kingdom · Mainland Southeast Asia

Au Lac

257 BCE – 179 BCE (approx.) · capital Co Loa

A short-lived kingdom of the Red River delta, famous for the spiral citadel of Co Loa and the legend of King An Duong's magic crossbow.

Origins

Au Lac was formed around 257 BCE when Thuc Phan, a leader of the Au Viet people from the northern uplands, overthrew the last Hung king of Van Lang and joined the two peoples under his rule as King An Duong. He built his capital at Co Loa, north of present-day Hanoi.

Rule and society

Co Loa, with three concentric ramparts and moats enclosing about 600 hectares, is the largest pre-Han fortified site in Southeast Asia, and excavations there have found thousands of bronze arrowheads. The kingdom rested on rice farming and Dong Son bronze working, and the Lac lords of the older order seem to have kept local power under the new king.

Decline and legacy

Around 179 BCE Zhao Tuo, ruler of Nanyue, conquered Au Lac; legend says his son married An Duong's daughter My Chau and stole the secret of the magic crossbow. The land was absorbed into Nanyue, and after 111 BCE into the Han empire, beginning a long era of Chinese rule.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.

Lineage

Van Lang 700 BCE – 258 BCEAu Lac

Connections (1)

Au Lac was conquered by Nanyue179 BCE

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Cite this page

APA: The Epoch Institute. (2026). Au Lac. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/au-lac
MLA: “Au Lac.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/au-lac. Accessed .
Chicago: The Epoch Institute. “Au Lac.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/au-lac.
Harvard: The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Au Lac’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/au-lac (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