Dushanbe

Dushanbe was the location of a large bazaar that operated every Monday (in Tajiki Persian: Душанбе old sc. دوشنبه‎ lit. 'the second day [دو‎ du] following Saturday [شنبه‎ shanbe]') named simply Душанбе Бозор Dushanbe-Bazar (o. s. دوشنبه بازار‎) In late 1929, the city was renamed Stalinabad (the city of Stalin), but was reverted late 1961 as a result of de-Stalinization.

In the Stone Age, Mousterian tool-users inhabited the Hisar Valley near modern-day Dushanbe. The Hisar 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 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 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) east of Dushanbe in Qiblai, as the city was controlled by the Achaemenids from the sixth century BC. …

Dushanbe is situated at the confluence of two rivers, the Varzob (flowing from north to south) and the Kofarnihon. It is 750 metres (2,460 ft)–930 metres (3,050 ft) above sea level; in the south and west, the elevation is closer to 750 metres (2,460 ft)–800 metres (2,600 ft), while in the north and northeast it reaches 900 metres (3,000 ft)–950 metres (3,120 ft). The north and east of the city is bounded by the Hisar range, which can reach up to 4,000 metres (13,000 ft) above sea level, and is bounded on the south by the Babatag, Aktau, Rangontau and Karatau mountains which reach a height from 1,400 metres (4,600 ft)–1,700 metres (5,600 ft) above sea level; Dushanbe, therefore, is an intermontane basin located in the Hisar Valley. It has a primarily hilly terrain. …

Culture in Dushanbe, first developed during the period of Bukharan rule, grew under the Soviet Union, which established many of the first cultural institutions of the city. After independence, Dushanbe's culture went in a more nationalist direction. During the 19th century, shashmaqam was the most prevalent musical genre in Tajikistan. While Soviet authorities labeled it as "music composed for the Emir" and repressed it, in modern times it has gained greater popularity. During the Soviet period, the Soviet Union encouraged the development of music in Dushanbe, a less culturally crowded place then typical Russian megacities. Revolutionary songs, like the Marseillaise, were promoted and translated into Tajik. The Tajik Philharmonic Society was founded in 1938; today, it is named after Akasharif Juraev. …

In 2018, the gross regional product (GRP) of Dushanbe was 13,808,000,000 somoni, equaling approximately $1,508,900,000, with a growth rate of 7.3%. That comprised 20.1% of the overall GDP of Tajikistan. In the first half of 2020, the GRP of Dushanbe was 20.7% of the GDP of the country. The average salary of the city as of 2014 is 1402.67 somoni, or $147.18. As the center of financial activity of the republic, Dushanbe housed more than 30 commercial banks in 2004. Dushanbe has extensive international trade. Exports from Dushanbe consisted of $8,343,200 during the first half of 2019, and overall foreign trade turnover was $398,080,900 in 2018. The primary countries Dushanbe exports to are Turkey (42.8% of the total), Iran (28.0%), Russia (10.8%), Afghanistan (7.3%), China (1.2%), Poland (1.2%), and others. For imports, Russia makes up 54.5% of the total, Kazakhstan 13.5%, China 6. …

Rashid Beck Ahriev and Peter Komarov piloted the first flight to the city from Bukhara on 3 September 1924 on a Junkers F-13; the service ran three times a week from small airfield on modern day Rudaki Avenue. In 1927, the second air route in the Soviet Union opened from Tashkent to Samarkand to Termez to Dushanbe on the Junkers F-13, two years before the introduction of automobiles and five before the railway. A small Stalinabad airport was created, and in 1930 a first-class airport was constructed in the city. The first scheduled flight from the city began in 1945 on the Li-2. The state airline, Tojikiston - now known as Tajik Air - was created in 1949. In the 50s and 60s, many new aircraft were introduced to the Tajik Civil Air Fleet. The Tajik Civil Aviation Administration won first place in the USSR for efficiency in the 1980s. …