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East Asia · The Sixteen Kingdoms and the Northern and Southern dynasties

Former Zhao

304–329

Han-Zhao (304–329), founded by the Southern Xiongnu noble Liu Yuan (who claimed Han imperial descent and named his state "Han"), was the state whose sack of Luoyang (311) and Chang'an (316) destroyed the Western Jin. His son Liu Cong led those campaigns.

Existed
304–329
Shown on the map
AD 306–336
Peak area
649k km²
Region
East Asia

Overview

Han-Zhao (304–329), founded by the Southern Xiongnu noble Liu Yuan (who claimed Han imperial descent and named his state "Han"), was the state whose sack of Luoyang (311) and Chang'an (316) destroyed the Western Jin. His son Liu Cong led those campaigns. Renamed Zhao by Liu Yao (hence "Former Zhao"), it was destroyed in 329 by its former general Shi Le's Later Zhao.

Common questions

What was Former Zhao?
Han-Zhao (304–329), founded by the Southern Xiongnu noble Liu Yuan (who claimed Han imperial descent and named his state "Han"), was the state whose sack of Luoyang (311) and Chang'an (316) destroyed the Western Jin. His son Liu Cong led those campaigns.
When did Former Zhao exist?
Former Zhao existed 304–329. On this map it is drawn AD 306–336.
How large was Former Zhao?
At its greatest extent drawn on this map, Former Zhao covered about 649,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.

Sources

This compendium cites its sources once for the whole document rather than per territory. Its bibliography names the English Wikipedia article for each polity as the basis of these profiles, supplemented by Encyclopaedia Britannica, chinaknowledge.de, the World History Encyclopedia, museum and university sources, and the academic works it lists. The article this entry is anchored on:

This entry was last updated .

This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made

Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.

Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).

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