Wuhu (literally "Weedy Lake") is a prefecture-level city in the southeastern Anhui Province, People's Republic of China. Sitting on the southeast bank of the Yangtze River, Wuhu borders Xuancheng to the southeast, Chizhou and Tongling to the southwest, Chaohu to the northwest, Ma'anshan to the northeast, and the Province of Jiangsu to the east (approximately 90 kilometers southwest to Nanjing). Wuhu is known to have been inhabited since at least 770 BCE. It became a strategically important town during the Three Kingdoms period (220-280 AD), when it was controlled by the Eastern Wu. Under the Ming dynasty Wuhu developed into a major commercial center and river port.