mirrored file at http://SaturnianCosmology.Org/ For complete access to all the files of this collection see http://SaturnianCosmology.org/search.php ========================================================== AE Home AE Home AE Forums AE Forums Ancient Middle East and Persia Ancient Middle East and Persia Mediterraean, Greece and Rome Mediterraean, Greece and Rome Steppes and Central Asian Nomads Steppes and Central Asian Nomads Byzantium and Medieval Europe Byzantium and Medieval Europe Islamic Middle East (600-1450) Islamic Middle East (600-1450) India and SE Asia India and SE Asia Africa Africa Pre-Columbian Americas Pre-Columbian Americas The Imperial Age (1450-1900) The Imperial Age (1450-1900) Modern History Modern History * AllEmpires.com Main* <../../index.htm> - *AE Forums* Category: *Steppes & Nomadic Empires* <../../site/historysections/nomads.htm> The Xiong Nu Empire Author: <../../site/historysections/projectintro.htm>Ihsan *Origins of the Xiong Nu * *Xiong-Nu riders crossing a river. * The Xiong Nu (possibly meaning "Subjects of Peoples"), also known as the Asiatic Huns, were one of the earliest known nomadic peoples that lived in Central Asia. They're thought to have descended from the Xien Yun, a Proto-Turkic people. However, the Xiong Nu were not a pure ethnic group, and they included various Turkic, Tungusic and Indo-European peoples. The foundation of the Xiong Nu Empire is unknown, but the earliest Chinese records about them date back to 318 BC, when a Xiong Nu army had defeated a Zhou army at the Battle of Northern Xansi and signed a peace treaty. Since China at that time was divided between many warring states like Qin, Zhao, Yan, Qi, Lu, Wei, Han and Chu, the Xiong Nu easily raided Northern China throughout 4th century BC. Their raides reached it's zenith during 3rd century BC, when the Qin emperor Qin Shi Huangdi finally decided to build a Great Wall to stop those raids (the Great Wall was already in existence as small independent fortifications dating back to the Warring States Period; but Qin Shi Huangdi united these to form a single body). China was not the only country that suffered from Xiong Nu raids; other parts of Central Asia like Chungaria and Altais were also targets of the Xiong Nu *Rise of the Xiong-Nu Empire: Reigns of Tu-Man and Mo-Tun: * The earliest known Xiong Nu ruler was Dou Man (possibly Tuman meaning "Smoke" or Tümén meaning "Ten Thousand Men" in Old Turkish), who reigned between 220 BC and 209 BC. During his reign, he united the nomadic tribes living in Mongolia and invaded Northern China. With those newly-acquired pastures, the Xiong Nu economy prospered, partly due to the fact that the nomadic economy was greatly dependent on grassy plains. Mao Dun (possibly Bék Tun in Old Turkish), son of Dou Man, was his father's heir, but he was sent to exile to the Yue Zhi, a Tocharian people in Gansu. Tou Man finally marched on the Yue Zhi (this was a fake invasion, because Dou Man's new wife had wanted to kill Mao Dun) but Mao Dun was able to escape. Dou Man allowed Mao Dun to return, and gave him a tümen of cavalries under his command. Mao Dun trained his men very strictly, and during a hunt, he "accidently" shot his father with an arrow in 209 