Ancient Geographical Name Query
Match ancient place names to modern administrative locations.
Operation
52 of 52 places shown. Cards open OpenStreetMap at the modern coordinates.
Capital of Western Han, Sui and Tang; eastern terminus of the Silk Road.
Qin capital, sacked in 206 BCE.
Eastern Zhou and Eastern Han capital; Tang's eastern capital 東都.
Also 建業, 秣陵; capital of Wu, Eastern Jin and the Southern Dynasties.
Also 東京, 汴梁; lost in the Jingkang catastrophe of 1127.
Southern Song 行在, the temporary capital that lasted 150 years.
Khanbaliq; Yuan capital laid out by Liu Bingzhong.
Capital of the state of Yan, later 幽州 and 燕京.
Cao Cao's power base; site of the Bronze Bird Terrace 銅雀臺.
Zhao stronghold, later 北都 of the Tang.
Northern Wei capital before the 494 move to Luoyang; Yungang caves nearby.
Capital of Zhao; source of the 邯鄲學步 idiom.
Qi capital and the largest city of the Warring States world.
Capital of Lu and Confucius' home town.
Chu capital at Jinancheng; taken by Qin in 278 BCE.
Yue capital; site of the Lanting gathering of 353 CE.
Wu capital; the 寒山寺 of Zhang Ji's poem stands to the west.
Grand Canal port; the 揚州 of Tang commerce and poetry.
Xiang Yu's capital and Liu Bang's home region.
Late Chu capital after the fall of Ying.
Ancestral seat of the Cao clan.
Where Cao Cao installed Emperor Xian in 196 CE.
Zhuge Liang's 躬耕於南陽; a major Han iron-working centre.
Commandery seat on the Yellow River plain, often named in Han memorials.
The Han River fortress whose 1273 fall opened the way for the Yuan.
Li Bai's 千里江陵一日還.
Site of the 222 CE battle that broke Shu Han's eastern ambitions.
Where Liu Bei died and Li Bai set sail at dawn.
The middle of the Three Gorges described in the 水經注.
The 208 CE naval battle; Su Shi's rhapsodies were written at a different cliff.
Sun Quan's 鄂州; the Yellow Crane Tower stands here.
Fan Zhongyan's 岳陽樓 overlooks Dongting Lake from here.
Where Bai Juyi heard the pipa and wrote 琵琶行.
Su Shi's 不識廬山真面目; a centre of early Chinese Buddhism.
Shu Han capital; Du Fu's thatched cottage stands by the Huanhua stream.
The pass on the Shu road that Li Bai called 難於上青天.
The pass that made 關中 'within the passes' a political term.
Guarded the Wei River approach to Chang'an; Du Fu's 潼關吏.
Chokepoint between Luoyang and the eastern plain.
Wang Wei's 西出陽關無故人; the southern Silk Road gate.
The northern Silk Road gate of Wang Zhihuan's 涼州詞.
Mogao caves and the sealed library cave 藏經洞 opened in 1900.
Hexi corridor garrison town; source of the 涼州詞 genre.
One of the four Hexi commanderies established by Emperor Wu.
Western Xia capital; centre of Tangut script production.
Nanyue capital and the Tang's great southern trading port.
Zayton of the Arab and Latin travellers; Song maritime customs seat.
Port for the Japan and Korea trade; Tiantai pilgrims embarked here.
Southernmost Han commandery; 交趾 in the sources.
Han commandery on the Korean peninsula, source of many lacquer finds.
Seat of Liaodong commandery and the Gongsun warlords.
羊苴咩城, capital of Nanzhao and then the Dali kingdom.
How it works
User guide
- 01Enter an ancient place name.
- 02Filter by dynasty if needed.
- 03Click a result to open its coordinates on OpenStreetMap.
Frequently asked
Q.How accurate are the coordinates?
A.They are centroid approximations at the county level; use for orientation, not for precise mapping.
Tools in the same matrix
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