Dushanbe (Tajik: Душанбе, IPA: [duʃænˈbe]) is the capital and largest city of Tajikistan. Dushanbe means Monday in the Tajik language. It was named this way because it grew from a village that originally had a popular market on Mondays. As of 2016, Dushanbe had a population of 802,700.
Historically a small village, Dushanbe was made the capital of the Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1924. Until 1929, the city was known in Russian as Dyushambe (Russian: Дюшамбе, Dyushambe), and from 1929 to 1961 as Stalinabad (Tajik: Сталинобод, Stalinobod) which was named after Joseph Stalin.