A Central Asian confederation centered on the middle Syr Darya, described in Han Chinese sources as a major regional power neighboring the Yuezhi (Kushans); closely associated with, and possibly ancestral to, later Sogdiana.
Declined amid Hephthalite expansion during the Northern and Southern Dynasties period (5th century CE), with the region increasingly identified with the emerging Sogdian city-states.
General-audience survey covering the Central Asian steppe confederations that mediated the early Silk Road.