BC. After crowning as the new Xiong Nu ruler, he earned the title Chan Yu (mistakenly transcripted as Yabghu or Tanyu), meaning something similar to "The Magnificiant" or "The Great". After re-organizing his army, he marched on the Dong Hu (a Tungusic people) and brought them under his rule in 208 BC. After his Dong Hu campaign (the Dong Hu split into Xian Bei and Wu Huan; from the Xian Bei descended the Mongols), he defeated the Turkic peoples living in Northern Mongolia like the Ding Lin and finally defeated the Yue Zhi in 203 BC. With these victories, he was able to gain the control of the famous Silk Road, which later supplied the Xiong Nu with great incomes. He later fought a three-year lasting war with the Han Dynasty of China, and defeated (more accurately, trapped) the Han emperor Cao Di. Cao Di was forced to pay yearly tributes to the Xiong Nu, plus a large amount of silk and a large territory from Northern China. Mao Dun never tried to invade China completely, because he knew that a foreign dynasty couldn't have ruled such a vast country for a long time. After his Chinese Campaign, Mao Dun forced the Yue Zhi and Wu Sun to enter Xiong Nu vassalage. During his reign, many Turkic and Tungusic peoples were brought under the Xiong Nu rule. When Mao Dun died, his empire was stretching from Korea to the East, Lake Balkash to the West, Lake Baikal to the North and Tibet to the South. Apart from his subjects, Mao Dun also vassalised the oasis city-states of the Tarim Basin. His organizations in both military and administration were later used by many other Central Asian peoples and states *Decline and Collapse of the Xiong-Nu Empire: * *The Xiong Nu Empire in 135 BC (from http://gumilevica.kulichki.net/english.html) * After Mao Dun's death, he was succeded by Zhi Yu (also known as Ki Ok or Lao Shang), who ruled between 174 BC and 160 BC. During his reign, the Xiong Nu kept their strentgh, Zhi Yu managed to sack the Imperial Palace near Chang'an (the Han capital) in 166 but he married with a Han princess and opened the Xiong Nu territories to Han spies disguised as officers. These spies provoked the subject peoples to revolt against their masters, which later resulted in the break up of the vast Xiong Nu Empire. One of them, Jang Qien, was famous from his expedition to the Yue Zhi, although he was captured by the Xiong Nu and was forced stayed as a captive for ten long years. When he reached Chang'an in 126, he brought important datas about the peoples and towns of the places he had visited. These datas later helped the Chinese to expand into Central Asia more easily. After Zhi Yu's death, the successor rulers couldn't stop the decline of the Xiong Nu Empire. The Xiong Nu raids into China were stopped by the Han emperor Jing Di; Han Wu Di reformed his army in Xiong Nu style, between 127 and 117 BC, the Xiong Nu lost Tarim to Wu Di; during the reign of Chang Yu Zhu De Huo, Tian Shan, Chungaria and Turfan were conquered by the Han and eventually, the Xiong Nu lost the control of the Silk Road in 60 BC. In 85 BC, the Wu Huan and Ding Lin rebelled and defeated the weakened Xiong Nu. After this rebellion, the victorious Ding Lin split into Western and Northern Ding Lin. Ho Han Yeh, a