East Asia · Fragmentation, Song and the conquest dynasties
Liao Dynasty
916–1125
The Liao (916–1125) was a conquest dynasty founded by the Khitan leader Abaoji (Emperor Taizu), ruling Mongolia, Manchuria, and northern China (the Sixteen Prefectures). It operated a dual administration (Northern/Southern) governing nomads and Chinese separately, and created the Khitan scripts.
- Existed
- 916–1125
- Shown on the map
- AD 911–1125
- Peak area
- 1.9M km²
- Region
- East Asia
Overview
The Liao (916–1125) was a conquest dynasty founded by the Khitan leader Abaoji (Emperor Taizu), ruling Mongolia, Manchuria, and northern China (the Sixteen Prefectures). It operated a dual administration (Northern/Southern) governing nomads and Chinese separately, and created the Khitan scripts. A dominant East Asian power, it received tribute from Song after the Treaty of Chanyuan (1005). It was destroyed by the Jurchen Jin in 1125; remnants founded the Qara Khitai in Central Asia.
Common questions
- What was the Liao Dynasty?
- The Liao (916–1125) was a conquest dynasty founded by the Khitan leader Abaoji (Emperor Taizu), ruling Mongolia, Manchuria, and northern China (the Sixteen Prefectures). It operated a dual administration (Northern/Southern) governing nomads and Chinese separately, and created the Khitan scripts.
- When did the Liao Dynasty exist?
- The Liao Dynasty existed 916–1125. On this map it is drawn AD 911–1125.
- How large was the Liao Dynasty?
- At its greatest extent drawn on this map, the Liao Dynasty covered about 1.9 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 — Liao dynasty en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liao_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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