Great Wall of China

:This article discusses the man-made structure. For the largest known super-structure in the universe, see Great Wall (astronomy).

History The first major wall was built during the reign of the First Emperor, the main emperor of the short-lived Qin dynasty. This wall was not constructed as a single endeavor, but rather was created by the joining of several regional walls built by the Warring States. It was located much further north than the current Great Wall, and very little remains of it. A defensive wall on the northern border was built and maintained by several dynasties at different times in Chinese history. The Great Wall that can still be seen today was built during the Ming Dynasty, on a much larger scale and with longer lasting materials (solid stone used for the sides and the top of the Wall) than any wall that had been built before. The primary purpose of the wall was not to keep out people, who could scale the wall, but to ensure that semi-nomadic people on the outside of the wall could not cross with their horses or return easily with stolen property.

There have been four major walls:

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• 208 BC (the Qin Dynasty)
• 1st century BC (the Han Dynasty)
• 1138 - 1198 (the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period)
• 1368-1620 (from Hongwu Emperor until Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty)

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