Empire1046 BCE – 256 BCE · 790 years

Zhou Dynasty

Overview

The Zhou dynasty was a royal dynasty of China that existed for 789 years from c. 1046 BC until 256 BC, the longest span of any dynasty in Chinese history. During the Western Zhou period, the royal house, surnamed Ji, had military control over territories centered on the Wei River valley and North China Plain. Even as Zhou suzerainty became increasingly ceremonial over the following Eastern Zhou period (771–256 BC), the political system created by the Zhou royal house survived in some form for several additional centuries. A date of 1046 BC for the Zhou's establishment is supported by the Xia–Shang–Zhou Chronology Project and David Pankenier, but David Nivison and Edward L. Shaughnessy date the establishment to 1045 BC.

Wikipedia: Zhou dynasty·CC BY-SA 4.0

Borders & accuracy

Reconstructed borders

Solid borders are reconstructed from canonical historical-basemap data or hand-crafted from scholarly atlases.

  • SOURCEaourednik / historical-basemaps
  • DETAILhistorical-basemaps:-500:Zhou states
  • SNAPSHOT500 BCE
  • MATCHEDZhou states
  • POLITY TYPEstate

Wars of this empire1

Conflicts whose belligerents name this polity, best-documented first.

Open in the atlas →Seeks the timeline to 1046 BCE and fits the map to these borders.

104.3°,27.1° → 122.4°,40.4°WARS-ATLAS / EMPIRE / ASIA-ZHOU-DYNASTY

Cite as: Zhou Dynasty (1046 BCE – 256 BCE). War Atlas. https://waratlas.org/e/asia-zhou-dynasty · Sources & methodology