History
In 1965, railway workers found two teeth in Yuanmou, a village just northwest of the provincial capital, Kunming. They belonged to a million-year-old hominid. A subsequent search turned up homo erectus fossils older than Peking Man in the area’s limestone karsts. However, the first sign of humans appears at Lake Dian: Neolithic settlements and stone tools.
The Dian plains hosted numerous tribes in the first millennium BC. The Chinese referred to this region as “South of the Cloud Mountains”. They began pushing the tribes deeper into the surrounding foothills and south into Indochina. In the 4th century BC, a Chinese general took control of Dian, and declared himself king.
Dian remained secluded until the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD), when China annexed Yunnan to make way for the Southwest Silk Road through Burma to India. However, the rough terrain and a weakening empire put Yunnan’s tribal chiefs back in charge, with the Cuan Clan holding sway for 400 years.
Under the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), the powerful Nanchao Kingdom flourished and ruled for almost 250 years, while functioning as a bastion against Tibet. In 937, Nanchao was replaced by the Dali Kingdom, with its capital on Erhai Lake.
Kublai Khan then overran Yunnan in 1253. This brought stability and stimulated the local economy. Production increased, living standards improved and ethnic relations harmonised. The capital was moved to its present location in Kunming, which grew into a prosperous city, renowned for its skilled craftsmen and favourably described in Marco Polo’s writings.
The Ming Dynasty regained control in the 14th century, viewing Yunnan more as a colony, as did the subsequent Qing (Manchu) Dynasty. Hundreds of thousands of troops and civilians were dispatched to set up military outposts and reclaim land. The influx of expertise had a positive influence in agriculture, mining and social development.
In the 17th century, Manchurian troops occupied most of the central areas of China, and the Qing Dynasty took the reigns of power in Yunnan.
Just as Yunnan was being integrated, the 1840 Opium War temporarily yielded it to British and French imperialism. The Vietnam-based French built the Hanoi-Kunming railway line to exploit the provinces resources, mainly copper. The British, operating from their base in Burma, occupied the territory in northwest Yunnan and forced China to cede land in what is now Myanmar’s Kachin State.
Kunming became a manufacturing centre during the Sino-Japanese War (1937-45), before Mao Tse Tung included Yunnan in the 1949 establishment of the People’s Republic of China. It was declared a province in March 1950.