Ancient times 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.
Achaemenid dishes and ceramics were found east of Dushanbe in Qiblai, as the city was controlled by the Achaemenids from the sixth century BC. and wedge-shaped copper axes have been discovered from the second century BC. The
Seleucids conquered the region in 312 BC. A small
Greco-Bactrian settlement of about was dated to the end of the third century BC. The oldest coin found in the city is a Greco-Bactrian coin depicting
Eucratides (r. 171–145 BC) and another was found depicting
Dionysus. There was also a
Kushan city on the left bank of the
Varzob river from the
2nd century BC to
3rd century AD containing burial sites from the time period. The Kushans created other settlements such as Garavkala, Tepai Shah, Shakhrinau, and Uzbekontepa. The
Sasanian Empire invaded
Sogdiana in the fifth century, possibly giving coins as tribute to the
Kidarites which ended up on the site of today's city. The ruins of a Buddhist monastery of the
Hephthalite period of the late fifth to sixth century, now referred to as
Ajina Tepe, lie in the
Vakhsh valley near Dushanbe. Other settlements from the
Tokharistan period have also been discovered, like the town of Shishikona that was destroyed during the
Soviet era and depopulated during the
Mongol invasion.
International trade picked up during this period in the region. A castle was also discovered dating from the time period. In 582, the
Western Turkic Khaganate gained control over the region. After the
Arab conquest, the
Samanids controlled the region, which was involved in crafts and trade, The
Kharakhanids minted coins from 1018 to 1019 found in the city. The city came under the influence of the
Ghurids from the 12th to 13th centuries. At first, the town was called "Kasabai Dushanbe" ( қасабаи Душанбе), when it was under the control of
Balkh. This name reflected both Dushanbe's status as a town, with Kasaba meaning town, and the influence of trade, as the name Dushanbe, which means Monday in Persian, was due to the large
bazaar in the village that operated on Mondays. Dushanbe's location between the
caravan routes heading east–west from the
Hisar Valley through
Karategin to the
Alay Valley, and north–south to the
Kafirnigan River and then to
Vakhsh Valley and
Afghanistan through the
Anzob Pass from the
Fergana and
Zeravshan valleys that ultimately led traders to
Bukhara,
Samarkand,
the Pamirs, and
Afghanistan incentivized the development of its market. At the time, the town had a population of around 7,000–8,000 with around 500–600 households. It was a center for
weaving,
tanning, and
iron smelting production in the region. Various states, including
Hisor, exercised control over the city during the 18th and early 19th century despite Bukharan claims of sovereignty. In 1868, the
Tsarist government established suzerainty over Bukhara. In the unstable environment of Russian intervention and local revolts, Bukhara took over the Dushanbe region, control over which the Emirate was able to sustain through the gradual establishment of a Russian-influenced centralized state. The first hospital in the village was constructed in 1915 by Russian investment and an early railroad was proposed to connect the market town with the Russian railway system in 1909, but was abandoned after a review determined the venture would not be profitable, although the town did have a functioning railroad to
Kagan. In 1920, the
last Emir of Bukhara briefly took refuge in Dushanbe after being overthrown by the
Bolshevik revolution. After the
Red Army conquered the area the next year, he fled to Afghanistan on 4 March 1921. In February 1922, the town was taken by
Basmachi troops led by
Enver Pasha after a siege, soon before the death of Enver Pasha on 4 August 1922 outside of Dushanbe.
Capital of the Tajik ASSR is in light purple Dushanbe was proclaimed the capital of the
Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic as a part of the
Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic in October 1924, and the government started to function formally on 15 March 1925. Dushanbe was chosen instead of larger-populated villages in
Tajikistan because of its role as a crossroads of Tajikistan for its large market served as a meeting place for much of Tajikistan's population. Along with its market, there was a lively
livestock trade as well as trade in
fabrics,
leather,
tin products, and
weapons. The population during Soviet conquest and
Basmachi revolts declined from an already meager 3,140 in 1920 to only 283 in 1924 with only 40 houses still standing. To aid in the recovery, the Soviet authorities temporarily exempted much of the population from having to pay taxes. In 1923, the Soviets created Dushanbe's first telegraph link to
Bukhara, initiated its first railroad to
Termez, On 12 August 1924, the first
newspaper of the town,
Voice of the East (Russian:
Овози Шарк), was published in Arabic and soon after a
Russian-language paper,
Red Tajikistan (Russian:
Красный Таджикистан), began publication.
