Profile
Background and figures as recorded in the CIA World Factbook.
The Tajik people came under Russian imperial rule in the 1860s and 1870s, but Russia's hold on Central Asia weakened following the Revolution of 1917. At that time, bands of indigenous guerrillas (known as "basmachi") fiercely contested Bolshevik control of the area, which was not fully reestablished until 1925. Tajikistan was first established as an autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic within the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic in 1924, but in 1929 the Soviet Union made Tajikistan as a separate republic and transferred to it much of present-day Sughd Province.
- Capital
- Dushanbe
- Government
- presidential republic
- Population
- 10,593,876
- Area
- 144,100 sq km
- Location
- Central Asia, west of China, south of Kyrgyzstan
- Climate
- mid-latitude continental, hot summers, mild winters; semiarid to polar in Pamir Mountains
- Natural resources
- hydropower; some petroleum; uranium; mercury; brown coal; lead…
- Languages
- Tajik (official) 84.4%; Uzbek 11.9%; Kyrgyz 0.8%; Russian 0.5%…
- Religions
- Muslim 98% (Sunni 95%; Shia 3%) other 2%
- Independence
- 9 September 1991 (from the Soviet Union)
- Administrative divisions
- 2 provinces (viloyatho, singular - viloyat), 1 autonomous province* (viloyati mukhtor), 1 capital region** (viloyati poy…
- Currency
- Tajikistani somoni (TJS)
- Export partners
- Switzerland 31%; Kazakhstan 18%; China 17%; Uzbekistan 10%…
- Import partners
- China 57%; Kazakhstan 13%; Uzbekistan 8%; Turkey 6%…
Source: CIA World Factbook — a work of the US government, in the public domain