The earliest human activity in Ningxia can be traced back to 30,000 years ago, with remains of the
Shuidonggou culture found in
Lingwu. near
Qingtongxia. As a frontier zone between nomadic pastoralists and sedentary farmers, Ningxia was a frequent seat of war and incursions by non-Chinese tribes. Ningxia and its surrounding areas were incorporated into the
Qin as the
Beidi Commandery as early as the 3rd century BC. To
pacify the region, the imperial government established military colonies to reclaim land. In addition, horse pasturages were founded under the Imperial Stud to safeguard the supply of army horses, as early as the Western
Han dynasty (206 BC – AD 9). It then came under
Mongol domination after
Genghis Khan conquered
Yinchuan in the early 13th century. Muslims from Central Asia also began moving into Ningxia from the west. By the late 17th century, Ningxia had become a weaving centre, producing many early Chinese carpets. The Muslim
Dungan Revolt of the 19th century affected Ningxia. In 1914, Ningxia was merged with the
province of
Gansu. In 1928, it became a separate province. Between 1914 and 1928, the
Ma clique ruled the provinces of
Qinghai, Ningxia and Gansu; General
Ma Hongkui was the military governor of Ningxia and had absolute authority in the province. The
Muslim conflict in Gansu, which lasted from 1927 to 1930, spilt over into Ningxia. In 1934, warlord and
National Revolutionary Army general
Sun Dianying attempted to conquer the province, but was defeated by an alliance led by the
Ma clique. From 1950 to 1958, a
Kuomintang Islamic insurgency resulted in fighting throughout Northwest China, including Ningxia. In 1954, the
Chinese government merged Ningxia with Gansu, but in 1958 Ningxia formally became an
autonomous region of China. In 1969, Ningxia received a part of the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region, but this area was returned in 1979. A number of Chinese artifacts dating from the
Tang dynasty and
Song dynasty, some of which had been owned by
Emperor Zhenzong, were excavated and then came into the hands of Ma Hongkui, who refused to publicize the findings. Among the artifacts were a white marble tablet from the Tang dynasty, gold nails, and bands made out of metal. It was not until after Ma Hongkui died that his wife went to Taiwan in 1971 from America to bring the artifacts to
Chiang Kai-shek, who turned them over to the
Taipei National Palace Museum. ==Geography==