Dushanbe panorama 07.jpg

Dushanbe ( tg, Душанбе, ; ; russian: Душанбе) is the capital and largest city of Tajikistan. , Dushanbe had a population of 863,400 and that population was largely Tajik. Until 1929, the city was known in Russian as Dyushambe (russian: Дюшамбе, ''Dyushambe''), and from 1929 to 1961 as Stalinabad ( tg, Сталинобод, Stalinobod), after Joseph Stalin. Dushanbe is located in the Gissar Valley, bounded by the Gissar Range in the north and east and the Babatag, Aktau, Rangontau and Karatau mountains in the south, and has an elevation of 750–930 m. The city is divided into four districts, all named after historical figures: Ismail Samani, Avicenna, Ferdowsi, and Shah Mansur.

In ancient times, what is now or is close to modern Dushanbe was settled by various empires and peoples, including Mousterian tool-users, various neolithic cultures, the Achaemenid Empire, Greco-Bactria, the Kushan Empire, and the Hephthalites. In the Middle Ages, more settlements began near modern-day Dushanbe such as Hulbuk and its famous palace. From the 17th century to the early 20th, Dushanbe grew into a market village controlled at times by the Beg of Hisor, Balkh, and finally Bukhara, before being conquered by the Russian Empire. Dushanbe was captured by the Bolsheviks in 1922, and the town was made the capital of the Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1924, which commenced Dushanbe's development and rapid population growth that continued until the Tajik Civil War. After the war, the city became capital of an independent Tajikistan and continued its growth and development into a modern city, today home to many international conferences.

Dushanbe's modern culture had its start in the 1920s, where Soviet music, opera, theater, sculpture, film, and sports all began. Music, primarily shashmaqam before the Soviet invasion, took off in the city due to Russian influence and local opera houses and symphonies. Tajik figures such as Sadriddin Ayni contributed greatly to the development of Dushanbe's literature, which went through many changes during and after the Soviet period. Theater and film both saw their beginnings in the 1930s and were heavily influenced by Soviet trends. The architecture of Dushanbe, once neoclassical, transitioned to a minimalist and eventually modern style. The city is a center for newspapers, radio stations, and television of the country, with almost 200 newspapers and more than a dozen television studios operating in 1999.

Much of Dushanbe's education system dates from Soviet times and has a legacy of state control; today the largest university in Dushanbe, the Tajik National University, is funded by the government. Dushanbe International Airport is the primary airport serving the city. Other forms of transport include the trolleybus system dating from 1955, the small rail system, and the roads that traverse the city. Dushanbe's electricity is primarily hydroelectric, produced by the Nurek Dam, and the aging water system dates from 1932. Tajikistan's healthcare system is concentrated in Dushanbe, meaning that the major hospitals of the country are in the city. The city makes up 20% of Tajikistan's GDP and has large industrial, financial, retail, and tourism sectors. Parks and main sights of the city include Victory Park, Rudaki Park, the Tajikistan National Museum, the Dushanbe Flagpole, and the Tajikistan National Museum of Antiquities.

Etymology

Dushanbe was the location of a large bazaar that operated on Mondays. This gave rise to the name ''Dushanbe-Bazar'' ( tg, Душанбе Бозор, ''Dushanbe Bozor'') from ''Dushanbe'', which means ''Monday'' in the Persian language – literally, the second day (du) following Saturday (shanbe). Its previous name was Stalinabad (the city of Stalin).

History

Ancient times

In the Stone Age, Mousterian tool-users inhabited the Gissar Valley near modern-day Dushanbe. The Gissar culture, whose stone tools were discovered within modern-day Dushanbe at the confluence of the Varzob and Luchob, Bishkent culture, and Vakhsh culture all were thought to have inhabited the valley in the second millennium BC, during the Neolithic period, and were primarily involved in cattle breeding, agriculture, and weaving.

