Q 01/05

What is the capital and largest city of Tajikistan?

A) Dushanbe

B) Bishkek

C) Bukhara

D) Khujand

Answer · why

A) Dushanbe

From 1929 to 1961 it was called Stalinabad. When it became capital in 1924 it was a village of about a thousand people.

Q 02/05

The name of Tajikistan's capital means what in Persian?

A) New city

B) Two rivers

C) Monday

D) Mountain gate

Answer · why

C) Monday

Literally 'the second day after Saturday'. It grew from a village whose bazaar was held every Monday on the caravan routes between Bukhara and Afghani...

Q 03/05

Roughly what share of Tajikistan is covered by mountains?

A) About 70%

B) About 30%

C) About 50%

D) More than 90%

Answer · why

D) More than 90%

Most of the country lies above 3,000 metres in the Pamirs. Its glaciers feed the Amu Darya and, ultimately, the shrinking Aral Sea.

Q 04/05

Which country lies along Tajikistan's southern border, marked by the Amu Darya and Panj rivers?

A) Kyrgyzstan

B) Afghanistan

C) Kazakhstan

D) Uzbekistan

Answer · why

B) Afghanistan

Only Afghanistan's narrow Wakhan Corridor separates Tajikistan from Pakistan. Russian troops guarded the frontier until 2005.

Q 05/05

In which year did Tajikistan declare independence from the Soviet Union?

A) 2001

B) 1991

C) 1994

D) 1997

Answer · why

B) 1991

Independence Day is 9 September. Within months the country slid into a civil war that lasted until 1997.