
portrait of Sima Yan
The Jin Dynasty, one of the Six Dynasties, followed the Three Kingdoms period and preceded the Southern and Northern Dynasties in China. The dynasty was founded by the Sima family.
The Jin Dynasty consists of two dynasties, the Western Jin Dynasty (265 -316) and the Eastern Jin Dynasty (317 - 420). The Western Jin was founded by by Emperor Wudi, better known as Sima Yan with Luoyang as its capital city while the Eastern Jin was founded by Sima Rui with Jiankang (currently Nanjing) as its capital.

map of Jin Dynasty
In 265, as a chancellor of the Kingdom of Wei, Sima Yan forced the last emperor of Wei, Cao Huan, to turn over his throne. Soon after Sima Yan acceded to the throne, proclaimed himself Emperor Wu in Luoyang and established the Jin Dynasty. In 280, Sima Yan sent his troops to attack the Kingdom of Wu and eventually defeated the last kingdom of the Three Kingdoms Period (220 - 280). The Jin Dynasty had unified the whole nation.