Pre-Qin era There are many paleolithic remains like
Nihewan,
Xiaochangliang, and
Maquangou located in Guyuan county, which indicated human activities dating back possibly 2 million years ago. Around 2500 BC, the legendary ancestors of Chinese people,
Huangdi,
Yandi, and
Chiyou used to live in the area of
Zhuolu Town, and later fought the
Battle of Zhuolu and
Battle of Banquan, amalgamating different tribes into a single
Huaxia tribe, thus beginning Chinese history. In 106 BC,
Emperor Wu of Han organized the Western Han dynasty into 13 province-sized prefectures, each administered by a cishi () or inspector, thus putting Shanggu and Dai under the jurisdiction of
You Prefecture. Following the
Xin dynasty, Lu Fang () rebelled against Han but was defeated. Then,
Emperor Guangwu of Han granted him the King of Dai. In 48 AD, the
Eastern Han dynasty established Colonel-Protector of the Wuhuan in Ningcheng (), Shanggu (currently, Ningyuanbao
Qiaodong District), representing Han's management of Wuhuan. Meanwhile, Han also opened Hu Market () to conduct regular exchanges with Wuhuan in Ningcheng. From 110 AD, Ningcheng also began to manage affairs with
Xianbei. and
Nicolae Milescu. From 1727 it was an important station for the
Kyakhta trade between Russia and China. In early autumn long lines of camels would come in from all quarters for the conveyance of the tea chests from Zhangjiakou to
Kyakhta across the
Gobi Desert. Each caravan usually made three journeys in the winter. In the 19th century, the town had an estimated population of 70100,000 and some
Russian merchants had permanent residences and warehouses just outside the gate.
Modern history In October 1909, Zhangjiakou was connected with Beijing by
Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, the first railway solely designed and built by Chinese people.
Zhan Tianyou was the chief engineer. The
1911 Encyclopædia Britannica noted that, in Kalgan, "the ordinary houses have an unusual appearance, from the fact that they are mostly roofed with earth and become covered with green-sward" and that "on the way to Peking the road passes over a beautiful bridge of seven arches, ornamented with marble figures of animals". Following
Xinhai Revolution, Zhangjiakou was incorporated into Chahar Special Administrative Region, later changed to
Chahar Province in 1928, after the success of
Northern Expedition of
Kuomintang. In 1937, the Japanese occupied the region and made Kalgan the capital of the autonomous Cha-nan (South Chahar) Province. The Federated Mengjiang Commission was set up to supervise the economic affairs, banking, communications, and industry of Japanese-occupied Inner Mongolia (
Mengjiang). During the second phase of the Chinese Civil War, The 35th Army under
Fu Zuoyi was surrounded at
Xinbao'an of Zhangjiakou and defeated. This caused Fu Zuo Yi to quickly strike a deal with the Communists and make peace. In the early 1960s, at the height of Sino-Soviet tensions, Zhangjiakou was considered one of the most important cities in China for
military strategy reasons. Zhangjiakou was aptly nicknamed, "Beijing's Northern Door", because whoever controlled Zhangjiakou was in a good position to either attack (in the case of the Soviets) or defend (in the case of the Chinese) Beijing. Zhangjiakou hosted some of the events in the
2022 Winter Olympics. ==Tourism==