Uzbekistan located in the basin of the Zerafshan and Kashkadarya

Sogdiana, as well as Bactria, became a part of the powerful empire of Great Kushans. At that period trade relations of Sogdian towns, and primarily Samarkand, with India and China were considerably enhanced. Along the Great Silk Road such goods as silk, articles made of lacquer and leather, jade and iron, spices and incense were imported to Sogd, where they were exchanged for glass articles, precious stones, fabrics and carpets.
In spiritual life from the earliest times Sogdiana was the place where various religions met and expanded. In the first century Zoroastrianism was pressed by new world religions, Buddhism and Christianity. It is known that at that period of time Urgut, which is 60 kilometers from Samarkand, became the center of Christianity propagation. It was just here that archeologists found the fragments of a Nestorian monastery. And at the beginning of the 7th century Buddhist monk Xuan Zang visited a Buddhist monastery in Samarkand and found it on the decline and desolation. Such co-existence in the times of Kushans of various religions can be explained by their reciprocal tolerance. In Sogdiana religions flourished 'like flowers in the spring', and this was observed till the invasion of the Arabs who put an end to any religious freedom.
Several centuries later Kushan kingdom fell to nomadic clans of Hephthalites, who in their turn, were crashed by Turkic clans. In the mid-sixth century Sogdiana became a part of Turkic Kaganate.
At that period Sogdiana was a rather prosperous country. Agriculture, artificial irrigation farming in particular, held the key position in the country's economy. It should be noted that Sogdian people considerably succeeded in building irrigational structures. Thus, the inner part of Samarkand, shakhristan, was supplied with water by a special pipe aqueduct coming from the main city's canal named Chakardiza. In historical sources the canal is mentioned as 'Jui-Arziz', or 'Leaden canal', as water was fed into the city through lead-covered aqueduct supported by arched trestle. The whole year round specially appointed supervisors guarded this unique hydro-engineering structure, built of baked bricks. Suffice it to say that this 'Leaden canal' rivaled the famous Roman aqueducts.
On the territory of