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Earty settlement in the Tianjin region dates back to the Warring States period，but Tianjin's later prominence was primarily tied to the rise of nearby Beijing as the capital of northern nomadic dynasties and later of the country as a whole. Tianjin served primarily as a storage，sale，and distribution center for agricultural products from the south as early as from the 12th century.
天津地區早期有人居住可以追溯到戰國時期，天津后來的突出地位主要是因為附近的作為北方游牧王朝的首府，后來成為中國首都的北京的崛起而凸現。從12世紀起，天津就扮演著來自南方的農產品的主要貯存、銷售和分送中心的角色。
Tianjin's prosperity proved a lure for Western trading nations. In 1856 British and French troops used the boarding of a British ship by Chinese troops in search of pirates as an excuse to attack the forts guarding the Haihe River. The defeated Chinese were forced to sign the 1858 Treaty of Tianjin，which opened the port to foreign trade and the sale of opium. Other European nations and Japan followed，establishing distinctive independent concessions on the riverside areas，each with a distinctive architectural style-variously English Victorian，Italian Roman style streets，French chateaux styles，and German Bavarian villas.
對西方貿易國來說，天津的繁榮是一種誘惑。1856年，英國和法國軍隊以中國軍隊登上一艘英國輪船以搜查海盜為借口，進攻護衛海河的要塞。戰敗了的中國人被迫簽署了1858天津條約，對外國貿易開放港口并允許鴉片的銷售。其他歐洲國家和日本緊隨其后，在河邊地區建立了各自獨立的租界。每個租界都有自己的建筑風格—維多利亞女王時代的英國式建筑，意大利羅馬式的街道，法國城堡風格的建筑和德國巴伐利亞別墅等等。
Tianjin became a center of urban modernization and internationalism in the early years of the 20th century. Hotels like the Astor received famous guests such as Herbert Hoover and Sun Yat-sen，and one of China's first elevators was installed there in 1924.
20世紀初期，天津成為城市現代化和國際化的中心。阿斯特這樣的賓館曾留居過諸如赫伯特胡佛和孫中山這樣的名人。1924年，中國的第一部電梯就是在這里安裝的。
Meanwhile，heavy silting of the Haihe River led to construction of a new port at Tanggu，50 km downriver, as Tianjin lost its character as a major port city. The1976 Tangshan earthquake caused extensive damage to the city，and it was closed to foreign visitors until repairs were completed. The establishment of the Tianjin Economic and Development Area was a major spur to investment and economic revitalization.
與此同時，海河里的大量淤泥使天津失去了擔當重要港口城市的能力。因此，在距天津50公里的下游區域塘沽建起了一個新的港口。1976年的唐山大地震給城市帶來了嚴重的毀壞，因此，天津港便停止對外開放，直到得以修復為止。天津經濟開發區的建立是對投資和經濟復蘇的一個重大激勵。
