Dushanbe
| Dushanbe | ||
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View of the Palace of Nations (Presidential Palace). | ||
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  Dushanbe Location of Dushanbe in Tajikistan | ||
| Coordinates: 38°32′12″N 68°46′48″E / 38.53667°N 68.78000°ECoordinates: 38°32′12″N 68°46′48″E / 38.53667°N 68.78000°E | ||
| Country |
 Tajikistan | |
| Government | ||
| • Mayor | Mahmadsaid Ubaydulloyev | |
| Area | ||
| • City | 124.6 km2 (48.1 sq mi) | |
| Elevation | 706 m (2,316 ft) | |
| Population (2014)[1] | ||
| • City | 778,500 | |
| • Density | 6,200/km2 (16,000/sq mi) | |
| • Metro | 1 051 200 | |
| Time zone | Tajikistan Time (UTC+5) | |
| • Summer (DST) | Tajikistan Time (UTC+5) | |
| Website |
www | |
Dushanbe (Tajik: Душанбе, Persian: دوشنبه) is the capital and largest city of Tajikistan. Dushanbe means Monday in the Persian language.[2][3] It was so named because it grew from a village that originally had a popular market on Mondays. Until 1929, the city was known in Russian as Dyushambe (Russian: Дюшамбе), and from 1929 to 1961 as Stalinabad (Tajik: Сталинобод, Persian: استالینآباد). As of 2014, Dushanbe has a population of 778,500.
History
Situated at the confluence of two rivers, Varzob and Kofarnihon, Dushanbe is the capital of Tajikistan. Although archaeological 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 the early 20th century.
The first written mention of the village Dushanbe found at the end of 1676. It was at the crossroads, where a large bazaar occurred on Mondays, hence the name Dushanbe-Bazar (Tajik: Душанбе Бозор, Dushanbe Bozor; Persian: دوشنبه بازار)[4] from Dushanbe, which means Monday in the Persian language.[2][3] In the village, there were more than 500 households and a population of about 8,000 people.
By 1826, the town was called Dushanbe Qurghan (Tajik: Душанбе Қурғон, Dushanbe Qurghon; Persian: دوشنبه قرغان, with the suffix qurƣon from Turkic qurğan, meaning "fortress") Russified as Dyushambe (Дюшамбе). The first map showing Dyushambe was drafted in 1875. At that time, the town was a fortress on a steep bank on the left bank of the Varzob River with 10,000 residents.
In 1920, the last Emir of Bukhara briefly took refuge in Dyushambe after being overthrown by the Bolshevik revolution. He fled to Afghanistan after the Red Army conquered the area the next year. At the beginning of 1922, the town was taken by Basmachi troops led Enver Pasha, but on 14 July 1922 again came under the power of the Bolsheviks and was proclaimed the capital of the Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic as a part of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic in 1924.
A Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic separate from the Uzbek SSR was created in 1929, and its capital Dyumshambe was renamed Stalinabad (Russian: Сталинабад; Tajik: Сталинобод ستالینآباد Stalinobod) for Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin on 16 October 1929. In the years that followed, the city developed at a rapid pace.[5]
The Soviets transformed the area into a centre for cotton and silk production, and tens of thousands of people relocated to the city. The population also increased with thousands of Tajiks migrating to Tajikistan following the transfer of Bukhara and Samarkand to the Uzbek SSR as part of national delimitation in Central Asia.[6]
On 10 November 1961, Stalinabad was renamed Dushanbe, the name it retains to this day.
