Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

*Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province (Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO))*
Kuhistoni-Badakhshon, Kuhistan-Badakhshan, Viloyati Mukhtori Kuhistoni-Badakhshon

Country	Tajikistan
Capital	Khorugh
Area	64,200 km² (24,788 sq mi)
Population	220,400 (2006)
ISO 3166-2	TJ-BG

Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province (GBAO) (Tajik: Вилояти Мухтори Кӯҳистони Бадахшон/Viloyati Mukhtori Kuhistoni Badakhshon; Russ.: Горно-Бадахшанская автономная область, ГБАО) is an autonomous, mountainous province in the east of Tajikistan. Located in the Pamir Mountains, it makes up 45% of the land area of the country.

The Persian name Kuhistoni-Badakhshon (or Kohistan-Badakhshan) expresses the meaning Mountainous Badakhshan, which is equivalent to Gorno-Badakhshan, a standard construction derived from Горный Бадахшан (Gornyy Badakhshan) in Russian.

1 History
2 Districts
3 Geography
4 Demographics
5 Transport
6 References
7 See also
8 External links

[edit] History

GBAO was created in January 1925 and it was attached to Tajikistan SSR (Soviet Socialist Republic) after its creation in 1929. During the 1950s many of the local inhabitants of Gorno-Badakhshan, known as Pamiris, were forcibly relocated to southwestern Tajikistan. When civil war broke out in Tajikistan in 1992 the local government in GBAO declared independence from the republic of Tajikistan. During the civil war many Pamiris were targeted for killings by rival groups and GBAO became a bastion for the opposition. Later the GBAO local government backed down from their calls for independence.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Districts

[edit] Geography

GBAO covers all the eastern part of the country and borders in the East - the Xinjiang Province of China, in the West and South - the Badakhshan Province of Afghanistan, and in the North - the Osh Province of Kyrgyzstan. Within Tajikistan the province's western border is with the Region of Republican Subordination (RRP) and the tip of its south-western finger (Darvoz district) borders on Khatlon Province. The highest mountains are in the Pamirs (ancient Mount Imeon), which is know as the roof of the world, and three of the five 7,000 meter summits in formerly Soviet Central Asia are located here, with Ismail Samani Peak (formerly Communism Peak) (7,495 m), Independence Peak (formerly Lenin Peak) (7,134 m, on the border with Kyrgyzstan), and Peak Korzhenevskaya (7,105 m).

[edit] Demographics

The population is mainly Tajik, with small Kyrgyz and Russian minorities. The largest city in GBAO is Khorugh, population 22,000; the second largest is Murghab, with about 4,000 residents. GBAO is home to a number of distinct languages and dialects of the Pamir languages group: Shughni, Rushani, Wakhi, Ishkashimi, Vanji, Sarikoli, Bartangi, Khufi, Yazgulyam, and Oroshani. Vanji, spoken in the Vanj River valley, went extinct in the 19th century. There is a sizable population of Kyrgyz speakers in the Murghab region. Russian and Tajik are also widely spoken throughout GBAO. The majority religion in GBAO is Ismaili Shi'ite and adherence to the Aga Khan is widespread.

The Garm clan is a clan based in Gorno-Badakhshan. The Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan is connected to the Garm clan.^[1]

[edit] Transport

Only two easily navigable roads connect GBAO to the outside world, Khorog-Osh and Khorog-Dushanbe, both of which are segments of the Pamir Highway. A third road from Khorog to Tashkurgan in China through the Kulma Pass is very rough. Gorno-Badakhshan is separated from Pakistan by the narrow, but nearly impassable, Wakhan Corridor. Another road leads from Khorog into the Wakhan and across the Afghan border.