Reaching “the Southern Wilderness”: Expansion and the Formation of the Lingnan Transportation Network during the Qin and Han Dynasties

Abstract

AbstractThis article will focus on the incorporation of the Lingnan region into the territory of the Qin and Han Empire and will provide a deeper exploration of the role of “transportation networks” in expansionist politics and its effect on local socioeconomics. Through the study of historical and archaeological categories of evidence, the formation of the Lingnan transportation network and the specifics of Qin-Han frontier politics in the south will be discussed. It is argued that expansion and transport building were inspired by the same determinants, and transformed a selection of traffic “hot-spots” into socially-complex urban landscapes.