Korea

Things happened, and the rest is history

1. 01

   Silla unifies the peninsula

   Event

   What happened

   In 660 Silla and Tang China destroy the kingdom of Baekje, and in 668 they overthrow Goguryeo. Tang then sets up garrisons on the peninsula. Silla fights its former ally, and by 676 it has pushed Tang forces out of most of the peninsula south of the Taedong and Wonsan region.

   ↓ The rest is history

   Silla thus became the ruler of most of the peninsula, though not of Goguryeo's northern lands in Manchuria. Those lands later passed in part to Balhae, a successor state founded in 698. The period is known as Unified Silla. It is the first time much of the peninsula was under one government, and it is widely seen as a root of a shared Korean identity. Silla's capital Gyeongju became a major Buddhist city.

   Sources

   1. PrimaryKim Pu-sik. Samguk sagi (History of the Three Kingdoms). Korean chronicle, 1145.Main narrative source for the wars of unification.
   2. BookLee, Ki-baik. A New History of Korea. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1984.
2. 02

   Wang Geon founds Goryeo

   Event

   What happened

   In the late ninth century central rule in Silla weakens and regional rebels set up the Later Baekje (900) and Later Goguryeo (901) states. In 918 the general Wang Geon takes power in the north and founds Goryeo. Silla's last king surrenders in 935, and Goryeo defeats Later Baekje in 936.

   ↓ The rest is history

   Wang Geon reunited the peninsula and kept many local elites in place by granting them titles and by marrying into their families. He also took in refugees from the fallen Balhae state. Goryeo set up an examination system modelled on China's in 958, though aristocratic birth still counted for much. The kingdom lasted until 1392.

   Sources

   1. PrimaryKim Pu-sik. Samguk sagi (History of the Three Kingdoms). Korean chronicle, 1145.
   2. BookDuncan, John B. The Origins of the Chosŏn Dynasty. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2000.
3. 03

   The Mongol invasions and Goryeo

   Event

   What happened

   From 1231 the Mongols invade Goryeo repeatedly. In 1232 the court moves to Ganghwa Island, while the mainland suffers heavily. After decades of war, Goryeo makes peace in 1259 and the court returns to the mainland in 1270.

   ↓ The rest is history

   Goryeo kept its royal line but became a subordinate ally of the Yuan dynasty. Its kings married Mongol princesses and Goryeo troops joined the Mongol attempts to invade Japan in 1274 and 1281. Yuan influence faded in the 1350s, when King Gongmin pursued independence. Historians often argue that these decades changed the balance among Goryeo's elites and helped new officials and generals gain influence, though how far this explains the later fall of the dynasty is debated.

   Sources

   1. PrimaryGoryeosa (History of Goryeo). Korean official history, compiled 1451.
   2. BookHenthorn, William E. Korea. Leiden: Brill, 1963.
4. 04

   Printing the Tripitaka and metal type

   Event

   What happened

   In 1011 Goryeo begins carving woodblocks for the Buddhist canon, partly to seek protection from Khitan invaders. The first set is destroyed in the Mongol invasion of 1232, and a second set of over 80,000 blocks is carved between 1236 and 1251. In 1377 Buddhist monks print the Jikji with movable metal type at Heungdeok temple.

   ↓ The rest is history

   The second set, the Tripitaka Koreana, survives at Haeinsa temple and is a UNESCO World Heritage item. The Jikji is the oldest extant book printed with movable metal type, and a copy is held in the National Library of France. The technology shows Goryeo's skill in bronze casting and printing. It did not become widespread until Joseon encouraged it in the fifteenth century.

   Sources

   1. PrimaryJikji (Baegun hwasang chorok buljo jikji simche yojeol). Printed book, Heungdeok temple, 1377. Bibliothèque nationale de France.
   2. BookLee, Peter H., and others, eds. Sourcebook of Korean Civilization. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993.
5. 05

   Yi Seong-gye founds Joseon

   Event

   What happened

   In 1388 the Goryeo general Yi Seong-gye is ordered to attack Ming forces near the Yalu River. He turns his army back at Wihwado and seizes power in the capital. In 1392 he takes the throne, and in 1393 the new state is named Joseon.

   ↓ The rest is history

   Yi and his scholar allies, such as Jeong Dojeon, carried out land reform and promoted Neo-Confucian ideas. In 1394 the capital moved to Hanyang, now Seoul. Joseon accepted a tributary relationship with Ming China, and the Yi dynasty ruled until 1910.

   Sources

   1. PrimaryJoseon wangjo sillok (Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty). Korean court annals, 1392 onward.
   2. BookDuncan, John B. The Origins of the Chosŏn Dynasty. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2000.
6. 06

   King Sejong and the hangul alphabet

   Event

   What happened

   King Sejong rules Joseon from 1418 to 1450. In 1443 he and court scholars complete a new alphabet for writing Korean, and in 1446 it is promulgated in the text Hunminjeongeum.

