September 9: Tajikistan independence day

Ten things you never knew about Tajikistan.

1. Tajikistan is landlocked, bordered by Afghanistan to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgystan to the north, and China to the east. It is separated from Pakistan to the south by the Wakhan Corridor. It is the smallest nation in Central Asia by area.
2. Dushanbe is the capital and largest city. The name means "Monday" because the city grew from a village which held a market on a Monday.
3. It's very mountainous. More than fifty percent of the country is over 3,000 meters (9,800 ft) above sea level. The highest mountain is Ismoil Somoni Peak (7,495 m/24,590 ft)is named after Ismoili Somoni, who was a popular ruler of the Tajiks at the beginning of the 10th century. When Tajikistan was part of the USSR the mountain was called Stalin Peak and Communism Peak.
4. Ismoil Somoni also gave his name to the country's currency, the somoni.
5. Unibrows are considered very attractive here. There are herbal remedies to stimulate growth of a unibrow if a person doesn't possess one naturally.
6. The national Flag consists of three stripes, the middle white one being one and a half times the width of the Red and Green stripes. The red represents the unity of the nation; the green represents the fertile valleys, while the white represents both the Snow and ice of the mountains and the colour of Cotton. The crown in the centre represents the Tajik people, as the name Tajik is connected with Persian tâj "crown".
7. Dushanbe Flagpole is the second tallest free-standing flagpole in the world, at a height of 165 metres (541 feet).
8. The national sport of Tajikistan is gushtigiri, a form of traditional wrestling.
9. 70% of the 8,610,000 population are under 30.
10. Russian soldiers are reported to have seen the Abominable Snowman or the ‘Yeti’ in the Pamir Mountain ranges.