t three centuries ago when it was supplanted by a form of Persian.[10] Thus, the ancient Kamboja, probably included the Badakshan, Pamirs and northern territories including the Yaghnobi region in the doab of the Oxus and Jaxartes.[11] On the east it was bounded roughly by Yarkand and/or Kashgar, on the west by Bahlika (Uttaramadra), on the northwest by Sogdiana, on the north by Uttarakuru, on the southeast by Darada, and on the south by Gandhara. Numerous Indologists locate original Kamboja in Pamirs and Badakshan and the Parama Kamboja further north, in the Trans-Pamirian territories comprising Zeravshan valley, north up parts of Sogdhiana/Fargana — in the Sakadvipa or Scythia of the classical writers.[12] Thus, in the pre-Buddhist times (7th–6th century BCE), the parts of modern Tajikistan including territories as far as Zeravshan valley in Sogdiana formed parts of ancient Kamboja and the Parama Kamboja kingdoms when it was ruled by the Kambojas till it became part of Persian Achaemenid Empire. After the Persian Empire was defeated by Alexander the Great, the region became the northern part of Hellenistic Greco-Bactrian Kingdom. Dushanbe government building From the last quarter of fourth century BCE until the first quarter of the second century BCE, it was part of the Bactrian Empire, from whom it was passed on to Scythian Tukharas and hence became part of Tukharistan. Contact with the Chinese Han Dynasty was made in the second century BCE, when envoys were sent to the area of Bactria to explore regions west of China. Arabs brought Islam in the 7th century CE[citation needed]. The Samanid Empire supplanted the Arabs and enlarged the cities of Samarkand and Bukhara, which became the cultural centers of Tajiks (both of which are now in Uzbekistan). The Mongols would later take partial control of Central Asia, and later the land that today comprises Tajikistan became a part of the Emirate of Bukhara. A small community of Jews, displaced from the Middle East after the Babylonian captivity, migrated to the region and settled there after 600 BCE, though the majority of the recent Jewish population did not migrate to Tajikistan until the 20th century. Russian presence See also: The Great Game In the 19th century, the Russian Empire began to spread into Central Asia during the Great Game. Between 1864 and 1885 it gradually took control of the entire territory of Russian Turkestan from today's border with Kazakhstan in the north to the Caspian Sea in the west and the border with Afghanistan in the south. Tajikistan was eventually carved out of this territory, which historically had a large Tajik population. After the overthrow of Imperial Russia in 1917, guerrillas throughout Central Asia, known as basmachi, waged a war against Bolshevik armies in a futile attempt to maintain independence. The Bolsheviks prevailed after a four-year war, in which mosques and villages were burned down and the population heavily suppressed. Soviet authorities started a campaign of secularization, practicing Muslims, Jews, and Christians were persecuted,[citation needed] and mosques, churches, and synagogues were closed. Soviet Tajikistan Main article: Tajik SSR The Palace of Unity (Vahdat Palace) In 1924, the Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was created as a part of Uzbekistan, but in 1929 the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic (Tajik SSR) was made a separate constituent republic. The predominantly ethnic Tajik cities of Samarkand and Bukhara remained in the Uzbek SSR. Between 1926 and 1959 the proportion of Russians among Tajikistan's population grew from less than 1% to 13%.[13] In terms of living conditions, education and industry Tajikistan was behind the other Soviet Republics. In the 1980s, it had the lowest household saving rate in the USSR,[14] the lowest percentage of households in the two top per capita income groups,[15] and the lowest rate of university graduates per 1000 people.[16] By the late 1980s Tajik nationalists were calling for increased rights. Real disturbances did not occur within the republic until 1990.[citation needed] The following year, the Soviet Union collapsed, and Tajikistan declared its independence. The first nation to establish an embassy in Dushanbe was Iran, which was also one of the first countries to immediately recognize Tajikistan as an independent state in 1991. Post-independence See also: Civil war in Tajikistan The nation almost immediately fell into a civil war that involved various factions fighting one another; these factions were often distinguished by clan loyalties. The non-Muslim population, particularly Russians and Jews, fled the country during this time because of persecution, increased poverty and better economic opportunities in the West or in other former Soviet republics. Emomalii Rahmon came to power in 1994, and continues to rule to this day. Ethnic cleansing was controversial during the civil war in Tajikistan. By the end of the war Tajikistan was in a state of complete devastation. The estimated dead numbered over 100,000. Around 1.2 million people were refugees inside and outside of the country.