Gojoseon
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Template:Koreanname Gojoseon ("ancient" Joseon, to distinguish the later Joseon Dynasty) was the first Korean kingdom. According to legend, it was founded in 2333 BC by Dangun in the basins of the Liao and Taedong Rivers, ruling over northern Korean peninsula and southern Manchuria, until its fall in 108 BC.
Gojoseon refers to this continuous entity then called Joseon, but the early legendary years are sometimes called Dangun Joseon, and the period just before its fall is sometimes called Wiman Joseon. Controversial Chinese texts describe what was traditionally called the Gija Joseon period, but this classification is rarely used today. Template:History of Korea
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People
The people of Gojoseon belonged to the Tungusic family and were linguistically affiliated with the Altaic. They propagated in Manchuria, far eastern China, north of the Yangtze River, and the Korean Peninsula. Gojoseon eventually consolidated in lower Manchuria and the northern Korean Peninsula.
Location
Depending on interpretations of ancient place names and archeological evidence, some believe Gojoseon was centered around the present-day Pyongyang region, while others advocate the Liao River region, just north of the present-day border between North Korea and China.
The most accepted theory is that Gojoseon began in the basins of the Liao and Taedong rivers, just southeast of present-day Manchuria, but after attacks by the Yan, moved its capital to Pyongyang, sometime before 4th century BC. [1] [2]
Founding legend
Image:Baitou Mountain Tianchi.jpg Dangun Wanggeom is the legendary founder of Korea. The oldest existing record of this founding myth appears in the Samguk Yusa, a 13th-century collection of legends and stories. A similar account is found in Jewang Ungi.
The Lord of Heaven Hwanin (환인; 桓因, a name which also appears in Indian Buddhist texts), had a son Hwanung who yearned to live on the earth among the people. Hwanin relented, and Hwanung descended to Mount Taebaek with 3,000 helpers, where he founded a city he named Sinsi (신시; 神市, "City of God" or "Holy City"). Along with his ministers of clouds, rain, and wind, he instituted laws and moral codes and taught the people various arts, medicine, and agriculture.
A tiger and a bear living in a cave prayed to Hwanung that they may become human. Upon hearing their prayers, Hwanung gave them 20 cloves of garlic and a bundle of mugwort, instructing them to eat only this sacred food and remain out of the sunlight for 100 days. The tiger shortly gave up and left the cave, but the bear remained and after 21 days was transformed into a woman.
The bear-woman (Ungnyeo, 웅녀, 熊女) was very grateful and made offerings to Hwanung. She lacked a husband, however, and soon became sad and prayed beneath a sandalwood tree to be blessed with a child. Hwanung, moved by her prayers, took her for his wife and soon she gave birth to a son, Dangun Wanggeom (단군 왕검; 檀君王儉).
Dangun ascended to the throne in the 50th year of the reign of the Emperor Yao (one of the legendary Chinese emperors). He then moved his capital to Asadal on Mount Baegak (or Mount Gunghol). 1,500 years later, in the year Kimyo, King Wu of the Zhou Dynasty enfeoffed Jizi to Joseon, and Dangun moved his capital to Jangdangyeong. Finally, he returned to Asadal and became a mountain god at the age of 1,908.
Gojoseon is said to have been established in 2333 BC, based on the description of the Dongguk Tonggam (1485). The date differs among historical sources, although all of them put it during Yao's reign (traditional dates: 2357 BC-2256 BC). Samguk Yusa says Dangun ascended to the throne in the 50th year of Yao's reign, Sejong Sillok says the first year, and Dongguk Tonggam says the 25th year.
Gija controversy
Although disputed by many Korean scholars, Chinese records written after the 3rd century BC (when China and Gojoseon were at war) say Gija, a tutor (and paternal uncle) of the last king of the Yin Dynasty (殷, also known as Later Shang Dynasty), entered Joseon around 1100 BC with his garrison, stimulating cultural development. This period of Gojoseon history was traditionally called Gija Joseon (between Dangun Joseon and Wiman Joseon periods), but that term is not widely used today.
Culture
Around 2000 BC, a new pottery culture of painted and chiseled design is found. These people practiced agriculture in a settled communal life, probably organized into familial clans. Rectangular huts and increasingly larger dolmen burial sites are found throughout the peninsula. Bronze daggers and mirrors have been excavated, and there is archeological evidence of small walled-town states in this period. [3] [4]
Mumun pottery
In the Mumun Pottery Period (1500 - 300 BC), plain coarse pottery replaced earlier comb-pattern wares, possibly as a result of the influence of new populations migrating to Korea from Manchuria and Siberia. This type of pottery typically has thicker walls and displays a wider variety of shapes, indicating improvements in kiln technology. [5] This period is sometimes called the Korean bronze age, but bronze artifacts are relatively rare and regionalized until the 7th century BC.
