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Gorno-Badakhshan, officially the Badakhshan Mountainous Autonomous Region,,
abbr. An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...
/ is an autonomous
region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...
in eastern
Tajikistan Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...
, in the
Pamir Mountains The Pamir Mountains are a mountain range between Central Asia and Pakistan. It is located at a junction with other notable mountains, namely the Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, Hindu Kush and the Himalaya mountain ranges. They are among the wor ...
. It makes up nearly forty-five percent of the country's land area, but only two percent of its population.''Population of the Republic of Tajikistan as of 1 January 2008'', State Statistical Committee, Dushanbe, 2008


Name

The official English name of the autonomous region is the Badakhshan Mountainous Autonomous Region. The name "Badakhshan" (russian: Бадахшан, Badakhshan; tg, Бадахшон, Badaxşon) is derived from the
Sasanian The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...
title or . "Gorno-Badakhshan" literally means "mountainous Badakhshan" and is derived from the Russian name of the autonomous region, . The Russian abbreviation "GBAO" is also commonly used in English-language publications by national and international bodies such as the government of Tajikistan and the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...
.


History

Prior to 1895, several semi-self governing statelets, including Darwaz, Shughnun-Rushan and Wakhan, ruled over the territories that are today a part of Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region in Tajikistan and
Badakhshan Province Badakhshan Province (Persian/ Uzbek: , ''Badaxšān'') is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Tajikistan's Gorno-Badakhshan in the north and the Pakistani regions of Lowe ...
in
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...
. The territory was claimed by the Chinese and Russian empires, as well as the Emirate of Afghanistan. The Chinese claimed control over the entire
Pamir Mountains The Pamir Mountains are a mountain range between Central Asia and Pakistan. It is located at a junction with other notable mountains, namely the Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, Hindu Kush and the Himalaya mountain ranges. They are among the wor ...
. In the 1890s, the Chinese, Russian, and Afghan governments signed a series of agreements which divided Badakhshan, but China nonetheless continued to contest these borders. The
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
government established Gorno-Badakhshan in January 1925 as an autonomous republic, and later in 1929 as an autonomous oblast, of the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic (Tajik SSR). During the 1950s, the native inhabitants of Gorno-Badakhshan, mostly ethnic
Pamiris The Pamiris, russian: Пами́рцы, Pamírtsy, zh, s=帕米尔人, p=Pàmǐ'ěrrén, ur, are an Eastern Iranian ethnic group, native to the Badakhshan region of Central Asia, which includes the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region of T ...
, were forcibly relocated to southwestern Tajikistan. Gorno-Badakhshan absorbed some of the territory of the Gharm Oblast when that territory was dissolved in 1955. When the Tajik Civil War broke out in 1992, the local government in Gorno-Badakhshan declared independence from Tajikistan. During the civil war, many Pamiris were targeted for killings by rival groups and Gorno-Badakhshan became a bastion of the opposition. The Gorno-Badakhshan government later backed down from its calls for independence. In 2011, Tajikistan ratified a 1999 treaty to cede of land in the Pamir Mountains to the
People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
(PRC), ending a 130-year-old border dispute and China's claims to over of Tajik territory. However, the government of the
Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeas ...
(ROC) based in
Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...
does not recognize this treaty and continues to claim the territory, as reflected in its official maps. A number of violent clashes and demonstrations have occurred in the region since the end of the civil war, with major incidences of civil unrest in 2012, 2014, 2018, 2021, and 2022. Clashes erupted on 24 July 2012 between the Tajik military and militants loyal to the former warlord Tolib Ayombekov, after Ayombekov was accused of murdering a Tajik general. On 18 May 2022, around 200 anti-government demonstrators blocked a road in
Rushon Rushon ( tg, Рӯшон, russian: Рушан ''Rushan'', fa, روشان, Pamiri: Ręxon) is a village and the seat of Rushon District of Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region in southeastern Tajikistan. The jamoat has a total population of 6,577 ( ...
which led to the regional capital Khorugh. Some of the demonstrators later ambushed a security convoy on the same road, resulting in the deaths of eight militants and one officer, the injuries of 13 officers, and the arrests of 70 assailants. The Tajik interior ministry stated that the attack was an attempt to "destabilise the social and political situation" in the region.


