Sughd and Sughdians as one of the most vigorous historic-geographical parts of the Asian continent, have their own, practically incessant history, rich and striking outcome on the level of supreme world civilizations. In the February information-Analytical Bulletin "Varorud" "Sughdology"- natural-ecological and people potential, common ancient territorial boundaries and chronological frames of Sughdians existence and progress were mentioned. Here we shall disclose selective-factological data of science on these themes.

Prehistory of Sughd began from the epoch of Stone Age. In the mountainous labyrinths of Sukh, Isfara, Khoja-Bokhorgon, Urateppa, Mastchoh knots of the Tienshan-Alay mountain systems already 800-300 thousand of years ago there habituated primeval people of Homo Erectus, a transitional stage into Homo Sapiens (modern man). Archeologists revealed their bone remains together with working tools in Selengur cave of Sukh gorge. And in the epoch of developed stone age of Moustye, Mezolite, Neolite (150-7 thousand years ago) they already moved down from the depth of the mountains to warm river valleys, wildernesses and tugays of the Syr-Darya and its tributaries-to Kairakkum, Khojabargon, Isfara (Khoja of the mountains), Shahristan plateau (Aktangi, Kalkutan, Kattasay) where they formed their temporary dwellings with the collections of stone tools. They hunted various primeval animals, went in for fishing, picking up fruits and roots of wild plants.
The formation of Sughdian historical and cultural country began in 4th-6th millennia B. C. In the reservoirs of Zarafshon, Syr-Darya, Kashkadarya and Haftrud with the first, yet primitive natural-ecological arrangements and initial man's utterly simplified additions on the basis of the accumulated household, practical and intellectual potential. Permanent development brought man to the first global revolution in history-he passed to the new, second stage of social, household, practical and intellectual evolution. Thus, man made a great leap from primeval society to the community-layer frameworks, from exclusively appropriating household to that of productive one-agriculture (tilling, gardening, bread-sowing), taming and selection of animals (cattle breeding); from natural caves, open pastures and temporary dwellings to stationary ones and to artificial buildings settlements; from primeval knowledge of single individuals to higher and more complex intellectual thinking.
Investigation excavations in full volume-the early prototown of Sarazm in Panjakent oasis manifested very vividly registered this transitional household-social and cultural-historic stage of the evolution transformation of Sughd country. This great discovery of the science of Tojikiston in the 20th century was made by professor Abdullo Isokov, prominent Tojik archeologist (A. A. Isokov. "Sarazm", Dushanbe 1991). It is remarkable that specialists from many countries took part in the investigation excavations of this outstanding monument of history, among them Doctors R. Bezenval and B. Lionnet, distinctly industrious and pedantic scholars from the scientific research Center of France. Our ancestors had comprehended the importance of this settlement and the early town centuries ago having called it aptly and precisely-Sari Zamin (beginning, earth's head), today it is a curtailed name of Sarazm. And really, Sarazm is the most ancient name out of the monuments of Sughd settled culture and the entire north zone of Central Asia-Aryanam Vaijakh (Aryan spaces)-the first one in the list of Avesta countries created by the primary deity of Zoroastrian religion Akhura Mazd. It is from this Sarazm of the fourth and the beginning of the second millenium Sughdian settled-agriculture and urbanized historical and cultural country stemmed and continued its forming evolution. According to Old Iranian, Old Greek, Old Chinese written sources and archeological data this culture formed along golden Zarafshon and silver-plumb-turquoise Syr-Darya-Fergana zones including the most fertile arable lands of middle and northern parts of "Varorud" (Iranian-Tojik "Beyond the River area", Arabian Maveranahr, here the Amu-Darya is meant) provided with the labyrinth of market-commercial communications and centers having special purpose. This great Metropolitan Sughd (Chinese Suli) stretched from the Chu river (Seven rivers area) up to the iron gates of the Baisun Mountains pertaining to the Hissar range, quoting a Chinese traveler of the first half of the 7th century AD.
