Mirzo Tursunzoda, Rudaki District

The Varzob (Tajik: Варзоб, in the lower reaches also Dushanbinka) is a right tributary of the river Kofarnihon in Tajikistan. It is 71 kilometres (44 mi) long and has a basin area of 1,740 square kilometres (670 sq mi). The Varzob rises on the southern flank of the Gissar Mountains, and flows south. It passes through the Varzob District, the town Varzob and through the Tajik capital Dushanbe.

Dushanbe is the capital and largest city of Tajikistan. As of January 2022, Dushanbe had a population of 1,201,800 and that population was largely Tajik. Until 1929, the city was known in Russian as Dyushambe, and from 1929 to 1961 as Stalinabad, after Joseph Stalin. Dushanbe is located in the Gissar Valley, bounded by the Gissar Range in the north and east and the Babatag, Aktau, Rangontau and Karatau mountains in the south, and has an elevation of 750–930 m. The city is divided into four districts, all named after Persian historical figures: Ismail Samani, Avicenna, Ferdowsi, and Shah Mansur. In ancient times, what is now or is close to modern Dushanbe was settled by various empires and peoples, including Mousterian tool-users, various neolithic cultures, the Achaemenid Empire, Greco-Bactria, the Kushan Empire, Hephthalites. In the Middle Ages, more settlements began near modern-day Dushanbe such as Hulbuk and its famous palace. From the 17th to early 20th century, Dushanbe grew into a market village controlled at times by the Beg of Hisor, Balkh, and finally Bukhara, before being conquered by the Russian Empire. Dushanbe was captured by the Bolsheviks in 1922, and the town was made the capital of the Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1924, which commenced Dushanbe's development and rapid population growth that continued until the Tajik Civil War. After the war, the city became capital of an independent Tajikistan and continued its growth and development into a modern city, today home to many international conferences. Much of Dushanbe's education system dates from Soviet times and has a legacy of state control; today the largest university in Dushanbe, the Tajik National University, is funded by the government. Dushanbe International Airport is the primary airport serving the city. Other forms of transport include the trolleybus system dating from 1955, the small rail system, and the roads that traverse the city. Dushanbe's electricity is primarily hydroelectric, produced by the Nurek Dam, and the aging water system dates from 1932. Tajikistan's healthcare system is concentrated in Dushanbe, meaning that the major hospitals of the country are in the city. The city makes up 20% of Tajikistan's GDP and has large industrial, financial, retail, and tourism sectors. Parks and main sights of the city include Victory Park, Rudaki Park, the Tajikistan National Museum, the Dushanbe Flagpole, and the Tajikistan National Museum of Antiquities.

The 1990 Dushanbe riots marked a period of heightened civil disobedience and inter-ethnic violence in the capital city of the Tajik SSR of the Soviet Union. Existing tensions over lacking economic and political reforms were exacerbated by the arrival of Armenian refugees from the Azerbaijan SSR due to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The mass movement of Tajik nationalists (e.g., the Rastokhez), anti-communists, and Islamists targeted ethnic minorities, such as Armenians and Russians, as well as unaffiliated Tajiks—namely women who did not conform to Islamic clothing standards. By late 1991, the dissolution of the Soviet Union gave way to the Republic of Tajikistan declaring independence, though this was followed by the Tajikistani Civil War less than a year later.

Hisar (also Gissar, Gisar, Hissar, or Hisor) Valley in Tajikistan runs east–west along the southern slopes of Hisar Range and on the northern border of Khatlon Province. It is about 100 km long and up to 20 km wide in the middle, stretching from Vahdat district in the east to Tursunzoda district on the border with Uzbekistan in the west, with the capital Dushanbe and Hisar district at its center. The elevations in the valley range from 700 meters (2,300 ft) to 1,000 meters (3,300 ft). The valley is irrigated by Kofarnihon River in its upper and middle course. Warm temperatures (29 °C in the summer, 0 °C to – 1 °C in the winter) and abundant water for irrigation make the Hisar Valley one of the prime cotton growing areas in Tajikistan.

The Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic, also commonly known as Soviet Tajikistan, the Tajik SSR, or simply Tajikistan, was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union which existed from 1929 to 1991 located in Central Asia. The Tajik Republic was created on 5 December 1929 as a national entity for the Tajik people within the Soviet Union. It succeeded the Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Tajik SSR), which had been created on 14 October 1924 as a part of the predominantly Turkic Uzbek SSR in the process of national delimitation in Soviet Central Asia. On 24 August 1990, the Tajik SSR declared sovereignty in its borders. The republic was renamed the Republic of Tajikistan on 31 August 1991 and declared its independence from the disintegrating Soviet Union on 9 September 1991; thus modern Tajikistan is its direct legal successor state. Geographically, at 143,100 km2 (55,300 sq mi), it was bordered by Afghanistan to the south, China to the east, Pakistan to the south, separated by the narrow Wakhan Corridor, as well as internally by fellow Soviet republics of Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north. Notably, the Tajik SSR was the only republic of the Soviet Union to be separated from the Russian SFSR by more than one other republic.

Technological University of Tajikistan (Tajik: Донишгоҳи технологии Тоҷикистон; Russian: технологический университет Таджикистана, ТУТ) is a Tajik university in Dushanbe (Str. Negmat Karabaev 63/3), with a focus on light and food industries, information technology and economics: specifically in marketing and international economic relations. It was established on the basis of the Tajik Higher College of Technology, organized by the Council of Ministers of the Republic on September 20, 1990.

Zainabobod (Russian: Зайнабобад; Tajik: Зайнабобод) is a jamoat in Tajikistan. It is located in Rudaki District, one of the Districts of Republican Subordination. The jamoat has a total population of 36,844 (2015).

Tajik State University of Commerce (Russian: Таджикский государственный университет коммерции) is an economics university located in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

Rossiya (Russian and Tajik: Россия, also Kolkhozi Rossiya; formerly: Qushteppa) is a jamoat in Tajikistan. It is located in Rudaki District, one of the Districts of Republican Subordination. The jamoat has a total population of 31,030 (2015).

Chimteppa (Tajik: Чимтеппа, formerly: Oqkurgan) is a village and jamoat in Tajikistan. It is located in Rudaki District, one of the Districts of Republican Subordination. The jamoat has a total population of 45,221 (2015).

The SCNS Higher School, officially known as the Higher School of the State Committee for National Security (Tajik: Мактаби олии Кумитаи амнияти миллии Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон) is a Tajik public institution under the Government of Tajikistan. Based in Dushanbe, it trains officers for the agency, which serves to maintain national security and gather intelligence for Tajikistan.

The Dushanbe Synagogue (Russian: Душанбинская синагога), also known as the Bukharian Synagogue (Russian: Бухарская синагога), located in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, was constructed in the 19th century in one of the two Jewish Quarters in Dushanbe at the time. It was part of the Jewish community compound, which also included ritual buildings and a school. In February 2006, the Government of Tajikistan began demolition of the Jewish community compound as part of an urban redevelopment plan designed to make way for a new presidential residence, the Palace of the Nation, with adjoining landscaped areas. The demolition of the synagogue was delayed due to international protests and a series of court actions until the end of June 2008, when the old building was finally razed.