A walled garrison town, founded in 1032 (English Wikipedia), on the dry delta of the Black River where it ends in the Etsina lakes, the last water on the road north into the Gobi.
The ruins show walls about 421 by 374 m and ramparts up to 9 m; the Kozlov expeditions of 1908 and 1909 found over 2,000 Tangut books, Buddhist paintings and manuscripts in many languages, none later than 1212 among the Tangut texts. Its size in 1200 is not stated by any source we read. It is the seat of the Heishui Zhenyan military district.
Who holds it
- Title
- Commander of the Heishui Zhenyan district
- Since
- not known
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
No holder is named for 1200 in the sources we could read.
Lord in 1200
The commander of the Heishui Zhenyan district (name not known).
Overlord
The emperor Huanzong through the prefect and the military district.
What the town holds
Xia ground since the conquest of the Hexi or Ordos (1028 to 1036 for the corridor).
Allies and rivals
The district commander and the prefect; the Jin across the frontier where there is one.
How things stand that morning
A frontier garrison and caravan town; quiet.
Wealth
not recorded
Military
the district's garrison and call-up; no numbers
Council
not known; no council, judge or headman is named in the sources we read
Communities
Tanguts, Han, Uyghurs and other Turks; Buddhist stupas. A building outside the walls looks like a mosque, of unknown date.
Fairs and markets
not recorded
Militia
the district's garrison and call-up; no numbers
Walls and castle
Walled town, stupas outside.
Trade and crafts
Delta farming and fishing, camel caravans on the northern road.
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- spring 1205 (after 1200)Mongol raid into the Etsina country.Depends on: Temujin's victory in the east. Stopped by: Mongol attention held elsewhere.
Places of note
- The Etsina delta: The terminal lakes and tamarisk of the Black River.
Where the sources disagree
- Board: 101.075 E; we use 101.145 E (English Wikipedia).
- Board (etsina-oasis): 42.05, 100.9; the delta lakes lie north of Khara-Khoto at the Ejin banner's seat; carried as a point.
Evidence: Thin: the sources give the place, not its people in 1200.
Primary sources for Great Xia
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- Annals of the Western Xia, Wu Guangcheng (吳廣成) (1825 to 1827, compiled from Song, Liao, Jin and Yuan sources). A Qing scholar's year-by-year reconstruction of Tangut history from the Chinese histories, since the Xia left no surviving annals of their own in Chinese. Read online
- Continuation of the Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government, Bi Yuan (畢沅), completed by Feng Jiwu after his death (late eighteenth century, finished after 1801, from Song and Yuan sources). A Qing scholar's continuous month-by-month chronicle of the Song and Yuan centuries, compiled from the Song shi, the Liao, Jin and Yuan histories, Li Tao, Li Xinchuan and other Song sources. Read online
- Record of the Personal Campaigns of the Holy Warrior (Chinggis Khan) (presented to Khubilai in 1288, finished in Mongolian in 1290; the surviving Chinese version dates from 1369). A year-by-year Chinese account of Temujin's wars, drawn from the lost Altan Debter (the same source behind the Yuan shi's first chapter and Rashid al-Din). Read online
- The Secret History of the Mongols (1228 or 1240 (the colophon's Year of the Rat is disputed), with later additions; the surviving Chinese transcription and gloss were made under the Ming in the 1380s). The only Mongol account of Temujin's rise, written within living memory. Read online
- History of the Song, the chapters on Xia and on foreign states, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1345). The Song court's accounts of its neighbours, each arranged as an annal of embassies and wars. Read online
- Compendium of Chronicles: the Turkic and Mongol tribes and the life of Chinggis Khan, Rashid al-Din Hamadani (about 1300 to 1311, in the Ilkhanate). The fullest description of who held what on the steppe around 1200, written a century later from Mongol court records (the Altan Debter) and from informants such as Bolad Chingsang. Read online
- History of the Jin, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office, with Ouyang Xuan among the chief compilers (1343 to 1344, from the Jin veritable records and the Jin national history). The official history of the Jurchen empire that ruled north China and Manchuria in 1200. Read online
- History of the Song, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1345, from the Song veritable records, state histories and the Huiyao). The official history of the Southern Song, which ruled from Lin'an (Hangzhou) in 1200. Read online
5 more in the sources library for The Tarim, the Uyghurs and Xia.
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.