[17] In 1997, a ceasefire was reached between Rahmon and opposition parties (United Tajik Opposition). Peaceful elections were held in 1999, but they were reported by the opposition as unfair, and Rahmon was re-elected by almost unanimous vote. Russian troops were stationed in southern Tajikistan, in order to guard the border with Afghanistan, until summer 2005. Since the September 11, 2001 attacks, American, Indian and French troops have also been stationed in the country. Politics Main article: Politics of Tajikistan See also: Elections in Tajikistan, Foreign relations of Tajikistan, and Human rights in Tajikistan President of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon Almost immediately after independence, Tajikistan was plunged into a civil war that saw various factions, allegedly backed by Russia and Iran, fighting one another. All but 25,000 of the more than 400,000 ethnic Russians, who were mostly employed in industry, fled to Russia. By 1997, the war had cooled down, and a central government began to take form, with peaceful elections in 1999. "Longtime observers of Tajikistan often characterize the country as profoundly averse to risk and skeptical of promises of reform, a political passivity they trace to the country’s ruinous civil war," Ilan Greenberg wrote in a news article in The New York Times just before the country's November 2006 presidential election.[18] Tajikistan is officially a republic, and holds elections for the President and Parliament. It is, however, a one party dominant system, where the People's Democratic Party of Tajikistan routinely has a vast majority in Parliament. The parliamentary elections in 2005 aroused many accusations from opposition parties and international observers that President Emomali Rahmon corruptly manipulates the election process. The most recent elections, in February 2010, saw the ruling PDPT lose 4 seats in Parliament, yet still maintain a comfortable majority. OSCE election observers said the 2010 polling "failed to meet many key OSCE commitments" and that "these elections failed on many basic democratic standards."[19][20] The government insisted that only minor violations had occurred, which would not affect the will of the Tajik people.[19][20] The presidential election held on November 6, 2006 was boycotted by "mainline" opposition parties, including the 23,000-member Islamic Renaissance Party. Four remaining opponents "all but endorsed the incumbent", Rahmon.[18] Tajikistan has given Iran its support in Iran's membership bid to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, after a meeting between the Tajik President and the Iranian foreign minister.[21] Administrative divisions Main articles: Provinces of Tajikistan and Districts of Tajikistan Tajikistan consists of 4 administrative divisions. These are the provinces (viloyat) of Sughd and Khatlon, the autonomous province of Gorno-Badakhshan (abbreviated as GBAO), and the Region of Republican Subordination (RRP – Raiony Respublikanskogo Podchineniya in transliteration from Russian or NTJ – ???????? ????? ??????? in Tajik; formerly known as Karotegin Province). Each region is divided into several districts (Tajik: ?????, nohiya or raion), which in turn are subdivided into jamoats (village-level self-governing units) and then villages (qyshloqs). As of 2006, there were 58 districts and 367 jamoats in Tajikistan.[22] Division ISO 3166-2 Capital Area (km²) Pop (2008) Sughd TJ-SU Khujand 25,400 2,132,100 Region of Republican Subordination TJ-RR Dushanbe 28,600 1,606,900 Khatlon TJ-KT Qurghonteppa 24,800 2,579,300 Gorno-Badakhshan TJ-BG Khorugh 64,200 218,000 Source: Population and area from State Statistical Committee of Tajikistan.[22] Geography Main article: Geography of Tajikistan Satellite photograph of Tajikistan Mountains of Tajikistan Fann Mountains Tajikistan is landlocked, and is the smallest nation in Central Asia by area. It is covered by mountains of the Pamir range, and more than fifty percent of the country is over 3,000 meters (9,800 ft) above sea level. The only major areas of lower land are in the north (part of the Fergana Valley), and in the southern Kofarnihon and Vakhsh river valleys, which form the Amu Darya. Dushanbe is located on the southern slopes above the Kofarnihon valley. Mountain Height Location Ismoil Somoni Peak (highest) 7,495 m 24,590 ft     North-western edge of Gorno-Badakhshan (GBAO), south of the Kyrgyz border Ibn Sina Peak (Lenin Peak) 7,174 m 23,537 ft     Northern border in the Trans-Alay Range, north-east of Ismoil Somoni Peak Peak Korzhenevskaya 7,105 m 23,310 ft     North of Ismoil Somoni Peak, on the south bank of Muksu River Independence Peak (Revolution Peak) 