Near the Dushanbe International Airport, Bronze Age burials were discovered dating from the end of the second to the beginning of the first millennium BC. Achaemenid dishes and ceramics were found east of Dushanbe in Qiblai, as the city was controlled by the Achaemenids from the sixth century BC. Archaeological remnants of a small citadel dating to the fifth century BC have been discovered south and wedge-shaped copper axes have been discovered from the second century BC.

The Seleucids conquered the region in 312 BC. A small Greco-Bactrian settlement of about was dated to the end of the third century BC. The oldest coin found in the city is a Greco-Bactrian coin depicting Eucratides (r. 171–145 BC) and another was found depicting Dionysus. There was also a Kushan city on the left bank of the Varzob river to 3rd century AD containing burial sites from the time period. The Kushans created other settlements such as Garavkala, Tepai Shah, Shakhrinau, and Uzbekontepa. The Sasanian Empire invaded Sogdiana in the fifth century, possibly giving coins as tribute to the Kidarites which ended up on the site of today's city.

The ruins of a Buddhist monastery of the Hephalite period of the late fifth to sixth century, now referred to as Ajina Tepe, lie in the Vaksh valley near Dushanbe. Other settlements from the Tokharistan period have also been discovered, like the town of Shishikona that was destroyed during the Soviet era and depopulated during the Mongol invasion. International trade picked up during this period in the region. A castle was also discovered dating from the time period. In 582, the Western Turkic Khaganate gained control over the region. In the seventh century, a Chinese pilgrim visited the region and mentioned the city of Shuman, possibly on the site of modern Dushanbe.

After the Arab conquest, the Samanids controlled the region, which was involved in crafts and trade, and in the 10th-12th centuries the medieval city of Hulbuk developed near Dushanbe, which notably contained the palace of the governor of Khulbuk, "an artistic treasure of the Tajik people", among other smaller medieval settlements like Shishikhona. The Kharakhanids minted coins from 1018 to 1019 found in the city. The city came under the influence of the Ghurids from the 12th to 13th centuries.

Other smaller settlements were founded during the Late Middle Ages after the Mongol invasion, such as Abdullaevsky and Shainak. Timur conquered the region during this time period and various other empires controlled the city. The city's economy started to rely more heavily on crafts and trade.

File:Bishkent culture.jpg, Bishkent culture
File:Vakhsh culture.jpg, Vakhsh culture
File:Kara-Khanid Khanate.png, Kara-Khanid Khanate
File:Greco-BactrianKingdomMap.jpg, Greco-Bactria

Market town

The first time Dushanbe appeared in the historical record was in 1676, in a letter sent from the Balkh khan Subhonquli Bahodur to Fyodor III, the Tsar of Russia. However, the Balkh historian Mahmud ibn Wali mentioned the area in the 1630s in the book ''Sea of Secrets Regarding the Values of the Noble''. At first, the town was called "Kasabai Dushanbe", when it was under the control of Balkh. This name reflected both Dushanbe's status as a town, with Kasabai meaning town, and the influence of trade, as the name Dushanbe, which means Monday in Persian, was due to the large bazaar in the village that operated on Mondays. Dushanbe's location between the caravan routes heading east–west from the Gissar Valley through Karategin to the Alay Valley, and north–south to the Kafirnigan River and then to Vaksh Valley and Afghanistan through the Anzob Pass from the Fergana and Zeravshan valleys that ultimately led traders to Bukhara, Samarkand, the Pamirs, and Afghanistan incentivized the development of its market. At the time, the town had a population of around 7,000–8,000 with around 500–600 households.

By 1826, the town was called ''Dushanbe Qurghan'' ( tg, Душанбе Қурғон, ''Dushanbe Qurghon'', with the suffix ''qurƣon'' from Turkic ''qurğan'', meaning "fortress"). It was first Russified as ''Dyushambe'' () in 1875. It had a caravanserai, a stopping point for travelers to Samarkand, Khujand, Kulob and the Pamirs. It boasted 14 mosques with maktabs, 2 madrassas, and 14 teahouses at the turn of the 19th century. At that time, the town was a citadel on a steep bank on the left bank of the Varzob River