A county seat called Jinxing was first established at the site in AD 318. This became the administrative seat of a commandery. Nanning was once the territory of the Baiyue people and became the capital of Jinxing Prefecture which was separated from Yulin Prefecture of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
In 589 the Jinxing commandery was dissolved, and the county was renamed Xuanhua. Under the Tang dynasty (618–907) the prefecture of Yong was established there; it was garrisoned to control the non-Chinese districts in Guangxi and on the Yunnan–Guizhou provincial border. In the mid-9th century the Tang and the Yunnan state of Nanzhao fought over it, and after 861 it was briefly occupied by Nanzhao. It remained a frontier prefecture throughout the Song dynasty (960–1279), being the scene of a rebellion led by Nong Zhigao in 1052 and thereafter a garrison town.
In the Yuan Dynasty in 1324, it was renamed Nanning Lu (an administrative division) of Yongzhou Lu meaning "May peace maintain in the southern frontier", hence the name Nanning. Historically, Nanning was famous for trade, and had permanent business offices from other areas in China since the Song Dynasty.
Under the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) dynasties, it was a superior prefecture. In the Ming Dynasty Nanning developed into the commodity distributing center of the Zuojiang River and the Youjiang River with the reputation of "Little Nanjing".
Opened to foreign trade by the Chinese in 1907, Nanning grew rapidly. From 1912 to 1936 it was the provincial capital of Guangxi, replacing Guilin.
Early in the 20th century the city spilled over from the old walled city into a southern suburban area. In the 1930s Nanning became the centre of a "model provincial government" under the warlord Li Zongren, and a spacious modern city was laid out. During the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–45), Nanning was temporarily occupied in 1940 by the Japanese. It subsequently became an
