Sogdiana

Sogdian merchants were essential components in the functioning of the Silk Route. From its earliest days, merchants from the region of Sughd, near Samarkand, had been involved in the transport of goods across the area and far beyond it. It became a highly advanced country in its own right between the third and eighth centuries AD, under the name of Sogdiana, and there is considerable evidence, in both the artistic legacy and the coinage of this region, that the culture of this kingdom was enriched by the foreign travels of many of its citizens.