State · 386 – 535

Northern Wei

A state of 386 – 535 — 149 years in East and Southeast Asia. It replaced Xia, Northern Liang and Northern Yan. It was replaced by Western Wei and Eastern Wei. The atlas records 16 things within it — people 16. Its line of rulers holds 16 people.

For the full story, the article on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); this page holds what the record says of the state.

Stood: 149 years; 386 – 535
Rulers: 16; the Emperor of China
Most ground: 1.17 million km²; in 476
Within it: 16; recorded rows

Map: Northern Wei in 476, its borders in gold among its neighbours — Northern Wei in 476, when it held the most ground the borders dataset draws for it: 1.17 million km². Its neighbours wear their tints, as on the atlas's own map. Borders from Cliopatria (CC BY 4.0), coast and rivers from Natural Earth, cities from Reba, Reitsma & Seto 2016 (CC BY 4.0), each city under the name it bore that year.

Northern Wei in 387, first mapped — The rise and the fall in one frame: the same ground at the years the borders dataset first maps it, maps it largest, and last maps it.

Northern Wei in 476, at its largest — The rise and the fall in one frame: the same ground at the years the borders dataset first maps it, maps it largest, and last maps it.

Where it sits in time

Five thousand years, 3000 BCE to 2026; the state in gold, what it replaced or followed and what replaced or followed it in grey.

Before and after

The states the record files it as replacing or following, and those that replaced or followed it - Wikidata's own statements, each read from this state's side.

Before it

Northern Liang · replaces · 397 – 439
Northern Yan · replaces · 407 – 436
Xia · replaces · 407 – 431

After it

Western Wei · replaced by · 535 – 557
Eastern Wei · replaced by · 534 – 550

Rulers

The line of Emperor of China.

killed, executed or dead in battledeposed, abdicated, exiled or removeddied in officeleft alive by a regular roada second row: a reign that began before the last had ended — rival claimants, or a shared throne

Ruler	Reign	Length	How it ended · source	To the ruler before
Emperor Daowu of Northern Wei	399 – 409	10 years	died in office, manner not recordedWikidata's end cause on the term
Emperor Mingyuan of Northern Wei	409 – 423	14 years	died in office, manner not recordedWikidata's end cause on the term	child
Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei	423 – 452	29 years	died in office, manner not recordedWikidata's end cause on the term	child
Tuoba Yu	452 – 452	under a year	died in office, manner not recordedWikidata's end cause on the term	child
Emperor Wencheng of Northern Wei	452 – 465	13 years	died in office, manner not recordedWikidata's end cause on the term	nephew or niece
Emperor Xianwen of Northern Wei	465 – 471	6 years	ended by a named eventWikidata's end cause on the term	child
Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei	471 – 499	28 years	died in office, manner not recordedWikidata's end cause on the term	child
Emperor Xuanwu of Northern Wei	499 – 515	16 years	died in office, manner not recordedWikidata's end cause on the term	child
Emperor Xiaoming of Northern Wei	515 – 528	13 years	killedWikidata's manner of death	child
Daughter of Emperor Xiaoming of Northern Wei	528 – 528	under a year	deposed or removedWikidata's end cause on the term	child
Yuan Zhao	528 – 528	under a year	died by accidentWikidata's manner of death
Emperor Xiaozhuang of Northern Wei	528 – 531	3 years	killedWikidata's manner of death
Yuan Ye	530 – 531	1 year	ended by a named eventWikidata's end cause on the term
Emperor Jiemin of Northern Wei	531 – 532	1 year	deposed or removedWikidata's end cause on the term
Yuan Lang	531 – 532	1 year	ended by a named eventWikidata's end cause on the term
Emperor Xiaowu of Northern Wei	532 – 535	3 years	died in office, manner not recordedWikidata's end cause on the term

16 rulers, 16 with terms dated as terms, covering 399 – 535. Median reign 4.5 years. 6 of 15 handovers irregular - a killing, a deposition, a rival claimant, a rising or a coup beside it. A blank in the last column means no kin on record, which is coverage, never “unrelated”.

Ground held, by year

km² inside its borders as the borders dataset draws them, measured on an equal-area grid; a step series, held between the years the dataset maps.

436,300 km² in 396, 1.17 million km² in 526; at its largest 1.17 million km² in 476. Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0.

What happened within it, by century

Every row the atlas hosts under this state, by the century it began in: wars and battles in red, risings, regime changes and massacres beside them, everything else in grey. A tall bar is a century the record is full for, which is partly a fact about Wikipedia.

300 – 3992 rows

Emperor Daowu of Northern Wei · ruler · 371 – 409
Emperor Mingyuan of Northern Wei · ruler · 392 – 423

400 – 4998 rows

Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei · ruler · 467 – 499
Emperor Xuanwu of Northern Wei · ruler · 483 – 515
Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei · ruler · 408 – 452
Emperor Wencheng of Northern Wei · ruler · 440 – 465
Emperor Xianwen of Northern Wei · ruler · 454 – 476
Tuoba Yu · ruler · 450 – 452
Emperor Jiemin of Northern Wei · ruler · 498 – 532
Gao Huan · politician · 496 – 547

500 – 5996 rows

Emperor Xiaoming of Northern Wei · ruler · 510 – 528
Emperor Xiaozhuang of Northern Wei · ruler · 507 – 531
Emperor Xiaowu of Northern Wei · ruler · 510 – 535
Yuan Lang · ruler · 513 – 532
Yuan Zhao · ruler · 526 – 528
Yuan Ye · ruler · 509 – 532

Among all states

Each measure against the states that carry it, never against all of them: a bar is the share of those states below this one.

How long it stood149 years
stood longer than 55% of 3,187 states with a recorded end or still standing.
The most ground it held1,166,300 km²
held more ground at its peak than 86% of 1,465 states with a border in Cliopatria.
Wars recorded per centurynone
had more wars on record per century than 44% of 3,187 states, counting the wars the atlas hosts under each.
How long a reign lasted, at the median6 years
had longer reigns, at the median, than 22% of 967 states whose dated line can carry a median.
Rulers on record16
has more rulers on record than 89% of 1,968 states with a line of rulers.

What led to it, and what came of it

The investigation's own picture: 1 cause the record names and 2 results, the strongest six of each at their own years, joined to the state by the kind of claim - a recorded statement solid, the article's sentence dashed, a theory dash-dot.

linkedcoincidence

Open the investigation: every row with its evidence, the conditions at the time, the theories condition by condition, and the succession analysed.

Theories that apply to its ending

Of 3 theories of why states fall, 1 has every condition present at this ending and 1 some of them; each is applied by its own logic, condition by condition, and whether its authors named this case is a footnote.

Dynastic cycle and the decay of group feeling
Ibn Khaldun 1377 · Turchin & Nefedov 2009
Applies by its own logic: the condition it names held here, and this is the kind of outcome it predicts — adverse regime change or the state's ending.
- the state 90 to 160 years old — ageBand 149

Open in the atlas

On the timeline, 371 – 550, with everything that stood beside it.
On the map in 476, live: scrub the year and watch its borders move.
Investigate it: what led to it, what came of it, and its succession analysed.

Wikidata Q875305 (CC0) · borders Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0 · coast and rivers Natural Earth · data built 2026-10-06 · Pastlas v2.9.1, by Oleh Voronko. The published atlas and its data are for non-commercial use.