East Asia · Ming, Joseon, Ryukyu and the later steppe
Qing Dynasty
1636/1644–1912
The Qing (1636/1644–1912) was China's last imperial dynasty, founded by the Manchus, ruling from Beijing after 1644. Under the Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong emperors (the "High Qing," c. 1662–1795), it doubled China's territory (incorporating Mongolia, Tibet, Xinjiang, Taiwan) and reached great prosperity.
- Existed
- 1636/1644–1912
- Shown on the map
- 1645–1911
- Peak area
- 12.7M km²
- Region
- East Asia
Overview
The Qing (1636/1644–1912) was China's last imperial dynasty, founded by the Manchus, ruling from Beijing after 1644. Under the Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong emperors (the "High Qing," c. 1662–1795), it doubled China's territory (incorporating Mongolia, Tibet, Xinjiang, Taiwan) and reached great prosperity. The 19th century brought crisis: the Opium Wars, the Taiping and other rebellions, unequal treaties, and failed reform. Weakened by the Boxer catastrophe and unable to modernize fast enough, it was overthrown in the 1911 Xinhai Revolution; the last emperor Puyi abdicated in 1912.
Common questions
- What was the Qing Dynasty?
- The Qing (1636/1644–1912) was China's last imperial dynasty, founded by the Manchus, ruling from Beijing after 1644. Under the Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong emperors (the "High Qing," c. 1662–1795), it doubled China's territory (incorporating Mongolia, Tibet, Xinjiang, Taiwan) and reached great prosperity.
- When did the Qing Dynasty exist?
- The Qing Dynasty existed 1636/1644–1912. On this map it is drawn 1645–1911.
- How large was the Qing Dynasty?
- At its greatest extent drawn on this map, the Qing Dynasty covered about 13 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 — Qing dynasty en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qing_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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