Map of East Asia about 460: the Rouran in the steppe with their hatched reach west to Lake Balkhash, the Ashina as a small subject territory on the southern slope of the Altai, the road of the Ashina from Gaochang, the march of the Rouran against the Tiele, the Northern Wei and the Liu Song in China
About 460: The Ashina, five hundred families, settle on the southern slope of the Altai as subjects of the Rouran. In the west the Rouran subject the Tiele; in 460 they also make Kan Bozhou king of Gaochang. South of the Gobi lie the Northern Wei and the Liu Song. Modern map; the road of the Ashina is one reconstruction, and the borders in the steppe are approximate.
Plate XIII in the Atlas → © Emre-E Yavuz 2026

Who ruled

And beyond the steppe

  • China Northern Wei Emperor Wencheng 452–465
  • Iran Sasanian Peroz I 459–484
  • Korea Goguryeo Jangsu 413–491
  • Byzantium Leonid Leo I 457–474

Western steppe

  • Culture · Sogdian colonists found the first towns of Semirech'e, Suyab and Navaket among them, as estates of nobles (450–600)

    Suyab · Sogdians

  • The Rouran subdue the Tiele in the west

    Rouran Khaganate · Tiele

    Not in the Rouran or Gaoche sections of Wei Shu 103; the date is the literature's

Tarim and Sogdiana

  • Culture · Towns founded and walls built in Sogdiana under the Kidarites: Panjikent, Paikent, Bukhara; the citadel of Samarkand raised (440–470)

    Sogdiana · Samarkand · Paikent · Bukhara