The place now known as Tajikistan was founded 4000 BC. Since then the territory has been under the rule of various emperors. This territory has been under the rule of Persian emperors for a long time. In pre-Buddhist times, modern-day Tajikistan was part of the Kamboja, part of the Jaravshan Valley. The Kamboja Empire was then ruled by the Achaemenid emperors of Persia. After the defeat of the Persian emperors at the hands of Alexander, the region was considered the northern part of the Greco-Bactrian Empire. It remained part of the Bactrian Empire from the end of the 4th century BC to the beginning of the 2nd century. It then became part of Turkey. Then some days it was considered as part of the Chinese Empire. The Arabs brought Islam to the region in the 7th century AD. Emperor Samanid then ousted the Arabs. At that time he made Samarkand and Bokhara bigger and richer. Since then, both cities have been considered cultural centers of the Tajiks (both cities are now part of Uzbekistan). Then the Mongols also took control of it for some time. Thus the history of Tajikistan has progressed under different empires, sometimes with this part and sometimes with that part. In the nineteenth century, Russian emperors continued to expand their empires in Central Asia. Between 184 and 1855, Russia took control of what is now Kazakhstan in the north , the Caspian Sea in the west, and the Afghan border in the south. When Russian power in the region passed to the Communists in 1917, the Bolsheviks seized control of part of the region, Turkestan. From this anger the Basmachi group started guerrilla activities. They later went to war against the Bolsheviks and conquered Khiba and Bokhara under Soviet rule. But then their independence movement failed for various reasons. After a four-year war, Bolshevik forces burned down Tajik villages and mosques and made mass arrests. From then on, the Soviet authorities began to propagate secularism. During this time they persecuted devout Muslims , Jews and Christians. Mosques , churches and synagogues were also closed at the same time. Although the Basmachi movement came to a halt in 1922, the Soviet government set up two Union Republics, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, to reproduce Central Asia on the basis of ethnicity in order to suppress the counter-revolution. Although two autonomous republics, Tajik and Kyrgyz, were established at the time, they were part of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1929, Tajikistan was transformed into a full-fledged Union Socialist Republic. At that time , Tajikistan lagged behind other Soviet states in all aspects of life , education and industry. This situation continued till 1990. In 1990, the Soviet Union relinquished control of Tajikistan, and Tajikistan declared its independence. In 1991, Iran was the first to recognize Tajikistan as an independent state. They first set up their embassy in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe. Within days of gaining independence, Tajikistan became embroiled in a civil war over sectarian divisions. At this time non-Muslim citizens, especially Jews and Russians, fled the country. They fled to other former Soviet countries, fearing persecution and poverty, and economic prosperity. In the November 1994 presidential election, Emomali Rahman came to power after defeating his predecessor, Abdul Malik Abdullah Janab. In the 1999 election, Rehman won the presidential election with 98 percent of the vote, and in the 2008 election, he won the presidential election for the third time with 69 percent.