Empire · 1600–1046 BCE · East Asia

Shang dynasty

The Shang is the earliest Chinese dynasty confirmed by both written records and archaeology. Traditionally founded by Tang around 1600 BCE after overthrowing the Xia, it ruled the middle and lower Yellow River valley.

Shang kings governed with the help of relatives and allied lords and moved their capital several times, finally settling at Yin near modern Anyang around 1300 BCE. They practised elaborate ancestor worship, and to ask the spirits about harvests, war and childbirth, diviners cracked oracle bones of turtle shell and ox bone, inscribing the questions in the earliest known Chinese writing. Shang craftsmen cast spectacular bronze vessels, and royal tombs held chariots and human sacrifices. Around 1046 BCE King Wu of Zhou defeated the last Shang king, Di Xin, at the Battle of Muye.

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Years

1600–1046 BCE

Capital

Several in turn, finally Yin (near modern Anyang)

Greatest extent

1122 BCE, about 1.25 million km²

Region

East Asia

Late Shang, the middle and lower Yellow River plain and allied lands; c. 1.25M km² (Taagepera 1978; Turchin, Adams & Hall 2006), dated 1122 BCE, the traditional date of the Zhou conquest