cd-ing into a particular directory (scriptability)

[milke]

It may happen I somehow missed it, searching through discussions and issues I couldn't fine any relevant information, so I'll post it here… Apologies if it's a duplicate.

What I need is some basic control from "the outside", e.g. executing a shell script. I need to open a new window and/or a new tab in the front window and then position that new window/tab to a particular directory (cd would work, but some other mean, which won't affect terminal history, would be preferable). I can open new window/tab using AppleScript and simulating menu item clicks, but I don't know how I can do something equivalent to cd.

Any help or suggestion is greatly appreciated. Thanks.