Long time ago in the
century before the birth of Christ,
from approximately
2300 B.C. In Korean peninsular and Manchuria was
founded by Korean people already equipped
bronzen ware.
The representative kingdom
at that time was "Kochosun" which was
established by King 'Dangun'and lasted until 2A.D.
Kochosun actually means 'Precedent _Chosun' is regarded
as the beginning of Korean History.
"Ko"
of Kochosun means 'old', 'precedent' in Korean.
We usually have called this ancient Kingdom 'Kochosun'
so that we may distinguish from The next
Chosun Dynasty(1392 ~ ).
From 57 B.C, In the far_east
area included Korean peninsular were established
four new powerful kingdoms ;
Koguryo(37B.C -
668 A.D),Paekje(18 B.C.- 663 A.D),
Shilla( 57 B.C.
- 936 A.D) and Kaya( B.C - A.D)
Although Kaya had very wonderful cultures.
it was relatively small size kingdom and
early occupied by Shilla.
So,we usually call
this period "The era of Three Kingdoms"
These kingdoms all boasted their splendid
cultures with the Buddhism which they
spreaded to Japan. but, they constantly tried
to
defeat the others and make a unified kingdom
in the peninsular.
Koguryo was
the most powerful kingdom among them and always
defeated the frequent invasions of other' people.(The
chinese,The manchus). But,In the end, Such a strong
Koguryo,together with Paeje, fell down by Shilla
which allied with The chinese.
When Paekje
perished and lost its all territory, a number of the refugees
did not surrender and struggled seviously agaist
Shilla to the bitter end.
but it was difficult to
overcome and most of them could not help
escaping
to Japan. On the other hand, Koguryo did
not lose its all territory.
The refugees
from Koguryo rallied and established a new dynasty
called "Balhae"on the area of Manchuria which
was just the part of past koguryo's
territory.
The Korean peninsular
including The Manchuria was replaced by Two dynasties
; Balhae & the United Shilla, from the
8th to the 10th century.
After defeating
two neighbor kingdoms,The united Shilla still flourished
various cultures and remained numerous historic heritage with
relation to Buddhism.
Kyongju well known as historical
and cultural city was once the capital of Shilla
Shilla lasted additionally 268years,until
936,when it was replace by the new
more powerful Koryo Dynasty(918A.D ~ 1392 A.D).
Balhae existed for about 300years with the
development of abundant and unique cultures,untill1037,
at the time of being destroied by
the manchus.
From when Balhae shaded off, The Korean
people was pushed at the area
of Manchuria
and was limited to just The Korean peninsular.
Today's the name of Korea originated from
"Koryo"
As the most famous Dynasty in
the History of Korea,Koryo was well known
to all over the world through lively trades and cultural
exchanges.
The culture of Koryo,same as previous
kingdoms',based on Buddhism remained wonderful
folklords as well as buddhist Relics.
The famous ancient ''Koryo celadon' is one of the world
best heritage originated in Koryo's period.
Koryo lasted about 500 years,repelling
several invasions of
theManchus,until1392
when it was replaced by a new Dynasty,The
Chosun
(1392 ~ 1910).
The
Chosun Dynasty regained a part of lost territory and
defined the border line as the territory of today's
Korea.
There is no doubt that today's traditional
Korean cultures and customs mostly originated
from Chosun's.
The most famous King of Chosun is
the King Sejong,who reigned from
1418 ~1450
in the early part of Chosun, because during his reign,Many
of acheivements were produced.
Especially,The
Hangul,the Korean alphabet,developed in his rules,
exactly,in1446 is the greatest heritage for Korean
people. you can find
easily King Sejong on the
face of a 10,000 won Korean paper
money.
Chosun lasted long history
of about 500years until 1910,
when the Japanese
invaded and forced to annex Korea.
Japan occupied
Korea from 1910 to1945 .
This brutal occupation
damaged seviously to the korean.
After the second world war, upon regainning
independence from Japan,
The Korean peninsula
regretfully was didvided into two regions(
South Korea & North Korea) by the world powers
which conflicted between the east( the communism)
and the west(the capitalism with democracy).
Such a cold war at last made the Korean war take place
in
this peninsular in 1950's and resulted in The
two seperated Koreas up to now,uniquely.
It is no exaggeration to say that the world
powers once standed opposite against each other
are totally responsible for the division
on The Korean peninsula.
No
Korean want to remain their country seperated. |
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