Tajikistan's National Day, also known as Independence Day of Tajik Republic, commemorates the country's independence from the Soviet Union on September 9, 1991.
Tajiks developed as a separate ethnic group in Central Asia from the eighth century. Throughout the ages, the territory was under foreign domination from the Persians, Mongols, Uzbeks, and Afghans. In 1860, Russian advances in Central Asia placed the majority of modern-day Tajikistan under Tsarist rule.
Tajikistan was unified into a newly constituted Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1924, which was administratively part of the Uzbek SSR until 1929, when the Tajik ASSR obtained full republic status after acquiring the area of Khujand from the Uzbek SSR.
Despite the Soviet Union's efforts to develop a Soviet collective culture, Tajiks retained a strong feeling of nationalism and pride in their own history and culture.
Mikhail Gorbachev's 'glasnost' policy in the late 1980s sparked the establishment of unofficial political parties and a renewed interest in Tajik culture, with the Tajik Supreme Soviet (legislature) designating Tajik the official state language in 1989.
As the Soviet Union began to collapse in 1990, a state of emergency was declared, and 5,000 Soviet troops were dispatched to quell pro-democracy demonstrations. On September 9, 1991, the Supreme Soviet proclaimed Tajikistan independent from the Soviet Union.