6,974 m 22,881 ft     Central Gorno-Badakhshan, south-east of Ismoil Somoni Peak Akademiya Nauk Range 6,785 m 22,260 ft     North-western Gorno-Badakhshan, stretches in the north-south direction Karl Marx Peak 6,726 m 22,067 ft     GBAO, near the border to Afghanistan in the northern ridge of the Karakoram Range Mayakovskiy Peak 6,096 m 20,000 ft     Extreme south-west of GBAO, near the border to Afghanistan. Concord Peak 5,469 m 17,943 ft     Southern border in the northern ridge of the Karakoram Range Kyzylart Pass 4,280 m 14,042 ft     Northern border in the Trans-Alay Range The Amu Darya and Panj rivers mark the border with Afghanistan, and the glaciers in Tajikistan's mountains are the major source of runoff for the Aral Sea. There are over 900 rivers in Tajikistan longer than 10 kilometers. About 2% of the country's area is covered by lakes, the best known of which are the following: Kayrakum (Qairoqqum) Reservoir (Sughd) Iskanderkul (Fann Mountains) Kulikalon (Kul-i Kalon) (Fann Mountains) Nurek Reservoir (Khatlon) Karakul (Tajik: Qarokul; eastern Pamir) Sarez (Pamir) Shadau Lake (Pamir) Zorkul (Pamir) Lesser known lakes (all in the Pamir region) include Bulunkul Drumkul Rangkul Sasykkul Shorkul Turumtaikul Tuzkul Yashilkul Economy Main article: Economy of Tajikistan See also: Agriculture in Tajikistan A young man selling dried fruit at a local market Children in Tajikistan Tajikistan was the poorest republic of the Soviet Union and is the poorest country in Central Asia as well as in the former Soviet Union today. With foreign revenue precariously dependent upon exports of cotton and aluminum, the economy is highly vulnerable to external shocks. In FY 2000, international assistance remained an essential source of support for rehabilitation programs that reintegrated former civil war combatants into the civilian economy, thus helping keep the peace. International assistance also was necessary to address the second year of severe drought that resulted in a continued shortfall of food production. In 2006 GDP per capita of Tajikistan was 85% of 1990s level.[23] While population has increased from 5.3 mln in 1991 to 7.3mln in 2009 On August 21, 2001, the Red Cross announced that a famine was striking Tajikistan, and called for international aid for Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Tajikistan's economy grew substantially after the war. The GDP of Tajikistan expanded at an average rate of 9.6 % over the period of 2000–2007 according to the World Bank data. This improved Tajikistan's position among other Central Asian countries (namely Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan), which seem to have degraded economically ever since.[24] Tajikistan is an active member of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO). The recently completed Anzab tunnel which connects the previously hard to access Northern part of the country to the capital Dushanbe has been labeled as part of the new Silk Road. It is part of a road under construction that will connect Tajikistan to Iran and the Persian Gulf through Afghanistan. A new bridge between Afghanistan and Tajikistan has been built which will help the country have access to trade lines with South Asia. The bridge was built by the United States.[25] The primary sources of income in Tajikistan are aluminium production, cotton growing and remittances from migrant workers.[26] Aluminium industry is represented by the state-owned Talco - the biggest aluminium plant in Central Asia and one of the biggest in the world.[27] Tajikistan has great hydropower potential, and has focused on attracting investment for projects for internal use and electricity exports. Tajikistan is home to the hydroelectric power station Nurek with the highest dam in the world.[28] The latest development is the Russia's RAO UES energy giant working on Sangtuda-1 hydroelectric power station (670 MW capacity) commenced operations on 18 January 2008.[29][30] Other projects at the development stage include Sangtuda-2 by Iran, Zerafshan by Chinese SinoHydro and Rogun power plant with a projected dam height of 335 metres (1,099 ft),[31][32] Other energy resources include sizable coal deposits and smaller reserves of natural gas and petroleum. Tajik family celebrating Eid Foreign remittance flows from Tajik migrant workers abroad, mainly in Russia, has become by far the main source of income for millions of Tajikistan's people and represents additional 36.2 % of country's GDP directly reaching the poverty-stricken population.[33] According to some estimates about 20% of the population lives on less than US$1.25 per day.[34] Migration from Tajikistan and the consequent remittances have been unprecedented in their magnitude and economic impact. Tajikistan has achieved transition from a planned to a market economy without substantial and protracted recourse to aid (of which it by now receives only negligible amounts), and by purely market-based means, simply by exporting its main commodity of comparative advantage — cheap labor.