The ancestors of the Manchu were the 'Sushen 粛慎' an ancient ethnic group of the Mongolian steppes who lived during the first and second millennia BC. They were followed by the Yilou people, who were active from AD 202 to 220. The Wuji followed in the fifth century and gradually gave way to the tribes of the Mohe. The Mohe (or Malgal) were a Tungusic people in ancient Manchuria during the sixth century. One of the tribes of the Mohe, the Heishui, eventually became the ancestors of the Jurchens, from whom the Manchu originated. Before the seventeenth century, the ancestors of the Manchu were generally a pastoral and shamanic warrior people, engaging in limited agriculture and living off hunting and fishing. They gained considerable wealth through the trade in furs and other animal derivatives as well as products such as ginseng to Russia, China and Korea. Their main tool for both hunting and fishing was the composite bow. The Jurchen tribes lived in small communities that worked together as hunting parties. Local landlords, the Beile (warrior chieftains), led the hunts, controlled the villages and often also had control of the local arrow production. As was the case with the different Mongol tribes, the Jurchen tribes were known to be opportunistic and frequently raided and fought with other Jurchen settlements. Urban Manchu were also engaged in handicraft industries, a sideline occupation of their hunting-gathering enterprise.

Manchuria was the home of several nomadic tribes, including the Manchu, Ulchi, Goldi and Nanai. Various ethnic groups or kingdoms, including the Fuyu, Goguryeo, Xianbei, Khitan, Bohai (Mohe) and Jurchen, have risen to power in Manchuria. Han Chinese dynasties in China loosely controlled southern Manchuria up until the Song dynasty. During the Song dynasty, the Khitan peoples set up the Liao dynasty in Manchuria. Later, the Jurchen (Manchu) overthrew the Liao and formed the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234) which went on to conquer Northern China.

In 1234, the Jin Dynasty fell to the Mongols, who were later thrown out by the Ming Dynasty in 1368. In 1644, the Manchu conquered China and established the Qing dynasty (1644-1912). The Qing Dynasty was founded as the 'Later Jin Dynasty' in 1616 by Nurhachi, a Manchu of the Aisin-Gioro Clan; his son Hung Taiji changed the dynasty name to 'Da Qing' meaning 'great clear' or 'great pure' in 1636.

Located in the extreme north east of China, Manchuria was long considered the mysterious home of shamanism. Manchuria celebrated in the cultivation of ginseng and was known for the proliferation of wildlife, including tigers. The Manchu imperial symbol was a tiger with a ball of blue opium in its mouth. This same symbol was carved in stone on many temple entrances and gates and was subsequently used on the imperial and national flag used by China from 1890 till 1912, the colour blue giving way to Imperial Yellow, as the government sought to distance itself from the trade of opium. During Qing dynasty, Manchuria was divided into 3 provinces, known as '3 Eastern provinces 东三省 - Fengtian 奉天 (today's Liaoning), Jilin 吉林 and Heilongjiang 黑龙江. From 1930 to 1945, Manchuria was occupied by Japanese and their puppet-state Manchukuo was divided into many provinces such as Liaoning 辽宁, Andong 安东，Liaobei 辽北，Jilin 吉林，Hejiang 合江, Heilongjiang 黑龙江，Nenjiang 嫩江, Xingan 兴安 and Haerbin 哈尔滨 (Harbin). Outer Manchuria to the north of Heilong River (Amur) and to the west of Wusuli River (Ussuri) belonged to Heilongjiang Province, and the land east to Ussuri River, including Kuye Island (Sakhalin), was part of Jilin Province.

Rich in natural resources, such as iron ore, coal, and minerals, the climate of Manchuria has extreme seasonal contrasts ranging from humid and hot summers to windy Arctic conditions in the winter with heavy snowfalls. The word 'Manchuria' is a transliteration of the Chinese word 'Manzhou.' After the 1911 revolution in China, which resulted in the collapse of the Manchu Qing empire, the name of the region where the Manchu originated, Manzhou or 'Manchuria' was replaced by 'The Northeast' (Dongbei) in official documents.

Under the Manchu, the empire extended China’s borders to their greatest extent in history. The Manchu Qing dynasty did not stop expanding after conquering the whole of Ming China and expanded China's prodigious borders to unprecedented vastness in the 18th century under a number of expansive campaigns led by the Qianlong emperor. Ultimately the Qing dynasty governed over 36% of the world's population and was the largest empire that has ever existed. It is notable that their unique composite bow remained one of the central weapons in the Manchu army, being effectively used as late as 1901. During almost the entire duration of the Qing dynasty, Manchu Bannermen were garrisoned in walled cities inside Chinese cities or at strategic points all over the empire and in the capital's inner city, guarding the Imperial Palace. The Manchu remained a warrior elite that were government sponsored and enjoyed privileges, such as an exemption from torture. They lived in these walled cities, strictly separate from the Chinese population, almost until the very end of the dynasty.

Led by a strong and enigmatic leadership in its earlier years, the dynasty had declined by the early 19th century from a combination of incompetent rulers, over population, an ever widening gulf between rich and poor, inner revolt and outside 'colonial' forces demanding trading concessions. The derogatory term of 'yellow peril' was coined during this time. The arrival of Western Imperialists with modern firearms finally proved the Manchu warrior system to be obsolete, despite that they were often still better with bow and arrow than with firearms even in the latter half of the 19th century. It was not until the late 19th century the Qing began to train troops with Western equipment and tactics. In 1911-12 when the dynasty collapsed, it was replaced by China’s first attempt at setting up a Western-inspired republican government. Near the end of the Qing Dynasty, Manchus were portrayed as outside colonizers by Chinese nationalists. The last emperor, Aisin-Gioro Xuantong (Pu Yi 溥儀 February 7 1906 – October 17 1967) abdicated officially on February 12, 1912.