The Xiongnu split into Northern and Southern
In 48 eight southern Xiongnu tribes rejected Chanyu Punu and proclaimed Bi, a grandson of Huhanye, their chanyu. The Southern Xiongnu became vassals of the Han, while the Northern Xiongnu kept the Mongolian steppe — the beginning of the end of the Xiongnu empire.
- Date
- 48year known
- Place
- Xiongnu lands on the Mongolian Plateauapproximate locationtoday: Mongolia and Inner Mongolia, China · Central and Northern Asia
- Participants
- Xiongnu, Bi (Huhanye II), Han dynasty
- Threads
- The Steppe and Central Asia (1st–5th c.)
- Also known as
- Southern Xiongnu; Northern Xiongnu; Huhanye II; Южные хунну; Северные хунну
The quarrel was over the succession. Huhanye, who had made peace with the Han in the 1st century BC, had laid down that the throne should pass from brother to brother, but Chanyu Huduershi passed it to his own sons, and in 46 his son Punu became chanyu. Bi, son of the earlier chanyu Wuzhuliu, considered the throne his own; amid drought and raids by the Wuhuan he secretly approached the Han. In 48 the chiefs of eight southern tribes, with 40,000–50,000 warriors, proclaimed him chanyu under his grandfather’s title, Huhanye II.
In 49 Bi’s brother Mo defeated Punu, who withdrew more than 1,000 li to the north, and in 50 the Southern Xiongnu formally became tributaries of the Han: their chanyu set up his court inside the frontier, at Meiji in the Xihe commandery, and his people were settled in eight frontier commanderies, where they served against the Northern Xiongnu, whose centre remained on the Orkhon. The division proved permanent: the Han and the Xianbei broke the northern state in Mongolia in 87–91, and the descendants of the Southern Xiongnu, settled inside China, founded states of their own in the 4th century.
Connections
Related events
- Liu Xiu restores the Han: the Eastern Han25 · East Asiathe Southern Xiongnu submitted to the Eastern Han emperor Guangwu
- Battle of Ikh Bayan and the Yanran inscription89 · Central and Northern Asiathe Southern Xiongnu fought on the Han side in 89
Same participants
- Trưng sisters’ rebellionMarch 40 – 43 · Southeast Asia and Oceaniavia Han dynasty
- Envoys of Na receive a gold seal from Emperor Guangwu57 · East Asiavia Han dynasty
- Ban Chao’s campaigns in the Tarim Basin73–102 · Central and Northern Asiavia Xiongnu
Adjacent events in the thread
- Kujula Kadphises founds the Kushan Empirebetween 20 and 50 · Central and Northern Asia
- The burials of Tillya Tepe (the Bactrian Gold)between 16 and 100 · Central and Northern Asia
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within a year of this event
Western and Central Europe
- Roman conquest of Britain43 – between 83 and 84
Eastern Europe
- Roman–Bosporan War45–49
- The Alans appear on the Don and in the North Caucasusbetween 50 and 72
- Zarubintsy culturec. 200 BC – c. 200
Balkans and Anatolia
- Thrace becomes a Roman province46
- Missionary journeys of Paulc. 46 – between 57 and 58
- Dioscorides’ De materia medicabetween 50 and 70
Middle East and Egypt
- Periplus of the Erythraean Sea40s … 70s
- Hero of Alexandria’s aeolipilebetween 50 and 100
Africa
- Adulis and Aksum in the Periplus40s … 70s
- Temple of Apedemak at Naqabetween 1 BC and AD 70
South Asia
- Kushans conquer Gandhara and Taxilabetween 50 and 70
- Gandharan art: the first images of the Buddhabetween 30 BC and AD 100
- Reign of Gondophares, founder of the Indo-Parthian kingdombetween 19 and 20 – c. 46
- Heyday of Indo-Roman trade: Muziris and Arikameduc. 30 BC – c. 250
Southeast Asia and Oceania
- Founding of Funan: Kaundinya and Queen Liuyebetween 1 and 100
- Óc Eo, the port of Funanbetween 1 and 100 – between 601 and 700
- Sa Huỳnh culturec. 1000 BC – c. 200
North America
- Hopewell traditionbetween 200 and 100 BC – c. 500
- Late Basketmaker II erac. 50 – c. 500
Latin America
- Monte Albán II: the Zapotec state expandsc. 100 BC – c. 200
- Rise of Teotihuacanc. 1 – c. 250
- Nazca culture and the Nazca Linesbetween 200 and 100 BC – between 500 and 800
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Xiongnu
- Wikipedia (English): Han–Xiongnu wars
- Wikipedia (Russian): Хуханье II
- Wikipedia (Russian): Хунно-китайские войны
- de Crespigny R. Northern Frontier: The Policies and Strategy of the Later Han Empire. — Canberra: Australian National University, Faculty of Asian Studies, 1984.
- Barfield T. J. The Perilous Frontier: Nomadic Empires and China, 221 BC to AD 1757. — Cambridge (Mass.): Basil Blackwell, 1989.