   ↓ The rest is history

   Until then Koreans wrote mainly in Chinese characters, which few commoners could learn. Systems such as idu, gugyeol and hyangchal had adapted the characters to represent Korean, but they were awkward. Hangul was designed to match Korean sounds. Some officials opposed it, and educated men kept using Chinese for centuries. Hangul spread through popular literature and became the national script in the twentieth century. A copy of the 1446 Hunminjeongeum survives and is a UNESCO Memory of the World item.

   Sources

   1. PrimaryHunminjeongeum. Royal proclamation of the Korean alphabet, 1446.
   2. BookKim-Renaud, Young-Key, ed. The Korean Alphabet: Its History and Structure. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997.
7. 07

   Silla's Bulguksa and Seokguram

   Event

   What happened

   In 751 the minister Kim Daeseong begins building Bulguksa temple and the Seokguram grotto on Mount Toham near Gyeongju. Work continues until after his death in 774.

   ↓ The rest is history

   Seokguram's granite Buddha and the temple's stone pagodas show the high skill of Unified Silla craftsmen and the strength of Buddhism under royal patronage. Bulguksa was burned in the Japanese invasions of the 1590s and later rebuilt. Both sites were inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage in 1995.

   Sources

   1. PrimarySamguk yusa (Memorabilia and Mirabilia of the Three Kingdoms). Korean text by Iryeon, c. 1280s.
   2. BookLee, Ki-baik. A New History of Korea. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1984.
8. 08

   Dangun and the founding of Gojoseon

   Origin story

   The legend

   Hwanung, son of the heavenly lord, descends to Mount Taebaek. A bear and a tiger pray to become human. The bear, after eating mugwort and garlic and staying in a cave for 100 days, becomes a woman and bears a son, Dangun, who founds Joseon in 2333 BCE.

   ↓ The rest is history

   The tale is first recorded in the Samguk yusa, written by the monk Iryeon in the 1280s, during Mongol rule when Koreans stressed their own origins. It does not provide dated history, and the 2333 BCE date is a later calculation. Archaeology shows bronze age societies in the region, and a real state called Gojoseon is attested in Chinese records by the early first millennium BCE or soon after. South Korea celebrates Dangun's founding on October 3, a national holiday.

   Sources

   1. PrimaryIryeon. Samguk yusa (Memorabilia and Mirabilia of the Three Kingdoms). Korean text, c. 1280s.
   2. BookHa, Tae-hung, and Grafton K. Mintz, trans. Samguk Yusa. Seoul: Yonsei University Press, 1972.
9. 09

   Park Hyeokgeose born from an egg

   Origin story

   The legend

   Six village chiefs near Gyeongju see light beside a well, where a white horse bows to a large purple egg. A boy emerges from it, and in 57 BCE he becomes the first king of Silla, Park Hyeokgeose.

   ↓ The rest is history

   The story appears in the Samguk sagi (1145) and Samguk yusa. The founding date is unreliable, since Silla's early history was reconstructed long after. Archaeology shows Silla grew from a chiefdom in the Gyeongju basin, and the kingdom emerged as a state by around the fourth century. The tale reflects the royal Park clan's claim to divine origin.

   Sources

   1. PrimaryKim Pu-sik. Samguk sagi (History of the Three Kingdoms). Korean chronicle, 1145.
   2. PrimaryIryeon. Samguk yusa. Korean text, c. 1280s.
10. 10

    The flute that calms the sea

    Myth

    The legend

    King Sinmun builds a temple for his father, King Munmu, who is said to have become a sea dragon guarding Silla. A bamboo grows on a floating island, and a flute made from it calms storms, heals illness and drives off enemies.

    ↓ The rest is history

    The story is recorded in the Samguk yusa. The temple of Gameunsa, built near the east coast in 682, was a real one, and excavations there found the sites of twin pagodas. King Munmu's tomb lies in the sea off Gyeongju. The legend reflects the belief that Silla's kings guarded the realm even after death.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryIryeon. Samguk yusa. Korean text, c. 1280s.
    2. BookHa, Tae-hung, and Grafton K. Mintz, trans. Samguk Yusa. Seoul: Yonsei University Press, 1972.
11. 11

    Yi Seong-gye and the dream of the three rafters

    Heroic tale

    The legend

    Before taking power, Yi Seong-gye dreams that he carries three rafters on his back while his house collapses around him. A monk interprets it as a sign that he will be king. In another story, the capital is placed at Hanyang after a long search for the right site.

    ↓ The rest is history

    Such stories appear in the Joseon court annals, written to support the new dynasty's claim to heaven's mandate. They were compiled by officials who had interests in legitimizing Yi's rule. The real choice of Hanyang in 1394 fit geomancy ideas of mountains and rivers, and it had practical defence and transport advantages. The Joseon royal palace Gyeongbokgung was completed in 1395.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryTaejo sillok (Veritable Records of King Taejo). Joseon court annals, 1413.
    2. BookDuncan, John B. The Origins of the Chosŏn Dynasty. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2000.