Chapter Seven demonstrates that, despite being descended from pastoral nomads, the Kushans created a powerful sedentary empire that controlled vast regions of Inner Eurasia for the first two centuries of the Common Era. This corresponds precisely with the high point of the First Silk Roads Era, and it is no exaggeration to suggest that it was the stability created by the Kushans, through their unbroken line of royal succession, their superb coinage, their apparent religious tolerance, their support of Gandharan and Mathuran art, and the cordial relations they maintained with their neighbors once they had constructed their empire, that helped facilitate the extraordinary material and cultural exchanges that epitomize this key period in ancient world history. Despite the fact that the Kushans constructed an essentially land-based Empire, at least two of the major trade routes that passed through their territory headed towards ports along the west coast of South Asia, some of which probably came under their direct control during the Great Kushans period. These ports were crucial in maritime Silk Roads trade between Asia and Roman Egypt.