 000 000 approximately, unofficial).
Dushanbe, which was a village eighty years ago thus acquiring the features of a city answering the requirements of the coming modern society. In the central square of Dushanbe there is the memorial “Vahdat”
and a monument dedicated to the 1100th anniversary of the Samanids State with a sculpture image of Ismail Samani. In his right hand there is a golf tsar’s specter – the warder with the sculpture of the sun joined by 7 stars. It is the symbol of unity of nation and state.
Our days Dushanbe is a clean, European-style city, financial, political, administrative, and cultural capital of Tajikistan. All Government offices and Foreign Embassies are located in Dushanbe. Administratively, city is divided into Rayons (areas or districts), such as Ismoili Somoni (former Oktyabrskiy), Firdousi (former Central), Shohmansur (former Jelezodorojniy), and Sino (Avicenna, former Frunzenskiy).
The main points of business and interests are on or close to Rudaki Avenue (former Lenin Prospect). The Rudaki Avenue runs from the railway station (“Vokzal”) in the south to a bus station in northern part of the city near Ayni Park.
The capital has a public transportation system with electric trolleys and petrol or natural gas buses. There is no subway system. Taxis are not difficult to hire. Private cars operate as cabs and are generally safe. It is also possible to hire a car and driver to a week or month.
Dushanbe is a member of International Federation of Sister-Cities (IFSC) and has 14 sister cities: Ankara (Turkey), Lusaka (Zambia), Sana (Yemen), Klagenfurt (Australia), Boulder (USA), Monastir (Tunisa), Lahore (Pakistan), Roytlingen (Germany), Tehran and Mashhad (Iran), Urumqi (China), Mazar-e-Sharif (Afghanistan), Minsk (Belarus) and St.Petersburg (Russia).