Who knew that such a flourishing civilization could go from being simple tradesmen in China, to being run out of the country, to starting their own empire, and finally being lead to their own demise. Sometimes too much power is a bad thing, and eventually has the opposite effect on a group of people. The Yuezhi were an Indo-European civilization of about 400,000 that originally resided along the border of China. They were peaceful people and generally tried to avoid conflict. The Yuezhi were mainly known for their trade and for the founding of the Kushan Empire.
The Yuezhi were first mentioned in 1st century BC by Guan Rhong, which suggests this is around the time the civilization began. They started out living in the north-western border of China, which gave them access to the jade in the mountains in Gansu. They took this jade and supplied it to the Chinese rulers. Along with the jade, the Yuezhi started providing these same rulers with war horses. A trust was established, and the Yuezhi eventually became the middlemen between China and …show more content…
Because of the placement of the area, it was right in the middle of the commerce road, the Silk Road. This road was the key to trade, because it stretched all the way across Asia, making trade between many different countries easier and more affective. The expansion of the empire onto parts of the Silk Road was the smartest economic move they made. This gave them more countries to be in contact with and to trade with. Because the Kushan Empire had such fertile land, the farmers grew a great diversity of different crops, which was used to trade to different countries in Central Asia. The Kushans did not have everything they needed, so they also imported many raw materials. As the empire became more extended, they had access to seaports, which supplied them with even more opportunities to trade with different