Dushanbe Dushanbe Dushanbe (, ) is the capital and largest city of Tajikistan. Dushanbe means "Monday" in the Tajik language. It was named this way because it grew from a village that originally had a popular market on Mondays. , Dushanbe had a population of 802,700. Historically a small village, Dushanbe was made the capital of the Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1924. Until 1929, the city was known in Russian as Dyushambe (, "Dyushambe"), and from 1929 to 1961 as Stalinabad (, "Stalinobod)" which was named after Joseph Stalin. Situated at the confluence of two rivers, Varzob and Kofarnihon,
Dushanbe the area the next year. At the beginning of 1922, the town was taken by Basmachi troops led Enver Pasha, but on 14 July 1922 again came under the power of the Bolsheviks and was proclaimed the capital of the Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic as a part of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic in 1924. A Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic separate from the Uzbek SSR was created in 1929, and its capital Dyushambe was renamed "Stalinabad" (Russian: ; Tajik: "Stalinobod") for Joseph Stalin on 16 October 1929. In the years that followed, the city developed at a rapid pace.