Time: 9:00 p.m
Place: Home
For the first post for this blog, let us have some basic
understanding and knowledge on Korea’s History. I’ll just cover the general information and
events. Here are the three main highlights; Korea Dynasties, Cold War and
Korean War, Details of South Korea Flags and national flower.
Let us start off with the
existence of Korean Peninsula. According to the traditional myth of ancient
Korea, it is said that in a cave near to Mt. Taebak, there lived a tiger and a
bear who wished to be human. Thus, the King of Heaven, Hwanung granted their wish by giving them mugwort and garlic to eat and they are required to live in the darkness for 100 days before they could be human. However, the tiger couldn’t stand it anymore in a just a few days and gave up. Meanwhile, the bear resisted for 100 days, and had turned into a beautiful woman. She had also prayed repeatedly for a child and Hwanung transformed himself as a human to marry her. In accordance to that, she gave birth and named their son Tangun. And here comes the first kingdom, called Gojoseon, founded by Tangun in 2333 B.C.
The fall of Gojoseon Empire was on 108 B.C. when China’s
Han Dynasty defeated Gojoseon Emporer. Over the next four hundred years, many
aspects of Chinese culture have assimilated into the various peninsula cultures,
including the Chinese alphabets. As time passed, small kingdoms grew and there
goes the arrival of another important history of Korea, which is the rise of
Three Kingdoms, consisting of Goguryeo,followed by Baekje, and lastly Silla. This
happened when the Han Dynasty had lost the war to Goguyreo Dynasty in 37 B.C.
Goguryeo had the largest territory among the three kingdoms, encompassing the
northern part of the Korean Peninsula and south-central Manchuria. This dynasty
was found by King Jumong. 
Following Goguryeo Dynasty, Baekje Dynasty was found by
King Onjo, the son of Goguryeo’s King. This dynasty occupied the southwestern
part of the Korean Peninsula. The last kingdom, Silla situated in the
southeastern part of the Korean Peninsula was found by King Park Hyeokgeose.
The king conquered both Goguryeo and Baekje Dynasties in 660 A.D. and 668 A.D.
and then unified as the Three Kingdoms to drive out the forces of China’s Tang
Empire in 676 A.D. The Unified Shilla era, from 668 A.D. to 935 A.D. became a
time of relative peace, prosperity, and cultural growth.
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| Taejo Wang Geon |
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| Yi Seong-gye |
However, the Unified Silla Kingdom declined due to
internal conflicts and therefore Wang Geon, a general who had served under Gungye,
a rebel prince of Silla Kingdom had the power to challenge and overturned
Silla. He took control and became the King of Goryeo Dynasty, named Taejo Wang
Geon on 938 A.D. And this is also how the name ‘Korea’ is derived from the word
‘Goryeo’. Goryeo dynasty had its fame only until the year of 1392, where General
Yi Seong-gye overthrew Goryeo King and established a new dynasty called the Joseon
dynasty, and his name was changed to Yi Dan. This dynasty is well-known as the
longest and also the last dynasty in Korean history (Year 1392 – 1910). General
Yi Seong-gye has also designated Seoul as the capital, and also the center of
political power in Korea.
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| King Sejong |
One of the most important event during this dynasty is that
the creation of Korean alphabets, called Hangul was invented in year 1443 by
King Sejong, the 4th Joseon
monarch (1418-1450). Hangul is often regarded as the most scientific syllable ever invented.
That is the end of Part 1.
Next
week, we will continue with the 2nd Part which involves Japenese
invasion, Korean wars and the information of Korean Flag and their
national flower. Thanks for reading! =D
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