White Huns

State · 410–560 CE · at its largest around 490 CE

The Hephthalites were horse-riding nomads who ruled the Silk Road cities of Bactria and Sogdiana and extracted tribute even from the Sasanian shahs. Their raids into India and Persia left a fearsome memory, and their coins mixed Iranian, Indian and steppe styles.

On its lands while it lasted

Sogdians (c. 500 BCE – c. 900 CE): Iranian people of the Zeravshan valley around Samarkand and Bukhara whose merchants dominated trade along the Silk Roads, especially between the 4th and 8th centuries.
Silk Road (c. 130 BCE – c. 1450 CE): A network of overland caravan routes linking China with Central Asia, Persia and the Mediterranean, along which silk, spices, horses, religions, technologies and diseases travelled for more than 1,500 years.
Indian numerals (c. 500 CE): Indian mathematicians developed decimal positional notation with nine digits and a zero; transmitted through the Islamic world, it became the numeral system used worldwide.
Suyab (c. 555–749 CE): Capital of Göktürk Khaganate (555–586), Türgesh (704–749).
Kannauj (c. 555 CE): Capital of Maukhari Dynasty (555–606), Harsha's Empire (612–655), Gurjara-Pratihara Dynasty (800–1036).