Central Asia had also been opened to trade with roads traversing the oases and valleys of central Asia, one of these routes was later to become famous as the old silk route.

Indian traders were establishing trading centers and merchant colonies in places such as Kashgar, Yarkand, Khotan, Miran, Kuchi, Qara-shahr and Turfan, remote regions which were soon to become opened up not only by Indian merchants but also by Buddhist missionaries.