Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
the country's origins to a loosely associated assortment of town-states dotted throughout
the present-day Korean peninsula and Manchuria and populated by the descendants of wan-
dering Siberian, Manchu, and Mongol tribes that developed into a relatively unified empire
between 700 and 400 BC Gojoseon, as the first Korean quasi-state was known, was a force
to be reckoned with, regularly provoking conflicts with the feudal states of northeastern Ch-
ina. It was known to the Chinese as the land of “barbarians of the east.” Unfortunately it
eventually took on one battle too many and lost most of its northern territory to Han China,
which basically confined the state to the peninsula and hastened its disintegration.
From Gojoseon's demise, several independent states with clearly defined borders and
ruling dynasties sprang up. The three that came to dominate the peninsula by the 1st century
AD were Goguryeo, which spanned the northern section of the peninsula and parts of Man-
churia; Baekje, which occupied much of the south and west; and Silla in the east. The
Three Kingdoms Period, as the era is known, was a relatively stable time that saw the rap-
id proliferation of laws, literature, and religion, much of it imported from neighboring Ch-
ina. The three states pursued independent strategies with regard to their neighbors, with
Goguryeo regularly skirmishing with China, Baekje establishing ties with the Japanese, and
Silla grooming a strong army to fend off the other two states and marauding Japanese in-
vaders.
a depiction of a mythological tiger-like guardian, Seoul
