Three Kingdoms of Korea
The Three Kingdoms of Korea or Samhan (Goguryeo, Paekche and Silla) competed for hegemony over the Korean Peninsula during the ancient period of Korean history. During the Three Kingdoms period (Hangul: 삼국 시대)(traditionally dated from 57 BC to 668 AD), many states and statelets consolidated until only three remained on the Korean Peninsula: Goguryeo, Paekche and Silla. The "Korean Three Kingdoms" contributed to what would become Korea; and the Goguryeo, Paekche and Silla peoples became the Korean people.[1]
The three kingdoms occupied the entire peninsula and roughly half of Manchuria (modern-day Northeast China and small parts of the Russian Far East).[2] Goguryeo controlled the northern half of the peninsula, as well as Liaodong Peninsula and Manchuria. Paekche and Silla occupied the southern half of the peninsula. The island kingdoms of Tamna and Usan were subordinated to Paekche and Silla, respectively.
All three kingdoms shared a similar culture and language. Paekche and Goguryeo shared founding myths which likely originated in Buyeo.[3]
Buddhism, which arrived in Korea in the 3rd century AD from India via China, became the state religion of all constituents of the three kingdoms, starting with Goguryeo in 372 AD.[4] The Three Kingdoms of Korea all had a warrior aristocracy in contrast to the literary elite of China.[5][6]
The Three Kingdoms period ended in the 7th century, after Silla allied with Tang China and unified the peninsula for the first time in history. After the fall of Paekche and Goguryeo, the Tang dynasty established a short-lived military government to administer parts of the Korean Peninsula. Silla was joined by Goguryeo and Paekche loyalists and fought the Tang for hegemony over the Korean Peninsula.[7] Silla was eventually divided into the Later Three Kingdoms and ultimately annexed by the new Goguryeo revivalist state of Goryeo.
Notes
- ↑ Benjamin 2015 The Cambridge World History: Volume 4 (p. 427, p. 430)
- ↑ Kotkin, Stephen; Wolff, David (2015-03-04). Rediscovering Russia in Asia: Siberia and the Russian Far East: Siberia and the Russian Far East. Routledge. ISBN 9781317461296. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
- ↑ The National Folk Museum of Korea (South Korea) (2014). Encyclopedia of Korean Folk Literature: Encyclopedia of Korean Folklore and Traditional Culture Vol. III. 길잡이미디어. p. 41. ISBN 9788928900848. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
- ↑ Lee, Injae; Miller, Owen; Park, Jinhoon; Yi, Hyun-Hae (2014). Shin, Michael D, ed. Korean History in Maps: From Prehistory to the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-09846-6.
- ↑ Holcombe, Charles (2017); A History of East Asia: From the Origins of Civilization to the Twenty-First Century; Cambridge University Press; p. 87
- ↑ Holcombe, Charles (2016). A History of East Asia: From the Origins of Civilization to the Twenty-First Century (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-11873-7.
- ↑ Wang, Zhenping (2017). Tang China in Multi-Polar Asia: A History of Diplomacy and War. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press. p. 95. ISBN 978-0-8248-7284-7.
Further reading
Three Kingdoms of Korea, Wikipedia