There are multiple of old settlements, places of habitation and burial lands pertaining to the second and the beginning of the first millenium B. C. excavated and researched on the Sughd earth: Zamanbab, Gujaili and others in the lower reaches of the Zarafshon, Dashtikozi in the upper reaches and Chakka, Siab, Saigus, Muminabad in the middle reaches. In the first half of the first millenium B. C. in Fergana Valley of Sughd there formed archeological culture with the main centers of Chust and Dilvarzin, an early town with defensive walls and moats-the Archaic Khujand. At the same time on the terraces of the Takhti Suleiman mountain there was built a stone Osh settlement dug out in the earth; in the lower parts of Shahristan there arose the early town of Khvartak (today these are Nurteppa ruins near Khavatag health resort); on the right bank area of the Syr-Darya there were found the settlements of Burguluk culture half dug out in the earth, to which Asht sepulchres of Dakhan and Dashtiasht were congenial and on the sands of the Syr-Darya banks there were the settlements of Kairakkum culture.
In was the beginning of the important historic process-urbanization of Sughd, development of agriculture and irrigation, mining extraction, metallurgy-and as a sequence of the productions enumerated there followed a great leap of multiple branches of handicraft; all it in total having afforded Sughd to abruptly advance and catch behind the neighboring regions of Asia in laying the grounds of the civilization process of the country.
The next stage of urbanization from the middle of the first millenium B. C. up to the middle of the first millenium AD was already an epoch of building of all big multi-furiously developed cities of common Sughdian and local centers of the great Sughdian macro civilization counting thousand years. These towns are: Khujand-a bearer of the epithet "Tirozi Jahon" (Beauty of the World), Marakanda-Samarkand called "Saikali Rui Zamin", Bukhara-"Brilliance of Earth", Navtak (Yor-Kurgan ruins in Kashka-Darya oasis), Kurukada, Yaza, Bada and four nameless towns (in Urateppa, Ghonchi, Kurkat regions), Aspbara (Isfara), Eilatan, Shurabashat, Asht (Kalai Afrosiyob), Taraz, Konibodom, Osh, Paikand, Varakhsha, Istikhan, Panjakent, Taraz and a whole group of Chu valley towns pertaining to Haftrud.
To early Middle Ages Sughd becomes big, economically developed and rich, urbanized, and holding in its hands almost all the eastern half of the Great Silk Way; now it is divided into sub viloyats-Southern Sughd with Ket-Nasaf center, Samarkand Sughd, Panjakent Sughd, Usturushan Sughd with the center of town Bunjikat (ruins in the modern settlement of Shahristan), Khujand Sughd (Khujand, Konibodom, Isfara, Asht), Parkan (Fergana) with the center of the town Koson, Ilaka-chach with Banokat center; all they taken together formed Sughdian Federation at the head of which stood ishkhids, afshins, khudats, maliks and dehkans in the East and the North of Metropolitan Sughd; scores of settled-agricultural oases and handicraft-commercial settlements of vigorous Sughdian colonists were formed advantageously on the trunk roads of the Great Silk Way: on Haftrud (Seven rivers area), Tarim, Orkhon, along the Great Chinese Wall up to the Yellow Sea coast, Japan and Indonesia, and to the north those were the banks of Yenissey, the Angara, the Amur, up to the Coastal region.
In the 9th-10th centuries Sughd turned into a leading nucleus of the Tojik state of the Samanids and Bukhara, the Sughdian city, was made its capital. In the epoch of Middle Ages and the new time Sughd territory with all its potentials was an important part of about ten statal formations of Varorud-Maveranahr of the 11th-20th centuries and only in 2000 on the proposal of Emomali Rahmonov, the President of the Republic of Tojikiston, the parliament of the country returned its historical name to Sughd viloyat and three big regions of ancient Sughd-Panjakent Sughd, Ustrushan Sughd and Khujand Sughd which has occupied Zarafshon- Syr-Darya nucleus of ancient Sughdian federation. Thus Sughd viloyat of the Republic of Tojikiston becomes an heir of Sughd succeeding to its six thousand years culture.