Dushanbe
TL;DR
Dushanbe exists because rivers meet and mountains end here—Monday's market became Monday's capital.
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Dushanbe means 'Monday' in Tajik—named for the weekly bazaar that drew traders from surrounding valleys to this confluence of rivers at the base of the Fann Mountains. What began as a market village became the Soviet-era capital of the Tajik SSR in 1929, transforming from 3,000 residents into a planned city of nearly one million.