Today, looking at the developing independent Tajikistan, one cannot say what a rich and vibrant history this unique nation has left behind.
The settlement of today's territory of Tajikistan began from time immemorial.
The Mesolithic (X-VII millennium BC) includes two cultural layers of the Tutkaul settlement near Nurek found by archaeologists. The settlement of the highlands began in the Stone Age. This is evidenced by the camp of wandering hunters - Oshkhona - in the Eastern Pamirs, at an altitude of 4200 m. In the grotto of Shakhta, rock paintings dating back to the early Neolithic were found; they depict animals pierced by arrows and figures of hunters. The ancestors of the Tajiks were engaged not only in hunting, but in cattle breeding and agriculture.
The history of the political system in Tajikistan dates back to the first half of the 1st millennium BC, when the most ancient slave-owning states of Central Asia - Bactria and Sogd - arose. Bactria included the central, southern, and eastern parts of present-day Tajikistan (south and southeast of the Gissar Range), while Sogd included the Zeravshan and Kashkadarya basins and regions north of the Gissar Range.
In the VI century BC. Bactria and Sogd were conquered by the Persian king Cyrus and entered his mighty Achaemenid empire.
This is followed by a series of wars of conquest, as a result of which in the 4th century BC these fertile lands became part of the state of Alexander the Great, in the 3rd century BC. Seleucid states. Later, the Greco-Bactrian kingdom came out of the Seleucid state, which included the territory of modern Tajikistan.
In the middle of the 2nd century, local tribes were freed from the hated Greek yoke. In this they are helped by alien nomadic tribes - Tochars. They become the legislators of the political life of the country. And from the 4th century Bactria began to be called Tokharistan. By the way, according to scientists, it was at this moment that the Tajik nationality began to form.
After Tokharistan, together with most of the territory of Central Asia, Afghanistan and Northern India, enters the Kushan Empire, a new page begins in the history of this long-suffering state. The influx into the Kushan kingdom had a beneficial effect on the development of the Central Asian tribes. In these years, culture flourishes, the economy is experiencing an unprecedented rise, trade is carried out with Eastern Europe, Rome, and China.
In the 6th century, the power of the Turkic Khaganate was established in the greater territory of Central Asia.
Society at this moment already completely becomes feudal: it is divided into the aristocracy and the lower strata. This process has a beneficial effect on the flourishing of culture.
The second half of the 7th century is a new page in the history of Central Asia. The invasion of the Arabs and their complete rooting here. Caught under the yoke of the Arab Caliphate, the peoples of Central Asia began to actively fight for their freedom from the forcible planting of an alien culture, religion, language, exorbitant taxes, etc. At this time, the very name "Tajik" appeared. It means "crowned", or "person of a noble family."
In the 9th-10th centuries, the legendary era of the Samanids begins. Handicraft and trade flourish, as well as science, literature and art. They develop in the state language, which we today call Tajik.
In the X-XIII centuries, the territory of Tajikistan was part of many states: the Ghaznevids, Karakhanids, Karakitaevs. And in the XIII century, after the invasion of Genghis Khan, the territory of Tajikistan entered the Chagatai ulus of the Mongolian state.
In the XIV-XV centuries, Tajikistan was part of the huge state of the Timurids. This time also includes the flourishing of science, in particular astronomy, literature, and art.
In the 16th century, the territory of Tajikistan was already in the ownership of another state - the Sheibanids with its capital in Bukhara. During this period, the Bukhara and Khiva khanates were formed, and later, in the 18th century, the Kokand khanate. They were ruled by khans from the Uzbek dynasties.
Tajiks lived mainly in the Bukhara and Kokand khanates. The khanates were constantly at enmity with each other, waged internecine wars. The class stratification of society intensified. All this comes to an end in 1868, when Tajikistan is part of the Russian Empire, as part of the Turkestan Governor-General. The northern part of the country was annexed to Russia, and the southern part - the Emirate of Bukhara - remained in vassal dependence on Russia.
In 1895 A Russian-English agreement established the border of the Emirate of Bukhara with Afghanistan along the Panj in Badakhshan. The southeastern and central parts of modern Tajikistan - Eastern Bukhara and the Western Pamirs - remained part of the Bukhara Emirate, and the left-bank Darvaz, the left-bank parts of Wakhan, Ishkashim, Shugnan, Rushan in Badakhshan went to Afghanistan.
On the one hand, joining Russia gave many economic, political and cultural advantages. But on the other hand, the Tajiks, like other peoples of Central Asia, found themselves under a double yoke: their exploiters and the tsarist autocracy from Russia. Therefore, during this period, many national liberation uprisings flare up.
In the northern regions of Tajikistan, which were part of Turkestan, Soviet power was established in November 1917. In early September 1920, the power of the Emir of Bukhara was overthrown and the Bukhara People's Soviet Republic was formed. In 1924 as a result of the national-territorial delimitation of Central Asia, the Tajik ASSR was formed as part of the Uzbek SSR. The territory of the republic included 12 volosts of the Turkestan region, Eastern Bukhara and part of the Pamirs. The main political and cultural centers - Bukhara and Samarkand - remained within the borders of Soviet Uzbekistan. December 5, 1229 The Tajik ASSR was transformed into one of the republics of the Soviet Union.
September 9, 1991 Tajikistan declares its independence. The beginning of a new life, however, was marked by the beginning of a civil war, which is still remembered with horror by all citizens of the republic. Only in 1997 an agreement was concluded between the main rivals to establish peace and national harmony.
Today Tajikistan is an independent democratic state recognized by 117 countries of the world. The country is a full member of the UN and a number of other international organizations.