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 Tajikistan| Facts & Figures |
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| President: Imomali Rakhmonov (1992) Prime Minister: Akil Akilov
(1999) Land area: 55,251 sq mi (143,100 sq km);
total area: 55,251 sq mi (143,100 sq km) Population (2010 est.): 7,487,489 (growth
rate: 1.8%); birth rate: 26.5/1000; infant mortality rate: 39.8/1000;
life expectancy: 65.7; density per sq mi: 128
Capital and largest city (2003 est.):
Dushanbe, 817,100 (metro. area), 590,300 (city
proper) Other large city:
Khodzhent (Leninabad), 156,500 Monetary
unit: somoni More Facts & Figures |
Republic of Tajikistan
GeographyNinety-three percent of Tajikistan's territory is mountainous, and the
mountain glaciers are the source of its rivers. Tajikistan is an
earthquake-prone area. The republic is bounded by China in the east,
Afghanistan to the south, and Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan to the west and
north. The central Asian republic also includes the Gorno-Badakh Shan
Autonomous region. Tajikistan is slightly larger than the state of
Illinois.
GovernmentRepublic.
HistoryThe Tajiks, whose language is nearly identical with Persian, were part
of the ancient Persian Empire that was ruled by Darius I and later
conquered by Alexander the Great (333
B.C.
). In
the 7th and 8th centuries, Arabs conquered the region and brought Islam.
The Tajiks were successively ruled by Uzbeks and then Afghans until
claimed by Russia in the 1860s. In 1924, Tajikistan was consolidated into
a newly formed Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, which was
administratively part of the Uzbek SSR until the Tajik ASSR gained
full-fledged republic status in 1929.
Tajikistan declared its sovereignty in Aug. 1990. In 1991, the
republic's Communist leadership supported the attempted coup against
Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev. Tajikistan joined with ten other
former Soviet republics in the Commonwealth of Independent States on Dec.
21, 1991. A parliamentary republic was proclaimed and presidential rule
abolished in Nov. 1992. After independence, Tajikistan experienced
sporadic conflict as the Communist-dominated government struggled to
combat an insurgency by Islamic and democratic opposition forces. Despite
continued international efforts to end the civil war, periodic fighting
continued. About 60,000 people lost their lives in Tajikistan's civil war.
The conflict ended officially on June 27, 1997, with the signing in Moscow
of peace accords between the government of President Imomali Rakhmonov and
the United Tajik Opposition (UTO), a coalition of largely Islamic groups.
Since then, however, peace has been tenuous, marred regularly by killing
sprees by various opposition groups.
In 2005 parliamentary elections, the president's governing party
received 80% of the votes; international monitors pronounced them
irregular. President Rakhmonov won a third term in the Nov. 2006
elections, which were boycotted by opposition parties. Since he came to
power ten years ago, he has shut down the country's independent media and
jailed opposition leaders. His government has also been accused of
numerous human rights abuses and corruption.
See also
Encyclopedia:
Tajikistan
.
U.S. State Dept. Country Notes:
Tajikistan
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