Southwest China has a history as early as the Paleolithic Age, when the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau lived with the Yuanmou people, that is to say, with the inland culture and ethnic groups coexisted, the Neolithic Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau had early human stone tools, such as double-shouldered stone axes, etc., and rice was also cultivated here.
However, the later Bronze Age developed significantly slower in the southwest, and in the Spring and Autumn Warring States Period, the area around Yunnan and Guizhou provinces had a thriving bronze culture, and the center gradually moved towards Dianchi Lake. By the time of the Qin and Han dynasties, there were tribal and tribal regimes in Yunnan and Guizhou, especially in Dianchi, where there was a Dian state.
In ancient times, people often caused migration due to wars or natural factors, and the Yunnan-Guizhou area was originally a deserted place, because the natural conditions here were not as suitable for farming as the plains or triangles, but many ethnic minorities in China lived here, of course, here also accepted outsiders at any time.
In 316 BC, the Qin state destroyed Shu, resulting in the migration of people from Shu to Yunnan, and after the Lingnan region was taken in by China, many people also moved to Yunnan, because the weather and other conditions are very suitable for human habitation (suitable for habitation, but the terrain is not suitable for farming).
When Qin Shi Huang unified China, he established three counties in Yungui, artificially migrating 500,000 people, resulting in a sharp increase in the population of the southwest region. Although the population has exploded, people can only live in a small area, because there is still a large area of primary forest.
The southwest frontier was strengthened by Qin Shi Huang's "mixed residence" strategy, which strengthened the central government's rule and connection with the localities, which was conducive to the development and progress of the Yunnan-Guizhou region, and it also became an excellent place for the integration of Chinese Han Chinese and ethnic minorities. However, the southwest is still remote, so it has formed a characteristic minority culture.
During the Han Dynasty, during the period of consolidation and expansion of the national territory, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty went to recruit the King of Dian in order to obtain the area of Yunnan and Guizhou, but later he fought a battle with the King of Dian with the soldiers of Shudi, and finally established Yizhou County here. The connection between the Han chinese and yunnan-Guizhou regions is even deeper.
During the Three Kingdoms period, Liu Bei's regime was located in bashu in the southwest, which greatly promoted the cultural, technological and economic development of the southwestern frontier, and more Han Chinese immigrated to the southwest, where they cultivated and cultivated the border, and the ethnic groups integrated with each other.
Later, almost every upheaval in the Chinese Central Plains caused the population of the north to migrate to the south, and the Yunnan-Guizhou region, as one of the important places to receive immigrants from the Central Plains, the population was also growing, and with it, the southwest of China became more and more prosperous.
During the Tang Dynasty, the development of southwest China has been quite large-scale, many regimes have been established here, relatively large ones are Nanzhao and Tubo, of course, there are still many tribal forces in the southwest are still outside the central system, the Tang Dynasty has a certain degree of management of Yunnan, set up the Yunnan Pacification Department.
Among the ethnic minority regimes in China that existed at the same time as the Central Plains regime, the southwest regime coexisted with the Han regime in many dynasties, and the Dali state during the Song Dynasty was also deeply influenced by the Central Plains culture, and the tide of immigration never stopped, and the Miao Yao people also began to settle in Yunnan.
During the Yuan Dynasty, the Mongols brought the northern ethnic minorities to Yungui, so that the southwest production methods were enriched again, animal husbandry and agriculture and development, it is worth mentioning that Yunnan, as one of the large horse farms of the Yuan Dynasty, provided many good foals for Chinese officials.
Among all the dynasties, the dynasty that had the deepest influence on the construction of Yunnan and Guizhou should be regarded as the Ming and Qing dynasties, since the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, the southwest region has adopted a policy of "changing the land and returning to the stream", that is, the implementation of the toast system, somewhat similar to today's local autonomy, but in the end the autonomous land is still under the central administration.
The toastmasters of ethnic minorities are still quite powerful in the localities, and according to local conditions, they have saved the energy of the central government and objectively taken care of the development of ethnic minority areas, of course, the toast system has its own drawbacks, but it is still indispensable, after all, the southwest development momentum during the Ming and Qing dynasties was strong.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, in addition to the timeliness of the system, the preferential policy was another reason for the southwest to make a big move forward, the Ming government once put 30,000 heads of cultivated cattle into the southwest region, and the southwest farmers opened up the southwest, which was still a large area of barbarism, into a rich land through these agricultural helpers.
In addition to appeasing the livelihoods of the peasants, the Ming government also sent troops to garrison and tundi, and along with the migration of 250,000 soldiers, the government also provided free seeds, ploughing tools, and even three years of free land for the southwest. In this way, the two provinces of Yunnan and Guizhou, totaling 570,000 square kilometers, were dug out little by little by the people with their hands. Today, the population of Yunnan-Guizhou province is about 84 million people (48.29 million in Yunnan and 36 million in Guizhou).
Of course, Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Sichuan and other southwestern provinces have a very high status in China, and both in terms of natural resources and revolutionary history have laid the foundation and opened up the road for the special period in China's future.