From the time of their first arrival in the Eastern foothills of the Great [Tibetan] Plateau, the Mah-Gi-Yar were a hill people. Their lifestyle had become adapted to the higher altitudes of the Great Plateau. They knew how to herd mountain-goats on the steep slopes, and which alpine flowers betrayed the presence of tasty roots below. They developed specialized architecture for producing weather-proof houses in steep-sided valleys, and were experts in making clothing out of warm yak wool to protect them from the cold.

Thus, as they migrated Eastward, out of the Great Plateau, the Mah-Gi-Yar would make their homes in the mountain ranges. They would trade with the valley folks below in times of peace and would make devastating raids through the Gan-Zhi [Sichuan] Basin in times of war. However, it was always to the mountains that they returned with the spoils.

The Gan-Zhi Basin, was, at the time, inhabited by the Sinitic Ba-Shu people. Unlike the Sinitic people's further Northeast, the Ba-Shu had not yet formed a state. They were organized only into a number of Sedentary chiefdoms. These cheifdoms competed with each other for land, would often enter into alliances with the Mah-Gi-Yar in the hills above them. The Mah-Gi-Yar, with their warlike culture, would often be encouraged by their Ba-Shu allies to raid their rivals.

It was these rivalries between the Ba-Shu chiefdoms that led to Mah-Gi-Yar dominance over the region. As the population of the Gan-Zhi Basin grew, wars would become more devastating, and more and more of the wealth of the valleys would be pillaged and taken to the Mah-Gi-Yar settlements in the hills. This wealth would fuel the development of Mah-Gi-Yar towns into fortified citadels, and these citadels would become the headquarters of more and more powerful Mah-Gi-Yar armies that fought in the Ba-Shu wars in the valleys.

By 750BCE, the Mah-Gi-Yar had cemented their position as the dominant people of the Gan-Zhi Basin. What had once been Ba-Shu chiefdoms allied with bands of Mah-Gi-Yar warriors had become Mah-Gi-Yar tribal kingdoms with Ba-Shu vassals. It was now the Mah-Gi-Yar who held the political power.

At the same time, the influence of the Mah-Gi-Yar was beginning to spread beyond their original mountain homes. Mah-Gi-Yar citadels would now be constructed in the valleys as well as the mountains, as the rice fields of the Ba-Shu vassals were more economically important that the Mah-Gi-Yar highlands. In the valleys, the Mah-Gi-Yar would live as a martial caste, serving as political leaders and warriors, and taking a portion of the Ba-Shu harvests in exchange for protecting the farmers.

By 725BCE, the Mah-Gi-Yar tribal kingdoms had begun to expand beyond the borders of the Gan-Zhi Basin. It was during this time that the first archealogical evidence of Mah-Gi-Yar citadels is found in the upper Han River Valley. While the names of the tribal kingdoms that established these citadels are not attested in written history, it is clear that, by this time, the Mah-Gi-Yar culture was already successfully expanding.

Map of Expansion