An ancient Iranian civilization organized as a collection of city-states around Samarkand and Bukhara that served as the commercial and cultural backbone of the Silk Road.
Conquered and absorbed by the Abbasid Caliphate through the Arab Muslim invasions of Central Asia, with Sogdian political independence ending by approximately 751 CE following the defeat of Chinese Tang forces at the Battle of Talas, which eliminated any prospect of outside support for remaining Sogdian principalities.
The definitive history of Sogdian merchants and their role in Silk Road commerce.
Situates the Sogdian city-states of Samarkand and Bukhara, the commercial backbone of the Silk Road, within the political history of Central Asia they helped knit together.