Ancient states on the territory of Uzbekistan

The Saka, Massagetae and Sogdians are counted among our ancient ancestors. Ancient writers such as the Greek historian Herodotus wrote about them. According to written sources, the Saka lived along the Syr Darya, in the Fergana valley and around today’s Tashkent region, the Massagetae in the lower Amu Darya, and the Sogdians in the Zarafshan and Kashkadarya oases. They practised irrigated farming, herding and crafts. From the 7th century BCE, states such as Khorezm and Bactria are mentioned on our territory. Kuzaliqir, one of Khorezm’s ancient cities, was surrounded by a strong wall; in Tuproqqala, built in the 2nd–3rd centuries CE, archaeologists found a statue of a king wearing a crown and holding an eagle. Canals were dug from the Amu Darya in Khorezm; this state is often seen as one of the oldest roots of Uzbek statehood, about 2,700 years old. Bactria lay in the south of today’s Uzbekistan and in neighbouring countries; its capital Bactra stood on the site of today’s Balkh in Afghanistan, while Qiziltepa in Surkhandarya was one of its large cities. Gold and lapis lazuli were mined in Bactria and jewellery making grew. Sogdiana covered the Zarafshan and Kashkadarya oases; its central city was Afrosiyab (the eastern part of today’s Samarkand).