East Asia · Sui, Tang and the khaganates
Tang Dynasty
618–907
The Tang (618–907), founded by Emperor Gaozu (Li Yuan) and consolidated by Emperor Taizong (r. 626–649), is regarded as a golden age of Chinese civilization. From capital Chang'an—the world's largest city—it built a cosmopolitan empire reaching Central Asia, dominated the Silk Road, and produced poetry's greatest age (Li Bai, Du Fu).
- Existed
- 618–907
- Shown on the map
- AD 623–910
- Peak area
- 9.3M km²
- Region
- East Asia
Overview
The Tang (618–907), founded by Emperor Gaozu (Li Yuan) and consolidated by Emperor Taizong (r. 626–649), is regarded as a golden age of Chinese civilization. From capital Chang'an—the world's largest city—it built a cosmopolitan empire reaching Central Asia, dominated the Silk Road, and produced poetry's greatest age (Li Bai, Du Fu). Empress Wu Zetian became China's only female emperor (Zhou interregnum, 690–705). The An Lushan Rebellion (755–763) devastated the dynasty; it limped on amid regional militarism (jiedushi) until the warlord Zhu Wen ended it in 907.
Common questions
- What was the Tang Dynasty?
- The Tang (618–907), founded by Emperor Gaozu (Li Yuan) and consolidated by Emperor Taizong (r. 626–649), is regarded as a golden age of Chinese civilization. From capital Chang'an—the world's largest city—it built a cosmopolitan empire reaching Central Asia, dominated the Silk Road, and produced poetry's greatest age (Li Bai, Du Fu).
- When did the Tang Dynasty exist?
- The Tang Dynasty existed 618–907. On this map it is drawn AD 623–910.
- How large was the Tang Dynasty?
- At its greatest extent drawn on this map, the Tang Dynasty covered about 9.3 million 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:
- Wikipedia — Tang dynasty en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tang_dynasty
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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