Important Place names of the Three Kingdoms

History of China

Three Kingdoms historical Stories

Important Geographical Terms During the Three Kingdoms Period

From the Late Eastern Han to the Three Kingdoms period, the administrative divisions in ancient China were mainly divided into three levels: Provinces, Commanderies, and Counties.

Province/Zhou州, the name of the supervisory area in the Han Dynasty. The Eastern Han dynasties established thirteen provinces throughout the empire, with varying numbers of commanderies under each province's jurisdiction.

Each Province shall appoint a itinerant inspector刺史. Initially, the inspector was responsible for inspecting the commanderies and countries under his jurisdiction, supervising local officials and powerful clans, rectifying illegal activities, and impeaching corrupt officials.

189 AD, Liu Yan刘焉 adviced Emperor Ling of Han汉灵帝（168-189AD) to select high-ranking official from the court to serve as the governor of the province. From then on, the provinces gradually became an administrative region, the itinerant inspector Turned into the provincial governor ,who held the military and political power.

During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the country was divided into thirteen provinces, their names and the commanderies they managed were:

Youzhou幽州:

Dai代, Shanggu上谷, Zhuo涿, Guangyang广阳, Yuyang渔阳, Right Beiping右北平, LiaoXi辽西, LiaoDong辽东, Xuantu玄菟,The Dependent State of Liaodong辽东属国, and Lelang乐浪.

Jizhou冀州:

Anping安平, Zhongshan中山, Boling博陵 , Changshan常山,HeJian河间, Qinghe清河, Zhao赵, Julu巨鹿, Bohai渤海, and Wei魏.

Bingzhou并州:

Taiyuan太原, Shangdang上党, Xihe西河, Yunzhong云中, Dingxiang定襄, Yanmen雁门, Shuofang朔方, Wuyuan五原, and Shang上郡

Yanzhou兖州:

ChenLiu陈留, DongJun东郡, RenCheng任城, TaiShan泰山, JiBei济北, ShanYang山阳, JiYin济阴, DongPing东平

Sizhou司州 (Sili司隶):

Hedong河东 , He’nei河内 , He’nan河南, Hongnong弘农, JingZhaoYin京兆尹, Pengyi冯翊, and Fufeng扶风.

Yuzhou豫州:

Pei沛,Chen陈, Lu鲁 , Liang梁 , YingChuan颍川,RuNan汝南.

Xuzhou徐州:

Xiapi下邳, Pengcheng彭城, Langya琅琊, Donghai东海, and Guangling广陵

Jingzhou荆州:

Nanyang南阳, Nanjun南郡, Jiangxia江夏, Wuling武陵, Changsha长沙, Guiyang桂阳 and Lingling零陵.

Qingzhou青州:

Pingyuan平原, Donglai东莱, Ji’nan济南, Le'an乐安, Beihai北海 and Qi齐

Yangzhou扬州:

Jiujiang九江, Lujiang庐江 , Wu吴, Kuaiji会稽, Danyang丹阳, Luling庐陵, and Yuzhang豫章

Liangzhou凉州 (first named as Yongzhou雍州, later renamed Liangzhou):

Wuwei武威, Dunhuang敦煌, Jiuquan酒泉, Zhangye张掖, Jincheng金城, Longxi陇西, Anding安定, Hanyang汉阳, Beidi北地, Wudu武都, the Dependent State of Zhangye张掖蜀国, and Xihai西海.

Yizhou益州:

Hanzhong汉中,Shu蜀, Ba巴, Guanghan广汉, Qianwei犍为, Hanjia汉嘉, YinPing阴平 ,ShuShi朱提, Yuexi越巂, Yizhou益州, ZangKe牂牁, and Yongchang永昌.

Jiaozhou交州:

NanHai南海，Cangwu苍梧，Yulin郁林，Hepu合浦，Jiaozhi交趾，Jiuzhen九真，Rinan日南.

To be Continued.

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