Tajikistan is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia, bordered by Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and China. Pakistan lies to the south separated by the narrow Wakhan Corridor. Its territory was previously home to several ancient cultures, including the city of Sarazm of the Neolithic and the Bronze Age, and was later home to kingdoms ruled by people of different faiths and cultures, including the Oxus civilization, Andronovo culture, Buddhism, Nestorian Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and Manichaeism.
Before being conquered by the Russian Empire in the late 19th, the area has been ruled by numerous empires and dynasties, including the Achaemenid Empire, Sassanian Empire, Hephthalite Empire, Samanid Empire, Mongol Empire, and Timurid dynasty. As a result of the breakup of the Soviet Union Tajikistan became an independent nation in 1991. A civil war was fought almost immediately after independence, lasting from 1992 to 1997.
It is covered by mountains of the Pamir range, and more than fifty percent of the country is over 3,000m above sea level. The only major areas of lower land are in the north (part of the Fergana Valley), and in the southern Kofarnihon and Vakhsh river valleys, which form the Amu Darya. The Amu Darya and Panj rivers mark the border with Afghanistan, and the glaciers in Tajikistan's mountains are the major source of runoff for the Aral Sea.
Tajikistan is the poorest country in Central Asia, 47% of its GDP coming from immigrant remittances (mostly from Tajiks working in Russia). Tajiks who speak Tajik (a dialect of Persian) are the main ethnic group (though there are more Tajiks in Afghanistan than in Tajikistan), but there are sizable minorities of Uzbeks and Russians. The majority of the population follow Sunni Islam.
The capital and largest city of Tajikistan is Dushanbe (which means "Monday" in the Tajik language), until the early 20th century just a small village situated at the confluence of rivers Varzob and Kofarnihon. Among Dushanbe's main sights are the Presidential Palace, the Dushanbe Flagpole (the second tallest free-standing flagpole in the world, with a height of 165m), the monument of Amir Ismail Samani, and the column in Rudaki Park.
The State Emblem of Tajikistan (in the right) is a modified version of the original emblem of the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic. The crown at the center of the emblem is the same as the Tajik national flag, and refers to the Persian word taj, meaning crown. The base of the emblem contains a representation of a book and the Pamir Mountains. The emblem is flanked by cotton on one side and wheat on the other, as well a banner of the national red-white-green colors of Tajikistan is wrapped around the cotton and wheat.
About the stamp
The stamp is part of the series Mobile communication of Tajikistan, about which I wrote here.
References
Tajikistan - Wikipedia
Sender: Ashuraliev Halimjon (direct swap)
Sent from Shaydan (Asht / Tajikistan), on 11.04.2015
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