Districts and geography

Darvoz District is the western "beak" of the province. West-central Gorno-Badakhshan is mostly a series of east–west mountain ranges separated by valleys of rivers that flow into the
Panj River The Panj (russian: Пяндж; fa, رودخانه پنج) (; tg, Панҷ, پنج), traditionally known as the Ochus River and also known as ''Pyandzh'' (derived from its Russian name "Пяндж"), is a tributary of the Amu Darya. The river ...
. The districts correspond the river valleys. Murghob District occupies the eastern half of the province and is mostly a desolate plateau with high mountains on the west. The districts of Gorno-Badakhshan are: * Darvoz District (westernmost, north) *
Vanj District tg, ناحیه ونج , nickname = , motto = , image_skyline = , imagesize = , image_caption = , image_flag = , flag_size = , image_seal = ...
(west, north) *
Rushon District tg, Ноҳияи Рӯшон , nickname = , motto = , image_skyline = , imagesize = , image_caption = , image_flag = , flag_size = , image_seal ...
(west, center) * Shughnon District (west, center) * Roshtqal'a District (west, south) * Ishkoshim District (west, southernmost) * Murghob District (eastern two-thirds) Gorno-Badakhshan covers the entire eastern part of Tajikistan and borders China's
Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
to the east, Afghanistan's
Badakhshan Province Badakhshan Province (Persian/ Uzbek: , ''Badaxšān'') is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Tajikistan's Gorno-Badakhshan in the north and the Pakistani regions of Lowe ...
to the south, and Kyrgyzstan's
Osh Region Osh Region ( ky, Ош облусу, translit=Osh oblusu; russian: Ошская область, Oshskaya oblast) is a region ('' oblast'') of Kyrgyzstan. Its capital is Osh, which is not part of the region. It is bounded by (clockwise) Jalal-Abad ...
to the north. Within Tajikistan, Gorno-Badakhshan's western border is with the Districts of Republican Subordination (DRP) and the tip of its southwestern finger ( Darvoz District) borders Khatlon Region. The highest elevations in the region are in the
Pamir Mountains The Pamir Mountains are a mountain range between Central Asia and Pakistan. It is located at a junction with other notable mountains, namely the Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, Hindu Kush and the Himalaya mountain ranges. They are among the wor ...
(notably Mount Imeon), nicknamed "the roof of the world" by locals. Three of the five 7,000 meter summits in
Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the fo ...
are located here, including Ismoil Somoni Peak (formerly Communism Peak, and, before that, Stalin Peak; 7,495 m),
Ibn Sina Peak Lenin Peak or Ibn Sina (Avicenna) Peak ( ky, Ленин Чокусу, ''Lenin Choqusu'', لەنىن چوقۇسۇ; russian: Пик Ленина, ''Pik Lenina''; tg, қуллаи Ленин , ''qulla‘i Lenin/qullaji Lenin'', renamed қулла� ...
(formerly Lenin Peak, and still known by that name on its Kyrgyz flank; 7,134 m), and Peak Korzhenevskaya (7,105 m).


Demographics

The population of Gorno-Badakhshan slightly declined from 206,004 to 205,949 between the censuses in 2000 and 2010. The population as of 2019 is estimated at 226,900. According to the State Statistical Committee of Tajikistan, the main ethnic group in Gorno-Badakhshan are
Pamiris The Pamiris, russian: Пами́рцы, Pamírtsy, zh, s=帕米尔人, p=Pàmǐ'ěrrén, ur, are an Eastern Iranian ethnic group, native to the Badakhshan region of Central Asia, which includes the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region of T ...
. The remainder of the population is ethnic
Kyrgyz Kyrgyz, Kirghiz or Kyrgyzstani may refer to: * Someone or something related to Kyrgyzstan *Kyrgyz people *Kyrgyz national games *Kyrgyz language *Kyrgyz culture *Kyrgyz cuisine *Yenisei Kirghiz *The Fuyü Gïrgïs language in Northeastern China ...
and other nationalities. The largest city in Gorno-Badakhshan is Khorugh, with a population of 30,300 (2019 ); Murghab is the second largest, with about 4,000 residents. Gorno-Badakhshan is home to a number of distinct languages and dialects of the
Pamir languages The Pamir languages are an areal group of the Eastern Iranian languages, spoken by numerous people in the Pamir Mountains, primarily along the Panj River and its tributaries. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Pamir language family was ...
group. The Pamiri language speakers represented in Gorno-Badakshan are speakers of Shughni, Rushani, Wakhi, Ishkashimi, Sarikoli, Bartangi, Khufi, Yazgulyam, and Oroshani. Vanji, formerly spoken in the
Vanj River The Vanj ( tg, Ванҷ, russian: Ванч ''Vanch'') is a river in east Tajikistan. It is a right tributary of the Panj in Vanj District, north-western Gorno-Badakhshan. The river is long and has a basin area of .Kyrgyz speakers in the Murghab district. Russian and Tajik are also widely spoken throughout Gorno-Badakhshan. The majority religion in Gorno-Badakhshan is Ismaili Shi'ite and adherence to the Aga Khan is widespread.


