Settlement in the vicinity of modern Beijing traces back to 3000 BC or earlier. Its location on the northern flank of the Huabei Pingyuan (North China Plain) was crucial as a geographic and political intersection between the settled farming populations of the Han Chinese to the south and west and the nomadic tribal groups to the north, northeast, and northwest. An administrative capital was built here during the Zhou (Chou) dynasty (1045?-256 BC).

   In the 10th century AD the Khitan Mongols from the northeast conquered part of north China and established their southern capital on the site of present-day Beijing. Early in the 12th century they were defeated by the Jurchen who established the Jin (Chin) dynasty and rebuilt the city on a larger scale.
  The truly grand and elaborate development of the city emerged after the Mongol conquest of China and the establishment of the Yuan (Y�an) dynasty in the 13th century. The Mongol ruler Kublai Khan decided to establish his capital at Beijing in 1272, and for the first time the new capital, named Khanbalik, became the political and administrative center for all of China.
  In 1368 Zhu Yuanzhang (Chu Y�an-chang) established the Ming dynasty and designated Nanjing as his capital. He soon overran the Yuan capital at Beijing and changed the city�s name to Beiping, which means Northern Peace. After his death in 1398 a struggle ensued between Zhu�s grandson, who was the son of Zhu�s deceased eldest son and the rightful heir to the throne, and Zhu�s second eldest son, who usurped the throne and ruled as the Yongle emperor. The Yongle emperor moved the Ming capital to Beijing in 1420 and gave the city its current name, which means Northern Capital. The city developed and grew, and the basis for its current design and layout was implemented during this time. Additional construction of temples and palaces occurred during the succeeding Qing (Ch�ing) dynasty, which ruled from 1644 to 1911.
  Following the overthrow of the Qing and the establishment of the Republic of China in 1911, Beijing remained the political center of China until 1928. The Nationalist Party, headed by Chiang Kai-shek, moved the capital to Nanjing and renamed Beijing to Beiping, the city�s former name under the early Ming dynasty. During World War II the city was occupied by the Japanese from 1937 to 1945 but was spared much damage. Following the Communist revolution in 1949, the city�s name was changed back to Beijing and designated the capital of the newly established People�s Republic of China. In 2001 the International Olympic Committee awarded the 2008 Summer Olympic Games to Beijing.