Today we head to Tajikistan, a central Asian country, and although it is larger than Greece, it’s still the smallest nation in Central Asia. Tajikistan borders Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and China. This is exactly what makes it interesting, as Tajikistan is a country at the crossroads of so many differing cultures.

Tajikistan was previously part of the Russian empire and then the Soviet Union. Since a civil war after independence, Tajikistan has been ruled by President Emomali Rahmon who has ruled over an authoritarian regime since 1994. In the Economist's democracy index report of 2020, Tajikistan is placed 160th, after Saudi Arabia, as an "authoritarian regime”. It’s unsurprising that in the most recent election president President Emomali Rahmon swept up more than 90% of the vote.

In April 2021 there were border clashes between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan over water - the first clashes since independence.

Looking at the map you can see Tajikistan has some particularly messy borders with Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan with enclaves and exclaves.

Tajikistan is a very mountainous country with more than half of the country lying above 3000 metres. 93% of Tajikistan is considered mountainous. That’s a lot of mountains to find names for - such as the mountain dubbed the “Lenin Peak” that reaches a dizzying height of 7134 m. Lenin Peak isn’t Tajikistan’s highest mountain though, that is Ismoil Somani which reaches 7495 m.

While we’re on the topic of mountainous superlatives, Tajikistan is home to the world’s longest glacier outside of the polar regions. The Fedchenko Glacier is 77 km long.

Tajikistan is also home to the Nurek Dam, the second tallest dam in the world at 304 metres built to provide hydroelectric power and supplies 98% of Tajikistan’s electricity.

Other than having fantastic geography for hydroelectric power, Tajikistan’s biggest export is Aluminium, cotton and dried apricots.

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