Power plants and
electricity were introduced to Dushanbe during this time. By the end of 1924, the first regular plane routes from Dushanbe came into operation, with one connection to
Bukhara and later one to
Tashkent. The
post office was also set up that year. Industry during the time period was limited, focused on local production, although it had expanded by nine times since 1913 by 1940. Tajik Parliament House, Dushanbe, Tajikistan.JPG|Former Supreme Soviet Building Dushanbe, Tajikistan - panoramio (19).jpg|Former Central Committee Building, demolished in 2021 Many of these projects occurred under the 1925–1932 mayoralty of
Abdukarim Rozykov, one of the first mayors of Dushanbe, who sought to transform it into a "model communist city" through modernization and
urban planning.
Mikhail Kalitin continued the industrial development of Dushanbe, building the Komsomolskoye Lake and promoting industry in the city. Towards the end of this period, in the late 1930s, there were 4,295 buildings in Dushanbe. During
World War 2, the population of Dushanbe and Tajikistan swelled with 100,000 evacuees from the
Eastern Front that led to the deployment of 17 hospitals in the city. and the Stalinabad Pedagogical Institute for Woman, established on 1 September 1953. In 1960, gas supply reached the capital through a gas pipeline opened from
Kyzyl to
Tumxuk to Dushanbe. On 10 November 1961, as part of
de-Stalinization, Stalinabad was renamed back to Dushanbe, the name it retains to this day. In 1960, under the leadership of
Mahmudbek Narzibekov,
the first zoo was built in the city. Later in the decade the mayor developed a plan to end the housing shortage and provide free apartments. On 2 August 1979, the population of Dushanbe reached 500,000,
Riots and unrest In the 1980s, environmental problems and crime began to increase. Mass violence, hooliganism, binge drinking, and violent assaults became more common. There was an attack on foreign students at the
Agricultural Institute in 1987 and a riot in the Pedagogical Institute two years later. Increasing regionalism also destabilized the
SSR. On 10–11 February 1990, 300 demonstrators gathered at the Communist Party Central Committee building after it was rumored that
the Soviet government planned to relocate tens of thousands of
Armenian refugees to
Tajikistan. In reality, only 29 Armenians went to Dushanbe and were housed by their family members. However, the crowd kept growing in size to 3-5 thousand people; soon after, violence broke out.
Martial law was quickly declared and troops were sent in to protect
ethnic minorities and defend against vandalism and looting. The number of people protesting increased significantly, however, and they attacked the Central Committee building. The 29
Armenians were quickly evacuated on an emergency flight after shots were fired. The riots were largely fueled by concerns about housing shortages for the Tajik population, but they coincided with a wave of nationalist unrest that swept
Transcaucasia and other Central Asian states during the twilight of
Mikhail Gorbachev's rule. After the increase of organized opposition from the
Democratic Party of Tajikistan and
Rastokhez,
glasnost by
Gorbachev, economic contraction, and increased opposition by regional elites,
Qahhor Mahkamov disbanded the
Communist Party of Tajikistan on 27 August 1991 and quit the party the next day. On 9 September 1991, Tajikistan's government declared independence from the Soviet Union.
Capital of Tajikistan Dushanbe became the capital of an independent Tajikistan on 9 September 1991. Most of the Russian population fled the capital during the violence of this time period while large amounts of rural Tajiks moved in; by 1993, more than half of the Russian population had fled. The factions during the civil war were organized primarily upon
regional lines. In 2000, Dushanbe received internet access for the first time.
Mahmadsaid Ubaidulloev was declared
mayor of Dushanbe in 1996, after during the
civil war era many said he was in real control of the government. He was the mayor of the capital for the longest term of any mayor, 21 years, until 2017. In January 2017,
Rustam Emomali, current
President Emomali Rahmon's son, was appointed
Mayor of Dushanbe, a move which is seen by some analysts as a step to reaching the top of the government. == Geography ==