The Western Regions under the Hsiung-Nu and the Han

In the second century BC, western Central Asia was fought over by the Hsiung-Nu and the Han, both tribal groups who had migrated west from China. They were nomadic peoples whose economies were based on cattle-herding and supplemented by the agricultural produce of the settled oasis states scattered across Central Asia. After the establishment of a Han kingdom, new military and political structures were established, not only to control the region, but also to protect the valuable Silk Routes that ran across it.