ABSTRACT
Between 4,000 and 1,500 BC, the area had connections with populations to the east and west of it in the development of early pastoral societies. Between 1,500 and 1,000 BC, Bronze Age communities were becoming distinctive, and there was a mixing of peoples, with influences from both China and Central Asia. Within the first millennium BC, mounted nomadic peoples, of Scythian and other cultures, became dominant groups over a wide area. These are centuries of considerable change, and this continued into the next millennium, when, during the next few centuries, the first nomad empire was established in Mongolia, with the Huns later becoming a dominant force. Later still, the Mongol Empire of the Khans became a major force.
