Sogdia

Sogdiana or Sogdia (; ;Chinese: 粟特 sùtè;) was the ancient civilization of an Iranian people and a province of the Achaemenid Empire, eighteenth in the list on the Behistun Inscription of Darius the Great (i. 16). Sogdiana is "listed" as the second of the "good lands and countries" that Ahura Mazda created. This region is listed second after Airyanem Vaejah, "homeland of the Aryans", in the Zoroastrian book of Vendidad, indicating the importance of this region from ancient times. Sogdiana, at different times, included territory located in present-day Tajikistan and Uzbekistan (such as Samarkand, Bukhara, Khujand, Panjikent and Shahrisabz).