Tajikistan

Dushanbe , is the capital and largest city of Tajikistan. Dushanbe means Monday in the Tajik language. It was so named because it grew from a village that originally had a popular market on Mondays. Until 1929, the city was known in Russian as Dyushambe , and from 1929 to 1961 as Stalinabad. 

Situated at the confluence of two rivers, Varzob and Kofarnihon, Dushanbe is the capital of Tajikistan. Although archaeological remnants dating to the 5th century BC have been discovered in the area, there is little to suggest that Dushanbe was more than a small village until the early 20th century.

The first written mention of the village Dushanbe found at the end of 1676. It was at the crossroads, where a large bazaar occurred on Mondays, hence the name Dushanbe-Bazar from Dushanbe, which means Monday in the Persian language. In the village, there were more than 500 households and a population of about 8,000 people.

Source: Wikipedia

Thanks to my friend Nathan who sent this card 

from his Central Asian travels. This was the 2nd Tajik

card I'd received but the first one with a real stamp on it :)

Sent: 21 October 2014   Received: 12 November 2014  Travelled: 22 days

Buzkashi - A famous Central Asian sport

Buzkashi (literally "goat dragging" in Persian), also known as kokpar kupkari and ulak tartysh is the Central Asian sport in which horse-mounted players attempt to drag a goat or calf carcass toward a goal. It is the national sport of Afghanistan, although it was banned under the Taliban regime. Traditionally, games could last for several days, but in its more regulated tournament version, it has a limited match time.
Today buzkashi is played by several Central Asian ethnic groups and in Northern parts of Pakistan, Kyrgyz, Pashtuns, Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Uyghurs, Hazaras, Tajiks, and Turkmens. In the West, the game is also played by Afghani Turks (ethnic Kyrgyz) who migrated to Ulupamir village in the Van district of Turkey from the Pamir region. In western China, there is not only horse-back buzkashi, but also yak buzkashi among Tajiks of Xinjiang.
Source: Wikipedia

Thanks to Matthew for this beautiful card from Tajikistan!

Sent: March 2016   Received: 4 May 2016  

Tajik man

 Tajikistan means the "Land of the Tajiks". The suffix "-stan"is Persian for "place of" or "country" and Tajik is, most likely, the name of a pre-Islamic (before the seventh century A.D.) tribe.According to the Library of Congress's 1997 Country Study of Tajikistan, it is difficult to definitively state the origins of the word "Tajik" because the term is "embroiled in twentieth-century political disputes about whether Turkic or Iranian peoples were the original inhabitants of Central Asia.
The earliest recorded history of the region dates back to about 500 BCE when much, if not all, of modern Tajikistan was part of the Achaemenid Empire.Some authors have also suggested that in the 7th and 6th century BCE parts of modern Tajikistan, including territories in the Zeravshan valley, formed part of Kambojas before it became part of the Achaemenid Empire. After the region's conquest by Alexander the Great it became part of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, a successor state of Alexander's empire. Northern Tajikistan (the cities of Khujand and Panjakent) was part of Sogdia, a collection of city-states which was overrun by Scythians and Yuezhi nomadic tribes around 150 BCE. The Silk Road passed through the region and following the expedition of Chinese explorer Zhang Qian during the reign of Wudi (141–87 BCE) commercial relations between Han China and Sogdiana flourished. Sogdians played a major role in facilitating trade and also worked in other capacities, as farmers, carpetweavers, glassmakers, and woodcarvers.
Source: Wikipedia

Thanks to Matthew for my third postcard from Tajikistan! (I forgot to blog about the

second one that arrived in 2014) Someday I hope I get the chance to revisit Central Asia

and set foot into Tajikistan to see the Pamir mountains. 

Sent: 20 January 2016    Received: 16 March 2016   Travelled: 56 days

Tajikistan

Most of Tajikistan's population belongs to the Persian-speaking Tajik ethnic group, who share language, culture and history with Afghanistan and Iran. Once part of the Samanid Empire, Tajikistan became a constituent republic of the Soviet Union in the 20th century, known as the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic (Tajik SSR). Mountains cover more than 90% of the republic. After independence, Tajikistan suffered from a devastating civil war which lasted from 1992 to 1997. Since the end of the war, newly established political stability and foreign aid have allowed the country's economy to grow. Trade in commodities such as cotton, aluminium and uranium has contributed greatly to this steady improvement.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An awesome card with the map and flag of Tajikistan :)

Thank you very much Parvina!

Sent: 21 January 2014,   Received: 10 March 2014   Travelled: 48 days