Government


Soviet era

The First Secretary of the Gorno–Badakhshan Regional Committee of the Communist Party of Tajikistan was the highest position in the region during the Soviet era.


List of first secretaries


Since independence

The Chairman of the Badakhshan Mountainous Autonomous Region is the head of the regional government. They are appointed by the
President of Tajikistan The president of Tajikistan is the head of state and de facto head of government of the Republic of Tajikistan. The president heads the executive branch of the country's federal government and is the supreme commander in chief of the Armed Fo ...
.


List of chairmen


Transport

Only two easily navigable roads connect Gorno-Badakhshan to the outside world, Khorugh–Osh and Khorugh–Dushanbe, both of which are segments of the Pamir Highway. A third road from Khorugh to
Tashkurgan Tashkurgan ( ug, تاشقورغان بازىرى; zh, s=塔什库尔干镇, p=Tǎshíkù'ěrgān Zhèn; ) is a town in the far northwest of China, close to the country's border with Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. It is the principal to ...
in China through the Kulma Pass is very rough. Gorno-Badakhshan is separated from the
Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
i territories of
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the northwestern region of the country, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ...
and Gilgit Baltistan by the narrow, but nearly impassable, Wakhan Corridor. Another road leads from Khorugh to Wakhan and across the Afghan border.


Energy

In 2019, the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...
and
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...
, in coordination with Tajikistan, committed 37 million euros to finance the construction of an 11 MW run-of-the-river hydro power plant along the Shokhdara river. The project is intended to also supply energy to Badakhshan, Afghanistan.


Sports

Khorugh is the highest location where bandy is played.


Notable individuals

* Qimmatgul Aliberdiyeva *
Savsan Bandishoeva Savsan Bandishoeva (January 21, 1922 – April 14, 2002) was a Tajikistani actress and singer of the Soviet Union, Soviet era. Bandishoeva was born into a farm family in the village of Vomari in the Rushon District. Her stage career began in 1938 i ...
* Nobovar Chanorov * Nazarsho Dodkhudoev *
Akbarsho Iskandrov Akbarsho Iskandarov (born 1 August 1951) is a Tajik politician who was twice acting president of Tajikistan Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of T ...
* Davlat Khudonazarov * Mirsaid Mirshakar * Muboraksho Mirzoshoyev * Qozidavlat Qoimdodov * Nuqra Rahmatova * Shodi Shabdolov * Sabzajon Shoismoilova * Shirinsho Shotemur *
Khudoyor Yusufbekov Khudoyor Yusufbekovich Yusufbekov (russian: Худоер Юсуфбекович Юсуфбеков, tg, Худоёр Юсуфбеков; December 10, 1928 — November 27, 1990) was a Soviet Union, Soviet scientist and organizer of scientific pr ...
* Gurminj Zavkibekov


See also

* Extreme points of Tajikistan *
Tajik National Park Tajik National Park ( tg, Боғи миллии Тоҷикистон; russian: Таджикский национальный парк) is a national park and nature reserve in eastern Tajikistan. It was established in 1992 and expanded in 2001 to ...


Notes


References


Further reading

* * *


External links


Map of the Gorno-Badakhshan region of Tajikistan


{{Authority control Regions of Tajikistan States and territories established in 1925 1925 establishments in the Soviet Union Autonomous regions Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic Autonomous oblasts of the Soviet Union