Geography
Jin was located in the lower Fen River basin on the Shanxi plateau. To the north were the Rong and Di peoples. To the west were the Lüliang Mountains and then the Loess Plateau of northern Shaanxi. To the southwest the Fen River turns west to join the south-flowing part of the Yellow River which soon leads to the Wei River valley, the heartland of the Western Zhou and later Qin dynasties. To the south are the Zhongtiao Mountains and then the east-west valley of the Yellow River which was the main route to the Wei valley to the west. To the east were the Taihang Mountains and then the North China Plain. This location gave ambitious Jin dukes the opportunity to move north to conquer and absorb the Rong tribes, move southwest and fight Qin, and move southeast to absorb the many smaller Zhou states. Also important to the region were the large states of Chu to the south and Qi to the east.
Jin had multiple capitals. The first capital of Jin was Tang. (唐) The capital was later moved to E (鄂), then Jiang (絳), then Xintian (新田). From 746 to 677, Quwo (曲沃) was the capital of a fragment of Jin.
Read more about this topic: Jin (Chinese State)
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