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South Korea ORIGINS OF THE KOREAN NATION
As is true of all countries, Korea's geography was a major
factor in shaping its history; geography also influenced the
manner in which the inhabitants of the peninsula emerged as a
people sharing the common feeling of being Koreans
(see Physical Environment
, ch. 2). The Korean Peninsula protrudes southward
from the northeastern corner of the Asian continent and is
surrounded on three sides by large expanses of water. Although
Japan is not far from the southern tip of this landmass, in
ancient times events on the peninsula were affected far more by
the civilizations and political developments on the contiguous
Asian continent than by those in Japan
(see
fig. 1).
Because the Yalu and Tumen rivers have long been recognized
as the border between Korea and China, it is easy to assume that
these rivers have always constituted Korea's northern limits. But
such was not the case in the ancient period. Neither of the
rivers was considered to be sacrosanct by the ancient tribes that
dotted the plains of Manchuria and the Korean Peninsula. Because
the rivers freeze in the winter, large armies were able to
traverse them with ease. Even when the rivers were not frozen,
armies equipped with iron tools could easily build ships to cross
them.
The Korean people trace their origins to the founding of the
state of Choson. Choson rose on the banks of the Taedong River in
the northwestern corner of the peninsula and prospered as a
civilization possessing a code of law and a bronze culture. The
Choson people gradually extended their influence not only over
other tribes in the vicinity, but also to the north, conquering
most of the Liaodong Basin. However, the rising power of the
feudal state of Yen in northern China (1122-225 B.C.) not only
checked Choson's growth, but eventually pushed it back to the
territory south of the Ch'ongch'on River, located midway between
the Yalu and Taedong rivers. The Chinese had discovered iron by
this time and used it extensively in farming and warfare; the
Choson people were not able to match them. Yen became established
in the territory vacated by Choson.
Meanwhile, much of what subsequently came to constitute China
proper had been unified for the first time under Qin Shi Huangdi.
Subsequently, Yen fell to the Qin state; the Qin Dynasty (221-207
B.C.) was in turn replaced by a new dynasty, the Han (206 B.C.-
A.D. 220). In 195 B.C. a former officer of Yen took over the
throne of Choson by trickery, after which he and his descendants
ruled the kingdom for eighty years; but in 109-108 B.C. China
attacked Choson and destroyed it as a political entity. The Han
Chinese then ruled the territory north of the Han River as the
Four Eastern Districts; the original territory of Choson became
Lolang (or Nangnang in Korean). (North Korean historians have
argued that the Lolang District was located more to the northwest
of the Korean Peninsula, perhaps near Beijing. This theory,
however, has not been universally accepted.) Until the Han period
the Korean Peninsula had been a veritable Chinese colony. During
some 400 years, Lolang, the core of the colony, had become a
great center of Chinese art, philosophy, industry, and commerce.
Many Chinese immigrated into the area; the influence of China
extended beyond the territory it administered. The tribal states
south of the Han River paid tribute to the Chinese and patterned
much of their civilization and government after Chinese models.
Data as of June 1990
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