In the 19th century, the Russian Empire began to spread into Central Asia during the Great Game, and it took control of Tajikistan. After the overthrow of Imperial Russia in 1917, guerrillas throughout Central Asia, known as basmachi waged a war against Bolshevik armies in a futile attempt to maintain independence. The Bolsheviks prevailed after a four-year war, in which mosques and villages were burned down and the population heavily suppressed.
Soviet authorities started a campaign of secularization, practicing Muslims, Jews, and Christians were persecuted,and mosques, churches, and synagogues were closed. The Jews of Tajikistan are known as Bukharian Jews. In the 1970s to 1990s there was a huge emigration of Bukharians to the United States of America. Today, there are flourishing Bukharian communities in New York City, United States and in many other east coast cities of the U.S.
