Nurhachi

Nurhachi

(born 1559, Manchuria—died Sept. 30, 1626) Chieftain of one branch of the Juchen (later called Manchu), whose attack on Ming China in 1618 presaged his son Dorgon's conquest. Nurhachi first defeated a rival in his own tribe and then subdued the other four Juchen tribes in his immediate area. During this time, he also established a Manchu state and enlisted the scholar Erdeni to create a Manchu writing system. He organized his troops under the Banner system. In 1616 Nurhachi proclaimed himself khan and called his dynasty Jin, harking back to the Juchen Jin dynasty of the 12th century. In 1626 he was defeated by Ming forces and died of battle wounds. See also Hongtaiji; Qing dynasty.

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Nurhachi 

Born in 1559; died in 1626. Manchu (Jurchen) chieftain. In 1583, Nurhachi became the leader of a tribe of Chien-chou Jurchen in the northern Liao-tung Peninsula. He was a nominal vassal of the Chinese Ming Empire. By 1616 he had united the Jurchen tribes and formed a military-state organization known as the Eight Banners, which played a major role in his conquests. In February 1616, Nurhachi proclaimed himself han (emperor), founding the Late Chin (Hou Chin) dynasty. Nurhachi had stopped sending tribute to the Ming Empire and had begun to invade its borders in 1609, and in 1618 he launched a series of successful campaigns against the empire, seizing a number of cities. In 1626 he was defeated by the Ming general Yuan Ch’ung-huan during an attack on the city of Ning-yüan. Under Nurhachi’s successor, Abahai, the dynasty was renamed Ch’ing (1636) and the Jurchen came to be called Manchus.