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Dayuan
Dayuan (or Tayuan; ; Middle Chinese ''dâiC-jwɐn'' < : ''dɑh-ʔyɑn'') is the Chinese for a country that existed in in , described in the Chinese historical works of '' Records of the Grand Historian
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Zhang Qian
Zhang Qian (; died c. 114 BC) was a Chinese diplomat, explorer, and politician who served as an imperial envoy to the world outside of China in the late 2nd century BC during the Western Han dynasty. He was one of the first official diplomats to bring back valuable information about Central Asia, including the Greco-Bactrian remains of the Macedonian Empire as well as the Parthian Empire, to the Han dynasty imperial court, then ruled by Emperor Wu of Han. He played an important pioneering role for the future Chinese conquest of lands west of Xinjiang, including swaths of Central Asia and even lands south of the Hindu Kush (see Protectorate of the Western Regions). This trip created the Silk Road that marked the beginning of globalization between the countries in the east and west. Zhang Qian's travel was commissioned by Emperor Wu with the major goal of initiating transcontinental trade in the Silk Road, as well as create political protectorates by securing allies. His mi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ferghana Valley
The Fergana Valley (also commonly spelled the Ferghana Valley) in Central Asia crosses eastern Uzbekistan, southern Kyrgyzstan and northern Tajikistan. Encompassing three former Soviet republics, the valley is ethnically diverse and relations among the countries are tense. Ethnic enclaves, restricted right of movement, lack of agreement about border demarcation and disputes over access to family members and economic activity contribute to tensions. The Fergana valley owes its fertility to two rivers, the Naryn and the Kara Darya, which run from the east, joining near Namangan, forming the Syr Darya river. The valley's history stretches back over 2,300 years, when Alexander the Great founded Alexandria Eschate at its southwestern end. Chinese chroniclers date its towns to more than 2,100 years ago, as a path between Greek, Chinese, Bactrian and Parthian civilisations. It was home to Babur, founder of the Mughal dynasty, tying the region to modern Afghanistan and South As ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yuezhi
The Yuezhi were an ancient people first described in China, Chinese histories as nomadic pastoralists living in an arid grassland area in the western part of the modern Chinese province of Gansu, during the 1st millennium BC. After a major defeat at the hands of the Xiongnu in 176 BC, the Yuezhi split into two groups migrating in different directions: the Greater Yuezhi and Lesser Yuezhi. This started a complex domino effect that radiated in all directions and, in the process, set the course of history for much of Asia for centuries to come. The Greater Yuezhi initially migrated northwest into the Ili River, Ili Valley (on the modern borders of China and Kazakhstan), where they reportedly displaced elements of the Sakas. They were driven from the Ili Valley by the Wusun and migrated southward to Sogdia and later settled in Bactria. The Greater Yuezhi have consequently often been identified with peoples mentioned in classical European sources as having overrun the Greco-Bactrian K ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexandria Eschate
Alexandria Eschate (, , "Furthest Alexandria") was a city founded by Alexander the Great, at the south-western end of the Fergana Valley (modern Tajikistan) in August 329 BC. It was the most northerly outpost of Alexander's Empire in Central Asia. Alexandria Eschate was established on the south bank of the river Jaxartes (Syr Darya), at or close to the site of modern Khujand (Хуҷанд; خجند), in present-day Tajikistan. According to the Roman writer Curtius, ''Alexandria Ultima'' retained its Greek culture as late as 30 BC. History This region where Alexandria Eschate would be founded was ruled over by Persia starting with Xerxes I, and began to be populated by Greeks starting at that time. When Greeks in other parts of the Persian empire rebelled or otherwise were troublesome, they would be exiled to the far northeast of the Persian empire, the most distant segment from their homelands. This was not uncommon, because the coastline of Asia Minor was populated by many Gre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greco-Bactrians
The Greco-Bactrian Kingdom () was a Greek state of the Hellenistic period located in Central-South Asia. The kingdom was founded by the Seleucid satrap Diodotus I Soter in about 256 BC, and continued to dominate Central Asia until its fall around 120 BC. At its peak the kingdom consisted of present-day Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, and for a short time, small parts of Kazakhstan, Pakistan and Iran. An extension further east, with military campaigns and settlements, may have reached the borders of the Qin State in China by about 230 BC. Although a Greek population was already present in Bactria by the 5th century BC, Alexander the Great conquered the region by 327 BC and founded many cities, most of them named Alexandria, and further settled with Macedonians and other Greeks. After the death of Alexander, control of Bactria passed on to his general Seleucus I Nicator. The fertility and the prosperity of the land by the early 3rd century BC led to the c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ionians
