Anis H. Bajrektarevic is a Professor and a Chairperson for International Law and Global

MODERNDIPLOMACY.EU

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cultures—one can argue this historical fact is a
driving force in identity conflicts in the region.
This also started a trend—which can still be
seen today and not only in Central Asia—of civ-
ilized kingdoms stamping out and suppressing
nomads. Still, nomads had access to Eastern
empires.
The early 5th and 4th centuries were “marked
by a growth in the population of the foothill
belt at Kopet Dag.”[1] Transoxiana (references
modern Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, southern Kyr-
gyzstan and southwest Kazakhstan) was “cre-
ated” in 4th century B.C. From the Samanid
Dynasty, Ahmad’s (son of the founder Saman-
Khoda) son Nasr became governor of Transox-
ania in 875 CE. Transoxiana’s major cities were
Bukhara and Samarkand which are now part of
modern-day Uzbekistan. The region was also
referred to as Sogdiana (or Sogdia) which
emerged during the 4th century.
3,000 B.C. marked the arrival of the Indo-Irani-
ans, as the Indo-Iranians split from the Indians,
Dards, and Kafirs. The Iranians migrated to Iran
and the Indian subcontinent from the north
and the north-west and their “ancient home [is
suspected to be] in the territories lying to the
north of the Iranian plateau and India.”[2] Per-
taining to the Indo-Iranians their migrations in-
dicated that Central Asia was an intermediary
stop, but this is left up to speculation.[3] The
lifestyle of the nomadic people caused a lot of
distress as they were known for their violence
and devastation. 
Interestingly, the horse in modern Kyrgyz soci-
ety represents strength but does strike fear and
jars memories of the past. It was used as a tool
of dominance, fear, and development. As early
as 4500 B.C., the horse was domesticated and
bred for horse meat (which is still a typical meat
in the region) and around 4,000 B.C. the horses
were used for transport.
Around the same time, more sedentary and
agrarian societies (city-states) began to form.
One of the more notable city-states was the
Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex
(BMAC) or Oxus Civilization that formed around
2300 B.C. to 1700 B.C. The area is now covered
by modern-day parts of northern Afghanistan,
eastern Turkmenistan, southern Uzbekistan and
western Tajikistan and was centered on the
upper Amu Darya River. Many of the artifacts
from BMAC were spread throughout the Middle
East showing a high degree of interaction and
trading with other cultures and areas through-
out the region. The other sedentary cities lo-
cated near the tri-border region of the Ferghana
Valley became part of the ancient and influen-
tial Great Silk Road.These areas became critical
for the nomadic peoples as they could not pro-
duce these goods on their own. Nomadic tribal
dominance began to fade around 1500 B.C.
The 2nd and 1st millennia B.C. saw the develop-
ment of many Empires including the Median
Empire and Achaemenid Empire (both had
ruled parts of Central Asia).