Capital City: Dushanbe
Tajikistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia that borders Afghanistan to the south, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and Uzbekistan to the west and northwest. The ancient Silk Road passed through it. The nation is unique in that the majority culture is non-Turkic, unlike its neighbors to the north and west and east. Tajikistan is the poorest country out of the former soviet states, the poorest country in Central Asia and one of the world's poorest, largely owing to a devastating civil war that broke out shortly after independence in 1991.

» Climate

Mid-latitude continental, hot summers, mild winters; semiarid to polar in the Pamir Mountains.

» Terrain

The Pamir and Alay Mountains dominate Tajikistan's landscape. The western Fergana Valley is in north, and the Kofarnihon and Vakhsh Valleys are in the southwest.
The country's lowest point is at Syr Darya (300 m), and its highest point is at Qullai Ismoili Somoni (7,495 m).