East Asia · Confederacies, Han and the steppe
Tuyuhun
c. 284/313–663/670
Tuyuhun (吐谷渾; also Tuhun, or "State of Henan"; c. 284/313–663/670) was a Xianbei-led kingdom on the Qinghai plateau around Qinghai Lake, with capital at Fuqi (in modern Gonghe, Qinghai). It was founded by Murong Tuyuhun (246/260–317), elder half-brother of the Former Yan ancestor Murong Hui, who led his people west from the Liaodong region to the Yin Mountains and then to Qinghai.
- Existed
- c. 284/313–663/670
- Shown on the map
- AD 287–665
- Peak area
- 558k km²
- Region
- East Asia
Overview
Tuyuhun (吐谷渾; also Tuhun, or "State of Henan"; c. 284/313–663/670) was a Xianbei-led kingdom on the Qinghai plateau around Qinghai Lake, with capital at Fuqi (in modern Gonghe, Qinghai). It was founded by Murong Tuyuhun (246/260–317), elder half-brother of the Former Yan ancestor Murong Hui, who led his people west from the Liaodong region to the Yin Mountains and then to Qinghai. The state's name derived from its founder; his grandson Ye Yan adopted it as the tribal/dynastic name. In 405 the leader Shuluogan proclaimed himself Chanyu and King of Tuyuhun. It controlled key Silk Road routes and bred prized "Qinghai" horses. It clashed repeatedly with Sui and Tang: Sui Emperor Yang attacked in 608–609, and under the long-reigning Murong Fuyun (Busabo Khan, r. 597–635) it fought Tang until Emperor Taizong's 635 campaign, after which Fuyun was killed by his own people. His son Murong Shun and then Murong Nuohebo (r. 635–672) ruled as Tang vassals until the Tibetan Empire destroyed the kingdom around 663–670; the people split, some migrating east under Nuohebo, others absorbed by Tibet.
Common questions
- What was Tuyuhun?
- Tuyuhun (吐谷渾; also Tuhun, or "State of Henan"; c. 284/313–663/670) was a Xianbei-led kingdom on the Qinghai plateau around Qinghai Lake, with capital at Fuqi (in modern Gonghe, Qinghai). It was founded by Murong Tuyuhun (246/260–317), elder half-brother of the Former Yan ancestor Murong Hui, who led his people west from the Liaodong region to the Yin Mountains and then to Qinghai.
- When did Tuyuhun exist?
- Tuyuhun existed c. 284/313–663/670. On this map it is drawn AD 287–665.
- How large was Tuyuhun?
- At its greatest extent drawn on this map, Tuyuhun covered about 558,000 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:
- Wikipedia — Tuyuhun en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuyuhun
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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