TAJIKISTAN-2021/BRILLIANT OF THE EAST/ENGLISH

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The land that is now Tajikistan has been inhabited continuously since 4000 B.C.E. Sogdiana, Bactria, Merv and Khorasan were the four principal divisions of ancient Central Asia inhabited by the ancestors of the present-day Tajiks, who are now found only in historic Bactria and Sogdiana. Bactria was located in northern Afghanistan between the Hindu Kush mountain range and the Amu Darya river, and some areas of south Tajikistan. Bactria was a center of various kingdoms or empires, and is probably where Zoroastrianism originated.
During the Achaemenid period (550 B.C.E. to 329 B.C.E.), Sogdiana was a province of the Persian Empire. Tajikistan cities Panjakent and Istarawshan were founded in that period.
The name “Tajikistan” means the “Land of the Tajiks." The word "Tajik" may come from the name of a pre-Islamic tribe, and means "crown" or "royalty." Tajikistan frequently appeared as Tadjikistan or Tadzhikistan in English, though when pronounced in English many Tajiks say "Tojikiston." To distinguish between the nationality and the ethnicity, some sources use the adjective Tajikistani for the citizens of Tajikistan.
With an area of 55,251 square miles (143,100 square kilometres), Tajikistan is the smallest nation in Central Asia by area. It is slightly smaller than Wisconsin in the United States. Its maximum east-to-west extent is 435 miles (700 kilometers), and its maximum north-to-south extent is 217 miles (350 kilometers).
The Pamir-Alay mountain system covers more than 50 percent of the country and is over 10,000 feet (3000 meters) above sea level. That system includes two of the three highest elevations in the former Soviet Union: Lenin Peak at 23,405 feet (7134 meters) and Ismail Samani Peak at 24,589 feet (7495 meters). The mountains contain numerous glaciers, the largest of which, Fedchenko Glacier, covers more than 270 square miles (700 square kilometers) and is the largest glacier in the world outside the polar regions.
The only areas of lower land are in the north, which is part of the Fergana Valley, the most densely populated region in Central Asia, which spreads across northern Tajikistan from Uzbekistan on the west to Kyrgyzstan on the east, and in the southern Kafirnigan and Vakhsh valleys, which form the Amu Darya and have much higher rainfall. Rivers bring rich soil deposits into the Fergana Valley from the surrounding mountains, creating a series of fertile oases prized for agriculture.
The largest rivers are the Syr Darya and the Amu Darya. The Amu Darya and Panj rivers mark the border with Afghanistan, and Tajikistan's mountains are the major source of water for the Aral Sea. Tajikistan’s second largest river, the Vakhsh, was dammed at several points for irrigation and electric power generation, most notably at Norak (Nurek), east of Dushanbe, where one of the world's highest dams forms the Norak Reservoir. Numerous factories were built along the Vakhsh.
Most of Tajikistan's lakes are of glacial origin and are located in the Pamir region. The largest, the Qarokul, is a salt lake devoid of life, lying at an elevation of 13,780 feet (4200 meters).
The capital city Dushanbe, formerly Dyushambe or Stalinabad, with a population of 562,000, is located on the southern slopes above the Kafirnigan valley. The name is derived from the Persian word for "Monday" and refers to the fact that it was a popular Monday marketplace. The second largest city is Khujand, situated on the Syr Darya river at the mouth of the Fergana Valley, with a population of 149,000.
Climate
Tajikistan's climate is continental, subtropical, and semiarid, with some desert areas. The climate changes drastically according to elevation. The Fergana Valley and other lowlands are shielded by mountains from Arctic air masses, but temperatures in that region still drop below freezing for more than 100 days a year. In the subtropical south-western lowlands, which have the highest average temperatures, the climate is arid, although some sections now are irrigated for farming. At Tajikistan's lower elevations, the average temperature range is 73°F to 86°F (23°C to 30°C) in July and 30°F to 37°F ( -1° to 3°C) in January. In the eastern Pamirs, the average July temperature is 41°F (5°C), and the average January temperature is 5°F to –4°F (-15° to -20°C).
Tajikistan is the wettest of the Central Asian republics, with the average annual precipitation for the Kafiristan and Vakhsh valleys in the south being around 20 to 24 inches (500mm to 600mm), and up to 60 inches (1500mm) in the mountains. At the Fedchenko Glacier, as much as 88 inches (2236mm) of snow falls each year. Most precipitation occurs in the winter and spring.
Because Tajikistan lies in an active seismic belt, severe earthquakes are common.

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