北魏（386年－534年）是北朝的第一个政权。由拓跋珪所创建，定都平城（今山西省大同市），早期国语鲜卑语，魏太和十七年（493年）开始将汉语定为国语。439年，统一华北。494年起迁都洛阳，皇帝改元姓。534年，分裂为东魏（都邺城）与西魏（都长安）。东魏武定八年（550年），高洋废孝静帝，代东魏自立，创建北齐。西魏于恭帝三年（557年）被权臣宇文护逼迫禅位于堂弟宇文觉，创建北周，北魏历史正式宣告结束。

拓跋氏自称是黄帝后裔，黄帝发源地为战国时魏国所在，又“魏”有美好之意，故以此名国号。以其领土位于中国北方，又是北朝的第一个政权，故史称“北魏”。为别于此前的曹魏政权，某些史书因此别称为“后魏”，但由于史学界不称曹魏为“前魏”，故“后魏”之称很少使用。又以其王室姓拓跋，后改姓元，故又别称拓跋魏（东魏和西魏虽然姓拓跋，但是多数史学家并不如此称呼这两个政权）、元魏。

The Northern Wei (Chinese:北魏; pinyin:Běi Wèi), also known as the Tuoba Wei (拓跋魏), Later Wei (後魏), or Yuan Wei (元魏), was a dynasty founded by the Tuoba clan of the Xianbei, which ruled northern China from 386 to 534 (de jure until 535), during the period of the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Described as "part of an era of political turbulence and intense social and cultural change", the Northern Wei Dynasty is particularly noted for unifying northern China in 439: this was also a period of introduced foreign ideas; such as Buddhism, which became firmly established. Many antiques and art works, both Daoist and Buddhist, from this period have survived. During the Taihe period (477-499) of Emperor Xiaowen, court advisers instituted sweeping reforms and introduced changes that eventually led to the dynasty moving its capital from Datong to Luoyang, in 494. It was the time of the construction of the Yungang Grottoes near Datong during the mid-to-late 5th century, and towards the latter part of the dynasty, the Longmen Caves outside the later capital city of Luoyang, in which more than 30,000 Buddhist images from the time of this dynasty have been found. The Tuoba renamed themselves the Yuan as a part of systematic Sinicization. Towards the end of the dynasty there was significant internal dissension resulting in a split into Eastern Wei and Western Wei.