 , 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 (, "Dyushambe"), and from 1929 to 1961 as Stalinabad (, "Stalinobod)", after Joseph Stalin.