The Xianbei 鮮卑 (old: Xianbi, Wade-Giles: Hsien-pi) were the most important and largest federation of nomad tribes of the steppe region north of China during the Jin 晉 (265-420 AD) and Northern Dynasties period (Beichao 北朝, 386-581 AD). The particular tribes are Tuoba 拓跋 (sometimes written 拓拔), Tufa 禿髮 (actually the same, but with a semantic component: "shaved heads"), Qifu 乞伏 ("beggars"), Murong 慕容, Yuwen 宇文, and Duanshi (Duan) 段氏. From at least the Tuoba (Tabγač, Tabghach, Tabgač, Tabghač) we know that the Xianbei must have been a Proto-Turkic ethnic. Their most important economical activity was kettle breeding and the production of wool and skins. Once a year the whole nation assembled to trade and to exchange each other. Much of the Xianbei culture is known by tombs discovered in Inner Mongolia. After the mighty federation of the Xiongnu 匈奴 controlled the northern steppe, the Xianbei submitted the the Xiongnu and became a part of their federation. During the Han period 漢 (206 BC - 220 AD) the Xianbei settled the area of modern Hebei and Liaodong. Only from the Later Han Dynasty (Houhan 後漢, 25-220 AD) on the Xianbei set up a regular relationship with the Han court and became their allies after the Xiongnu and the Wuhuan 烏桓 were finally defeated. In the course of the 1st and 2nd century the Xianbei occupied the whole northern steppe area that was before roamed by the Xiongnu. The first ruler of the Xianbei federation was "Tangshihuai" 檀石槐 around 150 AD who represented a real danger for the Chinese empire and his neighboring peoples, the Southern Xiongnu (Nan Xiongnu 南匈奴), Wuhuan, Di 氐, and Qiang 羌. His son "Tanhelian" 檀和連 was rather weak, and the only danger for the Chinese northern cities and fields until the end of Han was the chieftain "Kebineng" 軻比能 who adopted some Chinese administration items and was enfeoffed with the title of king. After his assassination organised by the government of the state of Cao-Wei 曹魏 (220-265) in northern China the Xianbei federation disengaged. The Murong branch divided into a group settling around modern Beijing where they founded the Yan 燕 empires (Former Yan [Qianyan 前燕, 337-370], Later Yan [Houyan 後燕, 384-409], Southern Yan [Nanyan 南燕, 398-410]) of the Sixteen Kingdoms (Shiliuguo 十六國), and a clan roaming the area of modern Qinghai that founded the federation of Tuyuhun 吐谷渾. The Duan and Yuwen branches settled in modern Liaoning. The most important subtribe of the Xianbei are the Tuoba (Tabγač) that founded the Dai kingdom 代 in modern Inner Mongolia in 322, later the Northern Wei empire (Beiwei 北魏) in 386. The Qifu branch founded the short-lived Western Qin empire (Xiqin 西秦, 385-431) in modern Shaanxi, the Tufa branch the Southern Liang empire (Nanliang 南涼, 397-414) in modern Gansu. All these empires more or less adopted Chinese customs and merged with the Chinese population until the Tang period 唐 (618-907).