Ming Dynasty

The Ming Dynasty was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644. It was the last ethnic Han dynasty in China, supplanting the Mongol Yuan Dynasty before falling to the Manchu Qing Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty ({{Zh-cpw|c=明朝|p=míng cháo|w=}}) was also called The Great Ming Empire (大明帝国). Though the Ming capital, Beijing, fell in 1644, remnants of the Ming throne and power (now collectively called the Southern Ming) survived until 1662.

Ming military conquests

The beginning of the Ming dynasty was one of Ming military conquests as they sought to perpetuate their hold on power.

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Early in his reign the first Ming emperor Zhu Yuanzhang provided instructions as injunctions to later generations. These instructions included the advice that those countries to the north were dangerous and posed a threat to the Ming polity and those to the south did not.Furthermore he stated that those to the south, not constituting a threat, were not to be subject to attack. Yet, either because of, or despite of, this, it was the polities to the south which were to suffer the greatest effects of Ming expansion over the following century.This prolonged entanglement in the South with no long lasting tangible benefits was ultimately to weaken the Ming.

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