Jinan is the capital of the province of Shandong in East China. With a population of 9.2 million, it is one of the largest cities in Shandong in terms of population. The area of present-day Jinan has played an important role in the history of the region from the earliest beginnings of civilization and has evolved into a major national administrative, economic, and transportation hub. The city has held sub-provincial administrative status since 1994. Jinan is often called the "City of Springs" for its famous 72 artesian springs.

Jinan is listed as the # 27 city in the world for scientific research as tracked by the Nature Index according to the Nature Index 2025 Science Cities. The city is home to several major universities, including Shandong, Shandong Normal, Shandong Jianzhu, University of Jinan, Qilu University of Technology, Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Shandong University of Finance and Economics. Notably, Shandong University is one of China's most prestigious universities as a member of the Double First-Class Construction. The city is rated Beta- (Global second-tier city) by the biannual GAWC ratings in 2020.

The modern-day name Jinan literally means "south of the Ji" and refers to the old Ji River (濟水) that had flowed to the north of the city until the middle of the 19th century. Similar names can be found in Jiyuan (lit. "source of Ji River") and Jiyang (lit. "yang (north) side of Ji River"), The Ji River disappeared in 1852 when the Yellow River changed its course northwards and took over its bed. The current pronunciation of the character "Ji" with the third tone (jǐ) was established in the late 1970s. Prior to this, it was pronounced with the fourth tone (jì). Older western texts spell the name as "Tsinan" (Postal romanization) or "Chi-nan" (Wade-Giles romanization).

In ancient times, Jinan was also called the "city of Luo" (濼邑), Luo refers to Baotu Spring, this can be seen in oracle bone scripts of Di Yi and Di Xin. The Battle of An, which was fought in the area during Spring and Autumn period (in 589 BCE) between the states of Qi and Jin, is named for the ancient city of An (Chinese: 鞍; pinyin: Ān) which stood within the city limits of present-day Jinan. Marco Polo gives a brief description of Jinan under the name "Chingli" or "Chinangli".

From Zhou dynasty (1045-256 BC) to Western Jin dynasty (266–316 AD), the main settlement of Jinan was called the "city of East Pingling" (東平陵), which is located in current day Zhangqiu. During the Western Jin Dynasty, the administrative center was moved westward to Licheng, and this was kept until Qing dynasty.19th and early 20th century texts frequently give the name of the city as "Tsinan Fu" where the additional "Fu" (Chinese: 府) is the word Prefecture in Chinese.

Currently the city of Lixia (simplified Chinese: 历下; traditional Chinese: 歷下; pinyin: Lìxià) was the major settlement in the area. The name "Lixia" refers to the location of Jinan at the foot of Mount Li, which lies to the south of the city.

Jinan is also referred to by the nickname "City of Springs" (Chinese: 泉城), because of the many artesian springs in the urban city centre and its surroundings.

The area of present-day Jinan has been inhabited for more than 4000 years. The Neolithic Longshan culture was first discovered at Chengziya to the east of Jinan (Zhangqiu District) in 1928. One of the characteristic features of the Longshan culture are the intricate wheel-made pottery pieces it produced. Most renowned is the black "egg-shell pottery" with wall thicknesses that can go below 1 millimeter.