Rice cultivation
Sometime around 1200 to 900 BC, rice cultivation was introduced to Korea, most likely from China by way of Manchuria. The people also farmed native grains such as millet and barley, and domesticated livestock. [6]
Bronze tools
The beginning of the Bronze Age on the peninsula is usually said to be 1000 BC, but estimates range from the 15th to 8th centuries BC. Although the Korean bronze age culture derives from the Liaoning and Manchuria, it exhibits unique typology and styles, especially in ritual objects. [7]
By the 7th century BC, a Bronze Age material culture, with influences from northeastern China as well as Siberia and Scythian bronze styles, flourishes on the peninsula. Korean bronzes contain a higher percentage of zinc than those of the neighboring bronze cultures. Bronze artifacts, found most frequently in burial sites, consist mainly of swords, spears, daggers, small bells, and mirrors decorated with geometric patterns. [8] [9]
Dolmen tombs
Around 900 BC, burial practices become more elaborate, a reflection of increasing social stratification. Dolmen tombs, formed of upright stones supporting a horizontal slab, are more numerous in Korea than in other parts of East Asia. Other new forms of burial are stone cists (underground burial chambers lined with stone) and earthenware jar coffins. The bronze objects, pottery, and jade ornaments recovered from dolmens and stone cists indicate that such tombs were reserved for the elite class. [10] [11]
Around the 6th century BC, burnished red wares, made of a fine iron-rich clay and characterized by a smooth, lustrous surface, appear in dolmen tombs, as well as in domestic bowls and cups. [12]
State formation
The controversial 3rd century BC Chinese records of Jizi refer to laws (Beomgeum Paljo, 범금팔조, 犯禁八條) that evidence a hierarchical society and legal protection of private property. [13]
Gojoseon is first found in contemporaneous historical records of early 7th century BC, as located around Bohai Bay and trading with Qi (齊) of China. At this point, it was identified as a distinct polity, but there is little archeological evidence of a fully functioning state. [14] [15]
Kingdom
By the 4th century BC, states with defined political structures developed in the areas of the earlier bronze age walled-town states. Gojoseon was the most advanced of these walled-town states in the peninsular region. [16]
Gojoseon prospered into a civilization based on bronze culture and a political federation of many walled towns, which was formidable to the point of being called arrogant and cruel by the Chinese. During the 4th century BC, Gojoseon’s leader is said to have declared himself king, at the same time as the leader of Yan (燕) . [17] Composed of a horse-riding people who deployed bronze weapons, Gojoseon extended its influence to the north, taking most of the Liaotung basin. [18]
Around 300 BC, Gojoseon lost significant western territory after war with Yan, but this indicates Gojoseon was already a large enough state that could wage war against Yan and survive the loss of 2000 li of territory. [19] Gojoseon is thought to have relocated its capital to the Pyongyang region around this time. [20]
Iron culture
Around this time, Jin-guk occupied the southern part of the Korean peninsula. Very little is known about this state, except it was the apparent predecessor to the Samhan confederacies.
Around 300 BC, iron technology was introduced into Korea from China. Iron was produced locally in the southern part of the peninsula by the second century BC. According to Chinese accounts, iron from the lower Nakdong River valley in the southeast, was valued throughout the peninsula and Japan. [21]
Wiman
Template:Main Among the Yan refugees, Wiman entered the service of Gojoseon as military commander with a base on the Amnokgang river. He led a rebellion against King Jun in 194 BC, usurping the throne.
In 109 BC, the Han emperor Wudi began a massive invasion of Gojoseon near the Liao River. Gojoseon fell after over a year of war, and four Chinese commanderies were set up in southern Manchuria and the northern part of the Korean Peninsula: Lelang or Luolang (樂浪; Korean: Nangnang), Xuantu (玄菟; Hyeondo), Zhenfan (真番; Jinbeon), and Lintun (臨屯; Imdun).
Proto-Three Kingdoms
Template:Main Numerous small states and confederations arose from the remnants of Gojoseon, including Goguryeo, Buyeo, Okjeo, and Dongye. Three of the Chinese commanderies fell to local resistance within a few decades, but the last, Lelang, remained an important commercial and cultural outpost until it was destroyed by the expanding Goguryeo in 313.
King Jun of Gojoseon is said to have fled to the state of Jin in southern Korean peninsula. Jin developed into the Samhan confederacies, the beginnings of Baekje and Silla, continuing to absorb migration from the north. Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla gradually grew into the Three Kingdoms of Korea that dominated the entire peninsula by around the 4th century.
See also
de:Go-Joseon fr:Période Ko-Choson id:Go-Joseon ja:古朝鮮 ko:고조선 pl:Go-Joseon