The Ionians (; , ''Íōnes'', singular , ''Íōn'') were one of the traditional four major tribes of Ancient Greece, alongside the Dorians, Aeolians, and Achaeans. The Ionian dialect was one of the three major linguistic divisions of the Hellenic world, together with the Dorian and Aeolian dialects. When referring to populations, "''Ionian''" defines several groups in Classical Greece. In its narrowest sense, the term referred to the region of Ionia in Asia Minor. In a broader sense, it could be used to describe all speakers of the Ionic dialect, which in addition to those in Ionia proper also included the Greek populations of Euboea, the Cyclades, and many cities founded by Ionian colonists. Finally, in the broadest sense it could be used to describe all those who spoke languages of the East Greek group, which included Attic. The foundation myth which was current in the Classical period suggested that the Ionians were named after Ion, son of Xuthus, who lived ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bactria
Bactria (; Bactrian language, Bactrian: , ), or Bactriana, was an ancient Iranian peoples, Iranian civilization in Central Asia based in the area south of the Oxus River (modern Amu Darya) and north of the mountains of the Hindu Kush, an area within the north of modern Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Bactria was strategically located south of Sogdia and the western part of the Pamir Mountains. The extensive mountain ranges acted as protective "walls" on three sides, with the Pamir on the north and the Hindu Kush on south forming a junction with the Karakoram, Karakoram range towards the east. Called "beautiful Bactria, crowned with flags" by the Avesta, the region is considered, in the Zoroastrianism, Zoroastrian faith, to be one of the "Avestan geography, sixteen perfect Iranian lands" that the supreme deity, Ahura Mazda, had created. It was once a small and independent kingdom struggling to exist against nomadic Turya (Avesta), Turanians. One of the early centres of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daxia
Daxia, Ta-Hsia, or Ta-Hia (; literally: 'Great Xia') was apparently the name given in antiquity by the Han Chinese to Tukhara or Tokhara: the main part of Bactria, in what is now northern Afghanistan, and parts of southern Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The name "Daxia" first appears in Chinese accounts from the 3rd century BCE, to designate a kingdom in the far west – possibly a consequence of the first contacts with the expansion of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom – and then is used by the explorer Zhang Qian in 126 BCE to designate Bactria. It is possible that "Daxia", in part, conflated or confused Tokhara with the country of the Dahae (on the south-eastern shores of the Caspian Sea), who were usually known in classical Chinese sources as the ''Dayi'' ().According to the Chinese historian Yu Taishan, the ''Shijii'' mentions separate envoys from ''Huanqian'' 驩潛 ( Khwarezm), ''Dayi'' 大益 (the Dahae), and ''Suxie'' 蘇薤 ( Soghdia), among others. ([spp131_chinese_dynas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yavana
The word Yona in Pali and the Prakrits, and the analogue Yavana in Sanskrit, were used in Ancient India to designate Greek speakers. "Yona" and "Yavana" are transliterations of the Greek word for "Ionians" (), who were probably the first Greeks to be known in India. Both terms appear in ancient Sanskrit literature. ''Yavana'' appears, for instance, in the ''Mahabharata'', while ''Yona'' appears in texts such as the Sri Lankan chronicle '' Mahavamsa''. The Yona are mentioned in the Ashoka inscriptions, along with the Kambojas, as two societies where there are only nobles and slaves. Examples of direct association of these terms with the Greeks include: * The mention of the "Yauna" in the Persepolis Administrative Archives (550–333 BC). * The mention of the "Yona king Aṃtiyoka" in the Edicts of Ashoka (280 BCE) * The mention of the "Yona king Aṃtalikitasa" in the Heliodorus pillar in Vidisha (110 BCE) * King Milinda and his bodyguard of "500 Yonas" in the Milinda Pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ferghana
Fergana ( uz-Latn-Cyrl, Fargʻona, Фарғона, ), () or Ferghana, also Farghana is a district-level city and the capital of Fergana Region in eastern Uzbekistan. Fergana is about 320 km east of Tashkent, about 75 km southwest of Andijan, and less than 20 km from the Kyrgyzstan border. The modern city was founded in 1876. History Fergana first appears in written records in the 5th-century. However, archeological evidence demonstrates that the city had been populated since the Chalcolithic period. Like many other Central Asian places in the sixth and seventh-centuries, Fergana was ruled by the Western Turkic Khaganate. Although it was still predominantly inhabited by eastern Iranians, many Turks had also started to settle there. The city of Fergana was refounded in 1876 as a garrison town and colonial appendage to Margilan ( to the northwest) by the Russian Empire. Fergana Region is one of the centers of ancient culture in Uzbekistan. Photographs of Stone ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran border, west, Turkmenistan to the Afghanistan–Turkmenistan border, northwest, Uzbekistan to the Afghanistan–Uzbekistan border, north, Tajikistan to the Afghanistan–Tajikistan border, northeast, and China to the Afghanistan–China border, northeast and east. Occupying of land, the country is predominantly mountainous with plains Afghan Turkestan, in the north and Sistan Basin, the southwest, which are separated by the Hindu Kush mountain range. Kabul is the country's capital and largest city. Demographics of Afghanistan, Afghanistan's population is estimated to be between 36 and 50 million. Ancient history of Afghanistan, Human habitation in Afghanistan dates to the Middle Paleolithic era. Popularly referred to as the graveyard of empire ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
