CChronica Maps

Dunhuang: History, Former Names & Timeline

Oasis at the western end of the Hexi Corridor and gateway of the Silk Road; the Mogao Caves preserve a thousand years of Buddhist art.

Map showing Dunhuang in AD 300Dunhuang
Border map for AD 300. See the world in AD 300.

Explore Dunhuang in the interactive map

Former names of Dunhuang

FromNameNote
111 BCDunhuang

Timeline of Dunhuang

YearEvent
111 BCEmperor Wu of Han creates Dunhuang commandery
AD 366The monk Le Zun carves the first of the Mogao Caves
1900The Library Cave is discovered

Who ruled Dunhuang

Derived from the border maps; each row runs until the next recorded border change.

PeriodState
500 BC–401 BCProto-Altaic pastoralists
400 BC–324 BCXiongnu
323 BC–201 BCUnclaimed / no data
200 BC–101 BCYuezhi
100 BC–2 BCUnclaimed / no data
1 BC–299Han
300–399Jin
400–499Northern Liang
500–699Unclaimed / no data
700–799Karluks
800–999Tibetan Empire
1000–1299Xixia
1300–1491Great Khanate
1492–1599Chagatai Khanate
1600–1782central Asian khanates
1783–1814Qing Empire
1815–1919Manchu Empire
1920–1937Chinese Warlords
1938–1944Chinese warlords
1945–todayChina