210 BC – 200 BCs

Events in 210 BC – 200 BC 6

• 246 BC – 208 BC Construction of the Great Wall begins Linking earlier walls into a unified northern defence Qin Shi Huang ordered the linking and extension of existing northern walls into a continuous defensive barrier against Xiongnu nomads. Hundreds of thousands of workers — soldiers, peasants and convicts — built the wall under brutal conditions. This early wall was largely of earth and wood; the iconic stone wall seen today was built by the Ming dynasty. The wall represents the most ambitious construction project of the ancient world.
• 221 BC – 206 BC Qin Dynasty — First unified China Qin Shi Huang unifies the warring states In 221 BC, Ying Zheng of the state of Qin conquered the last of the warring states and proclaimed himself Qin Shi Huang — First Emperor of China. He standardised weights, measures, currency, axle widths and writing across the empire, creating the template for Chinese civilisation. His dynasty lasted only 15 years but its legacy shaped China for two millennia. The name "China" derives from "Qin".
• 221 BC – 210 BC Qin Shi Huang — First Emperor of China 221–210 BC — unifier, tyrant, visionary Ying Zheng became king of Qin at age 13 and conquered all rival states by 221 BC, aged 38. As First Emperor he standardised writing, currency, weights and measures across China, built the first Great Wall, and connected the empire with roads and canals. He also burned books and buried scholars alive to suppress dissent. He spent his final years obsessively seeking immortality. His terracotta army of 8,000 warriors was discovered in 1974.
• 218 BC – 201 BC Second Punic War — Hannibal invades Italy Hannibal Barca crosses the Alps with 37 war elephants and an army of 26,000 men in 218 BC, fighting his way to the gates of Rome. He destroys Roman armies at the Trebia (218 BC), Lake Trasimene (217 BC) and Cannae (216 BC) — the latter killing perhaps 70,000 Romans in a single afternoon, the most lethal single day in Roman history. Yet Rome refuses to negotiate, raises new armies, and shifts strategy. Scipio Africanus carries the war to Africa; at the Battle of Zama (202 BC) Hannibal is defeated.
• 210 BC Terracotta Army buried with Qin Shi Huang 8,000 warriors guard the emperor in death Qin Shi Huang was buried in a vast mausoleum near Xi'an, guarded by an army of 8,000 life-size terracotta soldiers, horses and chariots — each with individual facial features. The tomb complex also reportedly contained rivers of mercury representing the empire's waterways. The terracotta warriors were accidentally discovered by farmers digging a well in 1974 and are now considered one of the greatest archaeological discoveries in history.
• 202 BC – 220 Han Dynasty The golden age that defined what it means to be Chinese The Han dynasty ruled for over 400 years and is considered China's first golden age. It consolidated Confucianism as state ideology, expanded the empire into Central Asia, and opened the Silk Road. Paper was invented during the Han period. The ethnic majority of China still call themselves "Han people" after this dynasty. It fell to internal rebellion and warlordism — giving rise to the Three Kingdoms period immortalised in Chinese literature.