History of Zhenia

The history of Zhenia covers what is modern-day Zhenia and its historical relations to the world, characterized by broad interactions with both continental and maritime powers both close and distant.

The origins of Zhenia as a distinct entity after prehistory can be tracked down to well before the advent of the Zhen dynasty, when the primordial Liang dynasty existed in the Taimir River basin, although evidence hinting to the existence of Neolithic civilizations have also been observed near the Weisu and Chang rivers. As the first state in Zhenian history, the Liang dynasty presided over the northern parts of the Taimir River basin, a region often regarded as a, as clarified by numerous historical texts dating back to the Zhen dynasty. The demise of the Liang dynasty around 1000 BC was met with the Era of Great Divide, characterized by the rise of several feudal warlord states across the mainland and the Danguk Peninsula, although only eight of such entities survived by 600 BC. Amid the flourishing of early Zhenian culture, philosophy and language, the Era of Great Divide saw entities across modern-day Zhenia compete for domination of the Taimir Basin and beyond.

In 330 BC, the Kingdom of Zhen, originating from the northern parts of the Danguk Peninsula, conquered and unified much of mainland Zhenia and established the Zhen dynasty. As the first entity to have fully unified much of modern-day Zhenia, the Zhen dynasty, as well as successive dynasties in both the mainland and the Danguk Peninsula, developed systems to efficiently exert centralized power over its domain, a trend that continued for several centuries. While it left lasting influences in Zhenian language, literature, culture and philosophy, the fall of the Zhen dynasty in the early 6th century marked the diverging point between the mainland and the Danguk Peninsula, for that separate states continued to rule the respective regions, each claiming themselves to be the legitimate successor of the Zhen dynasty, until the Empire of Zhenia. The mainland was ruled by an array of both divided and unified dynasties over the centuries, with the last being the Greater Wu. International relations of mainland Zhenian dynasties were primarily focused on upholding the and a regional hierarchy centered around mainland Zhenia, although some dynasties restricted interactions with the outside world altogether and solidified rule on the mainland.

While a series of unified dynasties also ruled the Danguk Peninsula after the fall of the Zhen dynasty, the Shindan dynasty, established in 1298, was more outgoing than previous entities that ruled the peninsula. Establishing trade routes and overseas territories across the Hanmaric Ocean and in western Veharia during the, the Shindan dynasty had its zenith of prosperity from trade and expansion around the 16th and 17th centuries. Its power, wealth and glory declined during the late 17th and 18th centuries following a series of military defeats against the Greater Wu, eventually forcing it to become a of the Greater Wu until the mid-19th century. Amid the wave of forced port openings and unfair treaties between the Greater Wu and Auroran colonial empires in the early 19th century, however, the Shindan dynasty successfully led a series of reforms focused on modernization and westernization, transforming the previous declassed empire into a modernized great power. A series of military conflicts, as well as the Zhenian Civil War, in the turn of the 19th century concluded in the unification of modern-day Zhenia as the Empire of Zhenia, despite the unification being somewhat incomplete due to the establishment of Yinguo.