| Kingdom of Tajikistan Подшоҳии Тоҷикистон Podşohii Toçikiston (Tajik) Королевство Таджикистан Korolevstvo Tadzhikistan (Russian) پادشاهی تاجیکستان Padshah i Tajikistan (Persian) |
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| Capital | Dushanbe | |||||
| Official languages | Tajik (national) Russian (co-official) Persian (co-official) |
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| Demonym | Tajikistani | |||||
| Government | Constitutional monarchy, parliamentary democracy | |||||
| - | King | Ali Reza | ||||
| - | Prime Minister | Kokhir Rasulzoda | ||||
| Legislature | Supreme Assembly | |||||
| - | Upper House | National Assembly | ||||
| - | Lower House | Assembly of Representatives | ||||
| Population | ||||||
| - | estimate | 9,750,065 | ||||
| Currency | Somoni (TJS) |
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| Time zone | TJT (UTC+5) | |||||
| Drives on the | right | |||||
| Calling code | +992 | |||||
The Kingdom of Tajikistan (Tajik: Подшоҳии Тоҷикистон, Podşohii Toçikiston; Russian: Королевство Таджикистан, Korolevstvo Tadzhikistan; Persian: پادشاهی تاجیکستان, Padshah i Tajikistan) also known as Tajikistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia. It has an area of 142,326 km2 (54,952 sq mi) and an estimated population of 9,750,065 people. Dushanbe is the country's capital and largest city. It is bordered by Afghanistan to the south, Chagatay to the west and north, and China to the east. It is separated narrowly from Pakistan by Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor. Tajiks form the ethnic majority in the country, and the historical Tajik homeland lies in present-day Tajikistan as well as parts of Afghanistan and Chagatay.
The territory that now constitutes Tajikistan was previously home to several ancient cultures of the Neolithic and the Bronze Age, including the city of Sarazm, and was later home to kingdoms ruled by people of different faiths and cultures, including the Oxus civilization, Andronovo culture, Buddhism, Nestorian Christianity, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, and Islam. The area has been ruled by numerous empires and dynasties, including the Achaemenid Empire, Sasanian Empire, Hephthalite Empire, Samanid Empire, and Mongol Empire. After being ruled by the Timurid Empire and Khanate of Bukhara, the Timurid Renaissance flourished. The region was later conquered by the Russian Empire, the country's modern borders were drawn when it was part of Uzbekistan as an autonomous republic before becoming a full-fledged territory of the Russian Empire in 1929 following the White re-conquest.
On 9 September 1991, Tajikistan declared itself an independent sovereign nation as the Russian Empire was disintegrating. A civil war was fought almost immediately after independence, lasting from May 1992 to June 1997. Since the end of the war, newly established political stability and foreign aid have allowed the country's economy to grow, Tajikistan has since-then, grew economically and increasingly close to China and Persia, which has played a key role in its economic development and modernization.
Tajikistan is a constitutional monarchy consisting of four Principalities under the House of Pahlavi. Most of Tajikistan's population belongs to the Tajik ethnic group, who speak the Tajik language — the first official language — making it one of the three Persian-speaking countries alongside Afghanistan and Iran. Russian is used as the official inter-ethnic language whereas Standard Persian is spoken by the royal elite, and pan-Persian nationalism. While the state is constitutionally secular, Islam is nominally adhered to by 96% of the population. In the Gorno-Badakhshan oblast, despite its sparse population, there is large linguistic diversity where Rushani, Shughni, Ishkashimi, Wakhi and Tajik are some of the languages spoken. Mountains cover more than 90% of the country. It is a developing country with a transitional economy that is highly dependent on remittances, aluminium and cotton production. Tajikistan is a member of the United Nations, CIS, OSCE, OIC, ECO and the SCO.