Nanhai Commandery ( zh, 南海郡) was a Chinese commandery that existed from

Qin dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ; zh, c=秦朝, p=Qín cháo, w=), or Ch'in dynasty in Wade–Giles romanization ( zh, c=, p=, w=Ch'in ch'ao), was the first dynasty of Imperial China. Named for its heartland in Qin state (modern Gansu and Shaanxi), ...

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdo ...

. At the greatest extent, Nanhai's territories covered present-day

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020 ...

Hainan Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slight ...

, southeastern Guangxi and the southern tip of

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its c ...

. The seat of Nanhai Commandery was Panyu (modern

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong ...

History

In 214 BC,

conquered Lingnan and established three commanderies, Nanhai,

Guilin Guilin (Standard Zhuang: ''Gveilinz''; alternatively romanized as Kweilin) is a prefecture-level city in the northeast of China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. It is situated on the west bank of the Li River and borders Hunan to the n ...

and Xiang within the region. After the collapse of Qin, Zhao Tuo, the Qin prefect of Longchuan County, Nanhai, established the Nanyue kingdom on Nanhai and surrounding commanderies. Panyu became the kingdom's capital. In 112 BC, Nanyue was annexed by the

Han dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by th ...

. In late Western Han period, Nanhai had a population of 19,613 households (94,253 individuals). The commandery administered 6 counties: Panyu, Boluo (博羅), Zhongsu (中宿), Longchuan (龍川), Sihui (四會) and Jieyang (揭陽). During the Eastern Han period, a new county, Zengcheng, was created. By 140 AD, the population had grown to 71,477 households (250,282 individuals). Jin dynasty unified the

Three Kingdoms The Three Kingdoms () from 220 to 280 AD was the tripartite division of China among the dynastic states of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu. The Three Kingdoms period was preceded by the Han dynasty#Eastern Han, Eastern Han dynasty and wa ...

in 280. At the time, the commandery recorded a population of 9,500 households. Two new commanderies were split off from Nanhai during Eastern Jin: Dongguan (東官) in 330 and Xinhui (新會) in 420. In 464, the population in Nanhai was 8,574 households (49,157 individuals). The number of counties had been increased to 10. The commandery was abolished when the Sui dynasty conquered the Chen dynasty. During Sui and Tang dynasties, Nanhai Commandery became an alternative name of Guang Prefecture. In 741, Nanhai administered 13 counties: Nanhai, Panyu, Zengcheng, Sihui, Huameng (化蒙),

Huaiji Huaiji County () is a county of western Guangdong province, People's Republic of China. It is under the administration of Zhaoqing City. Administrative divisions Climate References Zhaoqing County-level divisions of Guangdong { ...

, Jianshui (洊水), Dongguan, Qingyuan, Hankuang (浛洭), Zhenyang (湞陽), Xinhui, Yining (義寧). The population was 42,235 households (221,500 individuals).'' New Book of Tang'', Chapter 43.

References

{{Han dynasty provinces Commanderies of the Qin dynasty Commanderies of the Han dynasty Commanderies of the Jin dynasty (266–420) Commanderies of the Southern dynasties Commanderies of the Sui dynasty Nanyue History of Guangdong