216 CHRONOGRAPHY. 



The fifth, or Han (Hang) dynasty, was founded 202 B. C., by 

 Lieoo-pang, captain of a band of robbers, who was afterwards called 

 Kao-tee. The Roman emperor, Marcus Aurelius, is said to have 

 sent an embassy to China, A. D. 166, when the Chinese first became 

 known to him. China was divided, A. D. 220, between the families 

 of Oey, (Goei), and Ou, (Oo) : and, though united under Too-tee, 

 (Wu-ti), founder of the seventh or Tain (Tsin-ou-ti) dynasty, in 265, 

 it was again divided, in 386; the northern empire being founded and 

 governed by the Goli Tartars ; and the southern by the Oo-tay, 

 (U-tai), or Five Families, which reigned there in succession. China 

 was again united under Yang-kien ; who assumed the name of Ten- 

 tee, and founded the twelfth or Sooy (Soui) dynasty, A. D. 581. 

 Under Tay-tsong, of the next or Tang dynasty, literature flourished, 

 and China grew powerful. The usurper Shoo-ven, (Shu-wen), or 

 Tay-tsoo, founded the fourteenth or Heoo-Leang (Helm-Lang) dy- 

 nasty, A. D. 907 ; which, with the four following dynasties, all feeble, 

 were called the Heoo-oo-tay, (Hehu-u-tai), or the five later families. 

 The nineteenth imperial dynasty, that of Song or Sing, founded by 

 S/iao-quang yu, (or Tchao), under the name of Tay-tsoo, in 960, 

 continued till the Tartar conquest, in 1278. 



The eastern Tartars had founded an empire of their own, in north- 

 ern China, as early as A. D. 907 ; and the Niutche (or Niu-cheng) 

 Tartars, coming into power in 1118, forced the Chinese to pay tribute. 

 This induced the latter to invite in the Mogul (Mongol or Mong-koo) 

 Tartars, under Genghis Khan; who subdued the Niutches in 1209, 

 and then turned his arms against the Chinese themselves. His 

 descendant, Kublay Khan, called by the Chinese Ho-pie-lie, (Hou- 

 pilay), completed the conquest of China, and taking the name of 

 Shee-tsoo, (Shi-tsu), founded the twentieth or Yuen dynasty in 1278, 

 the eighteenth year of his reign. The Tartars were again expelled 

 from China, by Shoo, (Chu), who took the name of Tay-tsoo, (Tai- 

 tsoo IV.), and founded the twenty-first or Ming dynasty, in 1368. 

 But China was again subdued by the Man-tchoo Tartars, a remnant 

 of the Niutches, (Niudshees), under Sunshee, (Shun-chi), who took 

 the name of Shee-tsong, and founded the twenty-second imperial 

 dynasty, that of Ta-tsin, (Tsing, Tsim, or Tatim), in 1644 ; which 

 still occupies the throne. Kien-Lung was emperor at the time of 

 Lord Macartney's embassy, in 1792. 



7. The History of Central and Southern Africa, is brief and 

 obscure ; consisting chiefly of an account of the modern discoveries 

 made, and colonies founded, by the Europeans. Jlbyssinia, the 

 ancient Ethiopia, was imperfectly known during the middle ages, 

 although it had been converted to Christianity in the third century ; 

 but we must pass over its history till the Portuguese mission of 

 Covillan, about 1490; whose reports hastened the discovery of the 

 southern passage to India. In 1516, the Portuguese aided the native 

 king, David, in recovering his throne from the Turks ; and, in 1543, 

 they extended like aid to Claudius, the next negus or king. The 

 Roman Catholic religion was established therein 1604; but over- 

 thrown in 1632, by the negus Basilides or Facilidas. The country 

 lias since been involved in civil war, and is now divided, into the 



