As early as 50,000 years ago, in the Paleolithic Age, there were primitive human "Jiande people" activities in Zhejiang. More than 65,438+000 Neolithic sites have been discovered in China, including Shangshan culture in 1960s, Qiao Hu culture 8,000 years ago, Hemudu culture 7,000 years ago, Majiabang culture 6,000 years ago and Liangzhu culture 5,000 years ago. During the Spring and Autumn Period, Zhejiang belonged to Wu and Vietnam. The Qin Dynasty set up Huiji County in Zhejiang. Sun Quan, a native of Fuyang, founded the State of Wu in the Three Kingdoms. In Tang Dynasty, Zhejiang belonged to Jiangnan East Road and Zhejiang East Road, which gradually became the embryonic form of provincial organizational system. During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, Qian Liu, a native of Lin 'an, founded Wu Yueguo. Zhejiang was a book province in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces in Yuan Dynasty. In the early Ming Dynasty, it was changed to Zhejiang Chengxuan Bureau, which governed 1 1 state, L state and 75 counties, and the provincial boundary area was basically finalized. In the early years of Qing Emperor Kangxi, it was changed to Zhejiang Province, and the organizational system was determined.

"Zhejiang" is the ancient name of Qiantang River, which means winding river. In the Tang Dynasty, two Zhejiang roads were established in the east of Jiangnan, which was the first time that the word "Zhejiang" became the name of local government. The name of "Zhejiang" extends from Qiantang River basin to the Yangtze River in the north, Pingyang in the south, Maoshan and Tianmu Mountain in the west and the sea in the east, including Taihu Lake, Qiantang River, Yongjiang River, Lingjiang River, Oujiang River, Feiyun River and Aojiang River.

Before the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, this area was the residence of the Yue people and the headquarters of the State of Yue. It was once occupied by the State of Wu and later became a part of the State of Chu. After the Qin Dynasty unified China, Huiji County was located here and belonged to Yangzhou. During the Three Kingdoms period, it belonged to the Southern Dynasties. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, it was successively under the jurisdiction of Liang Zhedao, Wu Yueguo and Liang Zhelu. Wu Yue has 13 state-level administrative regions, so it is also called "thirteen states of two Zhejiang islands". Wu Yueguo mainly covers the whole of Zhejiang today, as well as Shanghai and Jian 'ou, Ningde and Shouguang in northern Fujian, and Suzhou, Wuxi and Changzhou in southern Jiangsu. It is the main area of Wu Yue culture and Wu dialect today.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the "Zhejiang Political Envoy Bureau" was established to govern Hangzhou (excluding Huzhou and Jiaxing in the early Taihu Lake area), while some areas near Fujian were divided into Fujian Province with Jinxiang in Cangnan as the boundary. Since then, the area under the jurisdiction of Zhejiang Province has been roughly formed.