[35] The World Bank Tajikistan Policy Note 2006 concludes that remittances have played an important role as one of the drivers of Tajikistan's robust economic growth during the past several years, have increased incomes, and as a result helped significantly reduce poverty.[36] Drug trafficking is the major illegal source of income in Tajikistan as it is an important transit country for Afghan narcotics bound for Russian and, to a lesser extent, Western European markets; some opium poppy is also raised locally for the domestic market.[37] However with the increasing assistance from international organizations, such as UNODC, and cooperation with the US, Russian, EU and Afghan authorities a level of progress on the fight against illegal drug-trafficking is being achieved.[38] Tajikistan holds third place in the world for heroin and raw opium confiscations (1216.3 kg of heroin and 267.8 kg of raw opium in the first half of 2006).[39][40] Drug money corrupts the country's government; according to some experts the well-known personalities that fought on both sides of the civil war and have held the positions in the government after the armistice was signed are now involved in the drug trade.[37] UNODC is working with Tajikistan to strengthen border crossings, provide training, and set up joint interdiction teams. It also helped to establish Tajikistani Drug Control Agency.[41] Demographics Main article: Demographics of Tajikistan Demographic map of Tajikistan. Tajikistan has a population of 7,349,145 (July 2009 est.).[4] Tajiks who speak the Tajik language (a variety of Persian) are the main ethnic group, although there is a sizable minority of Uzbeks and Russians, whose numbers are declining due to emigration.[42] In 1989, ethnic Russians made up 7.6% of the population.[43] The Pamiris of Badakhshan are considered to belong to the larger group of Tajiks. All citizens of Tajikistan are called Tajikistanis[4] The official and vernacular language of Tajikistan is Tajik. The constitution mentions Russian as the "language for interethnic communication"[44] even if its use is banned in government documents.[2] Nevertheless it is widely used in business and other fields. Despite its poverty, Tajikistan has a high rate of literacy with an estimated 99.5% of the population having the ability to read and write.[4] The majority of the population follow Sunni Islam. There is also a sizeable minority of Ismailis and following increased nationalism after the 1992–1997 Civil War, a growing interest in and conversions to Zoroastrianism. Bukharian Jews had lived in Tajikistan since the 2nd century BC, but today almost none are left. There is also a small population of Yaghnobi people who have lived in the mountainous district of Sughd Viloyat for many centuries. The German population in Tajikistan was 38,853 in 1979.[45] Nearly one million Tajik men worked abroad in 2009.[46] Health The state's Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare reported that 104,272 disabled people are registered in Tajikistan (2000). This group of people suffers most from poverty in Tajikistan. The government of Tajikistan and the World Bank considered activities to support this part of the population described in the World Bank's Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper.[47] Public expenditure on health was at 1 % of the GDP in 2004.[48] In the early 2000s, there were 203 physicians per 100,000 people.[48] Infant mortality was 59 for 1,000 live births in 2005.[48] Tajikistan is the only country in world where polio is on the increase. From zero cases in 2008 and 2009, 141 out of 237 cases worldwide has been reported in 2010. Culture Main article: Culture of Tajikistan Tajik woman in national dress See also: Music of Tajikistan, Public holidays in Tajikistan, and Cuisine of Tajikistan Historically, Tajiks and Persians come from very similar stock, speaking variants of the same language and are related as part of the larger group of Iranian peoples. The Tajik language is the mother tongue of around 80% of the citizens of Tajikistan. The main urban centers in today's Tajikistan include Dushanbe (the capital), Khujand, Kulob, Panjakent and Istaravshan. The Pamiri people of Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province in the southeast, bordering Afghanistan and China, though considered part of the Tajik ethnicity, nevertheless are distinct linguistically and culturally from most Tajiks. In contrast to the mostly Sunni Muslim residents of the rest of Tajikistan, the Pamiris overwhelmingly follow the Ismaili sect of Islam, and speak a number of Eastern Iranian languages, including Shughni, Rushani, Khufi and Wakhi. Isolated in the highest parts of the Pamir Mountains, they have preserved many ancient cultural traditions and folk arts that have