Dushanbe

Dushanbe is the capital and largest city of Tajikistan. Dushanbe means "Monday" in the Tajik language, and the name reflects the fact that the city grew on the site of a village that originally was a popular Monday marketplace. Until 1929, the city was known as Dyushambe, and from 1929 to 1961 Dushanbe was known as Stalinabad (Tajik: Сталинобод). As of 2008, Dushanbe has a population of 679,400 people.