East Asia · The Sixteen Kingdoms and the Northern and Southern dynasties
Western Yan
384–394
Western Yan (384–394) was a Xianbei Murong state not counted among the canonical Sixteen Kingdoms. It was founded by Murong Hong (a son of Former Yan's Murong Jun) in 384 after Fei River, as the Xianbei whom Fu Jiān had resettled around Chang'an sought to return east.
- Existed
- 384–394
- Shown on the map
- AD 387–393
- Peak area
- 116k km²
- Region
- East Asia
Overview
Western Yan (384–394) was a Xianbei Murong state not counted among the canonical Sixteen Kingdoms. It was founded by Murong Hong (a son of Former Yan's Murong Jun) in 384 after Fei River, as the Xianbei whom Fu Jiān had resettled around Chang'an sought to return east. Murong Chong (r. 384–386) captured Chang'an (385) and claimed the imperial title. It was marked by extreme instability—all seven of its rulers in ten years died violently (Murong Hong, Murong Chong, Duan Sui, Murong Yi, Murong Yao, Murong Zhong, and finally Murong Yong). Under Murong Yong (r. 386–394) it settled at Zhangzi (Changzi) in Shanxi. In 394 Later Yan's Murong Chui, seeking to be Former Yan's true heir, conquered it and killed Murong Yong.
Common questions
- What was Western Yan?
- Western Yan (384–394) was a Xianbei Murong state not counted among the canonical Sixteen Kingdoms. It was founded by Murong Hong (a son of Former Yan's Murong Jun) in 384 after Fei River, as the Xianbei whom Fu Jiān had resettled around Chang'an sought to return east.
- When did Western Yan exist?
- Western Yan existed 384–394. On this map it is drawn AD 387–393.
- How large was Western Yan?
- At its greatest extent drawn on this map, Western Yan covered about 116,000 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 — Western Yan en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Yan
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 Yan in its world
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