Kushan Empire

Rare card · No. 29383

The Kushan Empire (c. 30–c. 375 CE) was a syncretic empire formed by the Yuezhi in the early 1st century CE. Initially based in the Bactrian territories, it spread to encompass much of what is now Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Kushan territory in India extended at least as far as Saketa and Sarnath near Varanasi, where inscriptions have been found dating to the era of the Kushan emperor Kanishka the Great. The Kushans were most probably one of five branches of the Yuezhi confederation, an Indo-European nomadic people of possible Tocharian origin, who migrated from northwestern China (Xinjiang and Gansu) and settled in ancient Bactria. The founder of the dynasty, Kujula Kadphises, followed Iranian and Greek cultural ideas and iconography after the Greco-Bactrian tradition. Kujula was also a follower of the Shaivite sect of Hinduism, as were two later Kushan kings Vima Kadphises and Vasudeva II. The Kushans in general were also great patrons of Buddhism...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Map created from DEMIS Mapserver, which are public domain. Koba-chan. Reference: Schwartzberg Atlas, v. , p. 145. Map g, CC BY-SA 3.0