Western Xia

The Western Xia or the Xi Xia (Chinese: 西夏; pinyin: Xī Xià; Wade–Giles: Hsi1 Hsia4), officially the Kingdom of the Great Xia of the White and Lofty (Tangut: 𗴂𗹭𘜶𗴲𗂧) or Great Xia (大夏; Dà Xià; Ta4 Hsia4), also known as the Tangut Empire, was a Tangut-led imperial dynasty of China that existed from 1038 to 1227 AD. At its peak, the dynasty ruled over 800,000 square kilometres (310,000 square miles) of modern-day north-central China.

The capital of the Western Xia was Xingqing, now Yinchuan; another major Xia city and archaeological site is Khara-Khoto. The Western Xia was annihilated by the Mongols in 1227 AD. Most of its written records and architecture were destroyed, and the origins and history of the empire remained obscure until Chinese and Western research in the 20th-century. Today the Tangut language and its unique script are extinct; only fragments of Tangut literature remain.