half-Chinese Xiong Nu prince, entered Han protectorate in 58 BC but his brother Zhi Zhi revolted against him and declared his independence in the same year. This event caused the Xiong Nu Empire to split into two separate empires in 55 BC; the Eastern and Western Xiong Nu, each one ruled by a member of the Xiong Nu Imperial family. In 54 BC, the Eastern Xiong Nu withdrew to Ordos while the Western Xiong Nu migrated to Soghdiana in Transoxiana, where they set up a new empire near the River Talas. Under Zhi Zhi's rule, starting from 51 BC, the Western Xiong Nu conquered Wu Sun, Western Ding Lin, Chien Kun (Khyrghiz) and vassalised the Kingdom of Kang Guo (Samarkand). In 41 BC, Zhi Zhi built a fortified capital in the valley of Talas. However, the Han and Eastern Xiong Nu attacked Zhi Zhi in 36 BC, destroyed his capital and killed him. Thus, the Western Xiong Nu Empire came to an end. It's been claimed that there were Roman mercenaries in Zhi Zhi's army during the siege of his capital. After Ho Han Yeh's death in 31 BC, the Eastern Xiong Nu re-gained their power and eventually overthrew the Han protectorate in 18 BC under the rule of Yu Chang Yu. Yu managed to conquer a vast area from Manchuria up to Kashgar; however, this new empire was soon attacked from two sides: Xian Bei (Sianbei) from the North and Han Chinese from the South. Famines, plagues and revolts soon resulted in the break up of the Eastern Xiong Nu into Northern and Southern Xiong Nu in 48 AD, when Bi declared his independence from Yu's son's Pu Nu Chang Yu. While the Southern Xiong Nu accepted the Han protectorate after a short time, the Northern Xiong Nu had to deal with the non-stop attacks of the Xian Bei. The Han attacked from the South, and some 50 important trading towns like Kashgar and Yarkend fell to the invading Han armies. As a result, the Northern Xiong Nu was finally destroyed by the Xian Bei in 156 AD. The remnants of the Northern Xiong Nu then migrated towards the Aral Sea; while the Southern Xiong Nu were finally subjugated by the Han in 216 AD. The remnants of both Xiong Nu empires lived as scattered throughout Western Turkistan for a long time, until they began migrating westwards around 350 BC. Under the leadership of their leader, Balamyr, they entered the territories of the Ostrogoth Kingdom in Ukraine in 375, and founded the European Hunnic Empire (there are some scholars who doubt that the European Huns <../huns/huns1.htm> descended from the Xiong Nu). Even though the majority of Xiong Nu went to Western Turkistan, some Xiong Nu stayed in Northern China where they set up small kingdoms after the fall of the Han Dynasty (Second Zhao, Xia, Northern Liang and Lou Lan were the Xiong Nu kingdoms in Northern China). *Important rulers of the Xiong Nu* Name in Wade-Giles shown in parentheses. 00. *Dou Man* (Tu-Man) - not a Chan yu 01. *Mao Dun* (Mao-Tun), 201-174 BC 02. *Lao Shang* (Lao-Shang), 174-160 BC 03. *Zhun Chen* (Chun-Ch'en), 160-127 BC 04. *Yi Zhi Xie* (I-Chih-Hsieh), 127-114 BC 05. *Wu Wei* (Wu-Wei), 114-104 BC 06. *Wu Shi Lu Er* (Wu-Shih-Lu-Erh), 104-102 BC 07. *jiu Li Hu *(Chiu-Li-Hu), 102-101 BC 08. *Zhu Di Hou* (Chu-Ti-Hou), 101-96 BC 09. *Hu Lu Gu* (Hu-Lu-Ku), 96-85 BC 10. *Hu Yi Di* (Hu-I-Ti), 85-70 BC 11. *Xiu Lu Chuan Chu* (Hsiu-Lu-Ch'uan-Ch'u), 70-60 BC 12. *Wo Yi Zhu Di* (Wo-I-Chu-Ti), 60-58 BC 13. *Hu Han Yeh* (Hu-Han-Yeh), 58-31 BC 14. *Zhi Zhi Gu Du Hou* (Chih-Chih-Ku-Tu-Hou), 56-36 BC 15.