Launch app →

East Asia · The Sixteen Kingdoms and the Northern and Southern dynasties

Western Qin

385–400, 409–431

Western Qin (385–400, 409–431) was a small Xianbei (Qifu clan) state in the Longxi region (Gansu), capital Yuanchuan then Fuhan. Sandwiched among stronger neighbors, it was briefly extinguished by Later Qin, restored, and finally destroyed by the Xia (Helian) in 431.

Existed
385–400, 409–431
Shown on the map
AD 387–401, 410–438 (2 periods)
Peak area
229k km²
Region
East Asia

Overview

Western Qin (385–400, 409–431) was a small Xianbei (Qifu clan) state in the Longxi region (Gansu), capital Yuanchuan then Fuhan. Sandwiched among stronger neighbors, it was briefly extinguished by Later Qin, restored, and finally destroyed by the Xia (Helian) in 431.

Common questions

What was Western Qin?
Western Qin (385–400, 409–431) was a small Xianbei (Qifu clan) state in the Longxi region (Gansu), capital Yuanchuan then Fuhan. Sandwiched among stronger neighbors, it was briefly extinguished by Later Qin, restored, and finally destroyed by the Xia (Helian) in 431.
When did Western Qin exist?
Western Qin existed 385–400, 409–431. On this map it is drawn AD 387–401, 410–438.
How large was Western Qin?
At its greatest extent drawn on this map, Western Qin covered about 229,000 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:

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).

See Western Qin in its world

Open the atlas at AD 424 and every neighbour, rival and successor is on screen with it — then drag the slider and watch what happens next.

Open the map at AD 424 →