Severe rioting occurred in February 1990, after it was rumored that the Soviet government planned to relocate tens of thousands of Armenian refugees to Tajikistan. The Dushanbe riots were primarily fueled by concerns about housing shortages for the Tajik population, but they coincided with a wave of nationalist unrest that swept Transcaucasia and other Central Asian states during the twilight of Gorbachev's era.[7]
Climate
Dushanbe features a Mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csa),[8] with some continental climate influences (Köppen: Dsa).[8] The summers are hot and dry and the winters are chilly, but not very cold. The climate is damper than other Central Asian capitals, with an average annual rainfall over 500 millimetres (20 in) as moist air is funnelled by the surrounding valley during the winter and spring. Winters are not as cold as further north owing to the shielding of the city by mountains from extremely cold air from Siberia. January 2008 was particularly cold, and the temperature dropped to −22 °C (−8 °F).[9]
| Climate data for Dushanbe | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 21.1 (70) |
22.8 (73) |
27.8 (82) |
32.2 (90) |
37.8 (100) |
40.0 (104) |
42.2 (108) |
40.0 (104) |
37.2 (99) |
32.8 (91) |
25.0 (77) |
20.0 (68) |
42.2 (108) |
| Average high °C (°F) | 9.4 (48.9) |
10.6 (51.1) |
15.6 (60.1) |
20.6 (69.1) |
26.1 (79) |
32.8 (91) |
35.6 (96.1) |
34.4 (93.9) |
30.0 (86) |
23.3 (73.9) |
15.6 (60.1) |
10.6 (51.1) |
22.1 (71.8) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 2.1 (35.8) |
3.8 (38.8) |
9.2 (48.6) |
15.4 (59.7) |
20 (68) |
25.3 (77.5) |
27.1 (80.8) |
24.9 (76.8) |
20.1 (68.2) |
14.3 (57.7) |
8.9 (48) |
4.8 (40.6) |
14.66 (58.38) |
| Average low °C (°F) | −0.6 (30.9) |
1.7 (35.1) |
5.6 (42.1) |
9.4 (48.9) |
13.3 (55.9) |
17.8 (64) |
19.4 (66.9) |
17.2 (63) |
12.8 (55) |
7.8 (46) |
3.3 (37.9) |
0.6 (33.1) |
9.0 (48.2) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −22 (−8) |
−16 (3) |
−10 (14) |
0.0 (32) |
6.1 (43) |
11.1 (52) |
13.9 (57) |
10.0 (50) |
3.9 (39) |
−2.2 (28) |
−6.1 (21) |
−18 (0) |
−22 (−8) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 66.3 (2.61) |
75.4 (2.969) |
107.5 (4.232) |
105.0 (4.134) |
66.0 (2.598) |
5.5 (0.217) |
3.2 (0.126) |
0.5 (0.02) |
3.1 (0.122) |
30.6 (1.205) |
44.7 (1.76) |
59.8 (2.354) |
567.6 (22.347) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) | 8.5 | 9.1 | 13.4 | 9.8 | 7.8 | 1.5 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 3.7 | 5.3 | 8.1 | 68.8 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 120.9 | 121.5 | 155.0 | 198.0 | 282.1 | 336.0 | 353.4 | 337.9 | 288.0 | 223.2 | 165.0 | 117.8 | 2,698.8 |
| Source #1: Sistema de Clasificación Bioclimática Mundial[10] | |||||||||||||
| Source #2: Hong Kong Observatory [11] | |||||||||||||
Economy
Tajik Air has its head office on the grounds of Dushanbe Airport in Dushanbe.[12] Somon Air has its head office in Dushanbe.[13]
Main sights
- Tajikistan National Museum (Tajik Unified Museum)
- Vahdat Palace
- Dushanbe Flagpole—It is the second tallest free-standing flagpole in the world, at a height of 165 metres (541 feet),[14]
- Dushanbe Zoo
- Gurminj Museum of Musical Instruments (Gurminj Museum)
- Dushanbe Synagogue (destroyed in summer 2008)
Education
A number of educational facilities are based in Dushanbe:
- Tajik State National University
- Tajikistan Humanitarian International University
- Agricultural University of Tajikistan
- Tajik State Medical University
- Tajik State Pedagogical University
- Tajik State University of Commerce
- Tajikistan State University of Law, Business, & Politics
- Russian-Tajik Slavonic University
- Tajikistan University of Technology
- Tajikistan-Russian Modern University
- Technical University of Tajikistan
- Dushanbe International School
Transport
The city is served by Dushanbe International Airport which as of April 2015, had regularly scheduled flights to major cities in Russia, Central Asia, as well as Delhi, Dubai, Frankfurt, Istanbul, Kabul, Tehran, and Ürümqi amongst others. Tajikistan's principal railways are in the southern region and connect Dushanbe with the industrial areas of the Gissar and Vakhsh valleys and with Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Russia.[15]
The Dushanbe trolleybus system operates public buses in the city. Automobiles are the main form of transportation in the country and as of 2014 many highway and tunnel construction projects are underway or have recently been completed. Major projects include rehabilitation of the Dushanbe – Chanak (Uzbek border), Dushanbe – Kulma (Chinese border), Kurgan-Tube – Nizhny Pyanj (Afghan border) highways and construction of tunnels under the mountain passes of Anzob, Shakhristan, Shar-Shar[16] and Chormazak.[17]
Demographics
The population of Dushanbe:
- in 1987 was about 796,000 and was made up of ethnic Tajiks (75%), Uzbeks (10%), ethnic Russians (3%), and others (12%);
- in 2011 was about 679,400 and was made up of ethnic Tajiks (c. 83.4%), Uzbeks (9.1%), Russians (5.1%), and others (2.4%).
