East Asia · Ming, Joseon, Ryukyu and the later steppe
Li Zicheng
1644–1645
The Shun dynasty (1644–1645) was proclaimed by the rebel leader Li Zicheng, who rose amid famine and misrule to lead a massive peasant rebellion against the Ming. He captured Beijing in April 1644, prompting the Chongzhen Emperor's suicide and the end of the Ming.
- Existed
- 1644–1645
- Shown on the map
- 1632–1644
- Peak area
- 407k km²
- Region
- East Asia
Overview
The Shun dynasty (1644–1645) was proclaimed by the rebel leader Li Zicheng, who rose amid famine and misrule to lead a massive peasant rebellion against the Ming. He captured Beijing in April 1644, prompting the Chongzhen Emperor's suicide and the end of the Ming. But within weeks the Ming general Wu Sangui allied with the Manchus, who defeated Li at the Battle of Shanhai Pass; Li fled Beijing and was killed in 1645, his short-lived Shun collapsing before the Qing.
Common questions
- What was Li Zicheng?
- The Shun dynasty (1644–1645) was proclaimed by the rebel leader Li Zicheng, who rose amid famine and misrule to lead a massive peasant rebellion against the Ming. He captured Beijing in April 1644, prompting the Chongzhen Emperor's suicide and the end of the Ming.
- When did Li Zicheng exist?
- Li Zicheng existed 1644–1645. On this map it is drawn 1632–1644.
- How large was Li Zicheng?
- At its greatest extent drawn on this map, Li Zicheng covered about 407,000 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 — Li Zicheng en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Zicheng
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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