Yuezhi

Yuezhi

The migrations of the Yuezhi through Central Asia, from around 176 BCE to 30 CE
Total population
Some 100,000 to 200,000 horse archers, according to the Shiji, Chapter 123. The Hanshu Chapter 96A records: 100,000 households, 400,000 people with 100,000 able to bear arms.
Regions with significant populations
Languages
Bactrian
Religion
Buddhism Hinduism Shamanism Zoroastrianism Manichaeism Kushan deities
Related ethnic groups
Kushans

The Yuezhi or Rouzhi (Chinese: 月氏; pinyin: Yuèzhī; Wade–Giles: Yüeh⁴-chih¹) were an ancient people first reported in Chinese histories as nomadic pastoralists living in an arid grassland area in the western part of the modern Chinese province of Gansu, before the 2nd century BCE.

After a major defeat by the Xiongnu in the 2nd century BCE, the Yuezhi split into groups that emigrated in different directions. The Lesser Yuezhi (Xiǎo Yuèzhī 小月氏) reportedly moved south, towards the Tibetan Plateau. The Greater Yuezhi (Dà Yuèzhī 大月氏) migrated northwest into the Ili Valley (on the modern borders of China and Kazakhstan), where they reportedly displaced elements of the Sakas (Scythians). They were driven from the Ili Valley by the Wusun and migrated southward to Sogdia and later to Bactria, where they displaced the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom. The Greater Yuezhi were consequently often identified with the Tókharioi (Greek Τοχάριοι; Sanskrit Tukhāra) and Asii (or Asioi) mentioned in classical European sources.

During the 1st century BCE, one of the five major Yuezhi tribes in Bactria, the Kushanas (Chinese: 貴霜; pinyin: Guishuang), began to subsume the other tribes and neighbouring peoples. The subsequent Kushan Empire, at its peak in the 3rd century CE, stretched from Turfan in the Tarim Basin, in the north to Pataliputra on the Gangetic plain of India in the south. The Kushanas played an important role in the development of trade on the Silk Road and the introduction of Buddhism to China.