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 in Russian as Dyushambe, and from 1929 to 1961 Dushanbe was known as Stalinabad. As of 2012, Dushanbe has a population of 747,500 people.