* Fu Zhu Lei Ruo Di* (Fu-Chu-Lei-Jo-Ti), 30-20 BC 16. *Shou Xie Ruo Di* (Shou-Hsieh-Jo-Ti), 20-11 BC 17. *Zhu Ya Ruo Di* (Chu-Ya-Jo-Ti), 11-7 BC 18. *Wu Zhu Liu Ruo Di* (Wu-Chu-Liu-Jo-Ti), 7 BC-AD 14 19. *Wu Lei Ruo Di* (Wu-Lei-Jo-Ti), AD 14-19 20. *Hu Du Er Shi Dao Ruo Di *(Hu-Tu-Erh-Shh-Tao-Kao-Jo-Ti), AD 19-47 Rulers of the Northern Xiong-Nu: 21. *Pu Nu* (P'u-Nu), AD 47-84 22. *San Mu Lou Zhi* (San-Mu-Lou-Chih), AD 84-89 23. *Yu Chu Xien* (Yu-Ch'u-Chien), AD 89-93 24. *Ao Jian ri Zhu Wang Feng Hou* (Ao-Chien-Jih-Chu-Wang-Feng-Hou), AD 93-123 Rulers of the Southern Xiong-Nu: 01. *Hu Han Ye* (Hu-Han-Yeh), AD 48-56 02. *Chu Fu Yu Di* (Ch'u-Fu-Yu-Ti), AD 56-58 03. *Yi Fa Yu Liu Di *(I-Fa-Yu-Liu-Ti), AD 58-59 04. *Xian Dung Shi Hou Di* (Hsien-Tung-Shih-Chu-Hou-Ti), AD 59-63 05. *Chiu Zhu Lin Di *(Ch'iu-Ch'u-Chu-Lin-Ti), AD 63-64 06. *Hou Ye Shih Zhu Hou Di* (Hou-Yeh-Shih-Chu-Hou-Ti), AD 64-85 07. *Yi Tu Yu Liu Di *(I-T'u-Yu-Liu-Ti), AD 85-88 08. *Xiu Lan Shi Zhu Hou Di *(Hsiu-Lan-Shih-Chu-Hou-Ti), AD 88-93 09. *An Guo* (An-Kuo), AD 93-94 10. *Ting Du Shi Zhu Hou Di *(T'ing-Tu-Shih-Chu-Hou-Ti), AD 94-98 11. *Wan Shi Shi Hou Di* (Wan-Shih-Shih-Chu-Hou-Ti), AD 98-124 12. *Wu Zhi Hou Shi Zhu Di* (Wu-Chi-Hou-Shih-Chu-Ti), AD 124-128 13. *Chu Te Ruo Shi Zhu Xu* (Ch'u-Teh-Jo-Shih-Chu-Tsu), AD 128-140 14. *Che Niu* (Ch'e-Niu), AD 140-143 15. *Hu Lan Ruo Shi Zhu Xu* (Hu-Lan-Jo-Shih-Chu-Tsu), AD 143-147 16.* Yi Ling Shi Zhu Jiu * (I-Ling-Shih-Chu-Chiu), AD 147-172 17. *Tu De Ruo Shi Zhu Jiu* (T'u-Te-Jo-Shih-Chu-Chiu), AD 172-178 18. *Hu Zhen* (Hu-Chen), AD 178-179 19. *Qiang Qiu* (Ch'iang-Ch'iu), AD 179-188 20.* Te Shi Zhu Hou* (T'e-Chih-Shih-Chu-Hou), AD 188-195 21.* Hu Shu Chuan *(Hu-Shu-Ch'uan), AD 195-216 22. *Liu Bao* (Liu-Pao), AD 216-279 23. Liu-Yuan, AD 279-304* *rule continues as Gao Xu, first king of Northern Han Dynasty. *Timeline* 318 BC: Battle of Northern Xansi 214 BC: Construction of the Great Wall 210 BC: Dou Man's Yue Zhi Campaign 209 BC: Dou Man murdered by Mao Dun; Mao Dun declared Chang Yu 208 BC: Mao Dun's Dong Hu Campaign 203 BC: Yue Zhi brought under Xiong Nu rule; Mao Dun gained control of the Silk Road 201 BC: Cao Di, emperor of the Han Dynasty in China, forced to pay tribute 174 BC: Death of Mao Dun 166 BC: Zhi Yu sack Imperial Palace near Chang'an 160 BC: Death of Zhi Yu; the Xiong Nu Empire began to decline 127-117 BC: Tarim Basin lost to Han 85 BC: Rebellion of Ding Lin and Wu Huan 60 BC: Control of the Silk Road lost to Han 58 BC: Ho Han Yeh entered Han protectorate; Zhi Zhi declared his independence; break up of the Xiong Nu Empire 51 BC: Wu Sun, Ding Lin, Khyrghiz brought under Western Xiong Nu rule, Kang Guo become vassal of Zhi Zhi 36 BC: Zhi Zhi defeated and killed by Han and Eastern Xiong Nu 18 BC: Eastern Xiong Nu re-gained it's independence 48 AD: Eastern Xiong Nu broke up into Northern and Southern Xiong Nu 156 AD: Northern Xiong Nu destroyed by Sianbei 216 AD: Southern Xiong Nu subjugated by the Han 350 AD: Remnants of the Xiong Nu migrate towards West