We have now made it to Tajikistan, the last of our five central Asia republics on this trip. Tajikistan declared its sovereignty over a year before it officially withdrew from the USSR. Unfortunately, after gaining independence from Russia, a civil war broke out that lasted for about five years. The civil war was between the Communist-dominated government and an insurgency by Islamic and democratic opposition forces. Some 60,000 people died in the civil war and it was not ended until June 27, 1997. The communist party is still Tajikistan’s second largest political party. Peace has been in place since 1997 but the country has not been without violent sprees by various opposition groups.

Ninety-three percent of Tajikistan is mountainous and its mountain glaciers are the source of the primary rivers in central Asia. Over half the country is above almost 9,400 feet elevation. This area has a history going back some 3,000 years. Tajikistan is slightly larger than the state of Illinois. The Tajik people were once part of the Persian Empire, then under Alexander the Great, then the Arabs brought Islam, then ruled by the Uzbeks, the Afghans, and eventually the Russians in the 1860’s.

Khujand (pron. Who John) is one of the oldest cities in Central Asia, probably founded in the 7th or 6th century BC. It was located on the Silk Road connecting Samarkand with the Fergana Valley. It was conquered by Alexander the Great and destroyed by Genghis Khan. Khujand is an important industrial, scientific, and cultural center for northern Tajikistan.

Our first stop in Khujand was Independence Square. It is an unusual building which you can see in the first photo. It was very underdeveloped with lots of empty space but it did have an elevator and stairway to get up to near the top. The next three photos were taken from the top of this museum, looking out over Khujand.

You can see the main river in the second photo. One of Tajikistan’s greatest assets might be its water. You will also notice that you will see mountains in all three photos.

I put in the last photo just to show Tajikistan and all of its mountains. Khujand is in the green section on the left in the photo, which is north. In a couple of days, we crossed the three large mountain ranges to get to the middle of the right green section in the photo and the capital of Dushanbe.