Japan and Korea

Choson, the “Land of the Morning Calm”, is the first Korean state; according to legend its founder Dangun established the kingdom at Pyongyang (this is a legend, and Koreans regard Dangun’s time as the period when their people took shape). Later three kingdoms arose where Old Joseon had been: Baekje, Silla and Goguryeo. In the 4th–5th centuries Goguryeo was a great state in the north of the Korean peninsula and in Liaodong, and drove out the Chinese; later the kingdom of Balhae arose in its place and grew strong in the first half of the 9th century, then broke up in the 10th after a blow from the Khitans. In the south Baekje arose in the 3rd–4th centuries; Buddhism and Chinese writing reached Korea from China, and Baekje played an important part in passing them, together with Buddhist images and other elements of culture, on to Japan. Silla in the south-east was at first the weakest, but in 668, allied with China’s Tang dynasty, it united the peninsula; its golden age began in the mid-8th century. In 918 the general Wang Geon founded the Goryeo dynasty (918–1392) with its capital at Songak (now Kaesong); the name “Korea” comes from Goryeo. The Mongols invaded Goryeo in 1231 and kept it under their influence for a long time. In 1392 the general Yi Seong-gye removed the last Goryeo ruler and founded the Yi dynasty; the country was again called Joseon, and the capital moved to Hanseong (now Seoul); in the mid-15th century Joseon rose economically and culturally.