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 1926 | 6,000 |
| 1936 | 83,000 |
| 1956 | 227,000 |
| 1971 | 388,000 |
| 1987 | 796,000 [18] |
| 1991 | 582,000 |
| 2002 | 579,000 |
| 2006 | 661,000 |
| 2008 | 679,400 [19] |
| 2014 | 779,000 |
Districts
Dushanbe is divided into the following districts:
- Avicenna (Tajik: Абӯалӣ Ибни Сино, Abūali Ibni Sino; Persian: ابوعلی ابن سینا)
- Ferdowsi (Tajik: Фирдавсӣ, Firdavsi; Persian: فردوسی)
- Ismail Samani (Tajik: Исмоили Сомонӣ, Ismoili Somoni; Persian: اسماعیل سامانی)
- Shah Mansur (Tajik: Шоҳмансур, Shohmansur; Persian: شاه منصور)
International relations
Twin towns – Sister cities
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See also
References
- ↑ Population of the Republic of Tajikistan as of 1 January, State Statistical Committee, Dushanbe, 2012 (Russian)
- 1 2 Dushanbe in Persian language
- 1 2 D. Saimaddinov, S. D. Kholmatova, and S. Karimov, Tajik-Russian Dictionary, Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tajikistan, Rudaki Institute of Language and Literature, Scientific Center for Persian-Tajik Culture, Dushanbe, 2006.
- ↑ Dushanbe in Dictionary of Geographic Names (Russian)
- 1 2 "Regions: Dushanbe & Surroundings". Official Website of the Tourism Authority of Tajikistan. Committee of Youth Affairs, Sports and Tourism. Retrieved 10 May 2013.
- ↑ "Dushanbe: History". Lonely Planet. Retrieved 10 May 2013.
- ↑ Ethnic rioting in Dushanbe, New York Times, 13 February 1990. Retrieved 18 October 2008
- 1 2 Updated Asian map of the Köppen climate classification system
- ↑ Tajikistan: Citizens Ponder Bleak Future Amid Harsh Winter | Eurasianet.Org
- ↑ "TAJIKISTAN - DUSHANBE". Centro de Investigaciones Fitosociológicas. Retrieved 10 November 2011.
- ↑ "Climatological Normals of Dushanbe". Hong Kong Observatory. Retrieved 13 February 2014.
- ↑ "Directory: World Airlines." Flight International. 30 March-5 April 2004. 78. "Titov Street 31/2, Dushanbe Airport, Dushanbe, 734006, Tajikistan."
- ↑ "Contacts." Somon Air. Retrieved on 4 December 2010. "Contacts: 40, Titova Str. Dushanbe, Tajikistan, 734012." Address in Tajik: "734012, Таджикистан, Душанбе, ул. Титова, 40" Archived 29 January 2013 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ "Tallest unsupported flagpole". Guinness World Records. 24 May 2011. Retrieved 14 December 2011.
- ↑ Migrant Express Part 1: Good-bye Dushanbe , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBSardpSH0E
- ↑ Shar-Shar auto tunnel links Tajikistan to China, The 2.3 km (1 mi) Shar-Shar car tunnel linking Tajikistan and China opened to traffic on Aug. 30.,Siyavush Mekhtan, 2009-09-03, http://centralasiaonline.com/en_GB/articles/caii/features/2009/09/03/feature-06
- ↑ Chormaghzak Tunnel renamed Khatlon Tunnel and Shar-Shar Tunnel renamed Ozodi Tunnel, 12/02/2014 15:49, Payrav Chorshanbiyev, http://news.tj/en/news/chormaghzak-tunnel-renamed-khatlon-tunnel-and-shar-shar-tunnel-renamed-ozodi-tunnel
- ↑ Genesis 1987, USSR
- ↑ Population of the Republic of Tajikistan as of 1 January, State Statistical Committee, Dushanbe, 2008 (Russian)
- ↑ "Twin-cities of Azerbaijan". Azerbaijans.com. Retrieved 2013-08-09.
- ↑ "Twin towns and Sister cities of Minsk [via WaybackMachine.com]" (in Russian). The department of protocol and international relations of Minsk City Executive Committee. Archived from the original on 2 May 2013. Retrieved 2013-07-21.
17: "The Cardinal of the Kremlin" by Tom Clancy 1988
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dushanbe. |
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Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Dushanbe. |
- Pictures of Dushanbe
- Dushanbe pictures through eyes of westerner
- Tajik Web Gateway
- Boulder-Dushanbe Sister Cities
- www.dushanbeairport.com – Dushanbe International Airport unofficial website (English)
- Dushanbe - TimeLapse
Dushanbe travel guide from Wikivoyage
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