Uzbekistan located in the basin of the Zerafshan and Kashkadarya

Central Asia gold, silver, iron, tin, copper, mercury, cinnabar, semi-precious stones were mined on a large scale. The key branches of handicraft industry were those connected with metal working. Sogdian craftsmen were renowned for making various articles - sickles and knives, spears and arrow-heads, daggers and chain armors, stirrups and bits for horses...
Sogdian craftsmen manufactured cotton, woolen and silk cloth. Cotton fabrics, made in Vedar village near Samarkand and sold out not only in Central Asia but abroad as well, were in great demand. No less popular among the merchants was Sogdian silk cloth "zandanachi".
During archaeological excavations on the territory of many ancient Sogdian towns and cities there were found ceramics workshops where glazed ceramics had been manufactured. Local craftsmen possessed high level of mastership in making stained glass and writing paper.

The contemporaries recorded high skills of Sogdian traders, who, in fact, controlled the trade along the whole eastern section of the Silk Road from Merv to the banks of the Hwang He River. Samarkand, the principal city of the country, was both a commercial center and important point on the Great Silk Road. Most of imported goods, as well as products of local craftsmen were accumulated here.
Trade links of Sogd reached as far as the Mediterranean in the West. Byzantine historian Menandrus wrote, that Sogdian messengers led by a merchant named Maniakh, undertook a journey along ancient detour route across the steppe and further along the northern banks of the Caspian Sea, and finally reached Constantinople and established diplomatic and trade relations with Byzantium.
According to Chinese monk-pilgrim of the 7th century Xuan Zang, half of Sogdian population was engaged in farming, whereas the other half carried on trade. In Samarkand there was a tradition of smearing the tongue of newly born boys with honey, and covering their palms with glue so that they could firmly hold a coin. At the age of five, the boys studied books, and after getting their teens they were sent to learn trading. Having reached their 20th year, young men went to neighboring lands to engage in profitable trade.
One of the most ancient forms of commerce in Sogd was a trade-fair. Xuan Zang noted in his manuscripts, "Every year merchants from all over the world came and gathered at big fairs, and there they discussed their business, sold and bought". At such fairs traders vended cotton fabrics, woolen and silk cloth, other textile goods, leather, including a very popular shagreen leather, furs and ceramics, various articles made of wood, metal and bone. Slaves, horses, cattle were also put up for sale. Fairs in