Home › Sixteen Kingdoms

Sixteen Kingdoms

The Sixteen Kingdoms, or less commonly the Sixteen States, were a set of realms in the very short lifetime which were founded in China North 304 to 439 , between the retreat of the Jin Dynasty to the south and the establishment of the Northern Dynasties.

Originally, the term has now lost the historical compilation Shiliuguo Chunqiu (Annals Spring and Autumn Period of the Sixteen Kingdoms) in Hong Cui , who had only sixteen kingdoms. The term has subsequently been expanded to include all the kingdoms of the period 304 - 439.

It also uses the term Sixteen Kingdoms period to describe the troubled times of 304 to 439.

Virtually all the leaders of these kingdoms, sometimes called "kings" sometimes "emperors", belonged to ethnic barbarians (collectively referred to as the Wu Hu, "the five northern barbarians"). The Chinese Han founded the four states of Northern Yan , the Western Liang , the posterior Liang and the State of Wei.

Six leaders of the Chinese Liang post remained in place during the Jin Dynasty. Dynasty Northern Wei is not counted as one of the sixteen kingdoms although it was founded during this period.

List of the Sixteen Kingdoms themselves

Cheng Han (302-342)
Zhao earlier (304-329)
Posterior Zhao (319-352)
Liang earlier (320-376)
Posterior Liang (386-403)
Western Liang (400-431)
Northern Liang (397-439)
Southern Liang (397-414)
Qin earlier (351-395)
Posterior Qin (384-417)
Western Qin (385-431)
Yan earlier (348-370)
Posterior Yan (384-409)
Northern Yan (398-410)
Southern Yan (409-436)
Xia (407-431)

Principalities of the Sixteen Kingdoms Period ( 304 - 439 )
Sixteen Kingdoms	Cheng Han Liang previous Liang southern Western Liang Liang posterior Northern Liang Qin previous Western Qin Qin posterior Xia Yan previous Yan southern Yan posterior Yan northern Zhao previous Zhao posterior
Other States	Shushi Dai Dingling Duan Shu Wei Yan Western Yuwen
Previous period: Jin Dynasty - period: Northern Dynasties and Southeast

Civilization Ancient
Africa	Axum Carthage Egyptians Kush Nok Numidia
America	See " Pre-Columbian civilization "(in this continent, the concept of antiquity extends until its discovery by Europeans).
West Asia	Akkadian Armenian Assyrians Babylonians Israel / Jews Hittites " Ancient Persia " Elamites , Achaemenids , Parthian , Sassanid Phoenicians Scythians Sumerians
Europe	Celtic Etruscan Germanic Greek Huns Italics Minoans Mycenaeans Romans
Far East and India	Champs " Ancient China ": Shang , Zhou , Spring and Autumn Period , Warring States , Qin , Han , Three Kingdoms , Sixteen Kingdoms Funan Indus
Category "Civilization" Category "Ancient" Portal of the ancient world Portal archeology

History of China
Mythical history	Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors Xia (2070-1600 BC.)
^Second and ^First Millennium BC. AD	Shang (1600-1046 BC.) Zhou (1046-256 BC.) Spring and Autumn Period ^(VIII - V ^century BC.) Warring ( V ^century-221)Qin (221-206 BC.) Western Han (206 BC. - 9 AD.)
^First millennium AD. AD	Western Han (206 BC. - 9 AD.) Xin (9-23) Eastern Han (23-220) Three Kingdoms (220-280) Jin (265-420 ) Sixteen Kingdoms (North China, 304-439) Dynasties Northern and Southern (420-589) Sui (581-618) Tang (618-690 and 705-907) Zhou (690-705) Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (907-960) Liao (China North, 916-1125) Song (960-1279)
^Second millennium AD. AD	Liao (North China, 916-1125) Song (960-1279) Western Xia (north-west China, 1038-1227) Jin (North China, 1115-1234) Yuan (1271-1368) Ming (1368-1644) Qing (1644-1912) Republic of China (since 1912, today only in Taiwan ) People's Republic of China (since 1949)