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Early History to Japanese Rule
Chinese and Japanese influences have been strong throughout Korean history, but the Koreans, descended from Tungusic tribal peoples, are a distinct racial and cultural group. The documented history of Korea begins in the 12th cent. B.C., when a Chinese scholar, Ki-tze (Kija), founded a colony at Pyongyang. After 100 B.C. the Chinese colony of Lolang, established near Pyongyang, exerted a strong cultural influence on the Korean tribes settled in the peninsula. The kingdom of Koguryo, the first native Korean state, arose in the north near the Yalu River in the 1st cent. A.D., and by the 4th cent. it had conquered Lolang. In the south, two kingdoms emerged, that of Paekche (c.A.D. 250) and the powerful kingdom of Silla (c.A.D. 350). With Chinese support, the kingdom of Silla conquered Koguryo and Paekche in the 7th cent. and unified the peninsula.
Under Silla rule, Korea prospered and the arts flourished; Buddhism, which had entered Korea in the 4th cent., became dominant in this period. In 935 the Silla dynasty was peacefully overthrown by Wang Kon, who established the Koryo dynasty (the name was selected as an abbreviated form of Koguryo). During the Koryo period, literature was cultivated, and although Buddhism remained the state religion, Confucianism : introduced from China during the Silla years : controlled the pattern of government. In 1231, Mongol forces invaded from China, initiating a war that was waged intermittently for some 30 years. Peace came when the Koryo kings accepted Mongol rule, and a long period of Koryo-Mongol alliance followed. In 1392, Yi Songgye, with the aid of the Ming dynasty (which had replaced the Mongols in China) seized the throne.
The Yi dynasty, which was to rule until 1910, built a new capital at Seoul and established Confucianism as the official religion. Early in the Yi period (mid-15th cent.) an efficient Korean phonetic alphabet as well as printing with movable metal type were developed. In 1592 an invasion of the Japanese conqueror Hideyoshi was driven back by the Yi dynasty with Chinese help, but only after six years of great devastation and suffering. Manchu invasions in the first half of the 17th cent. resulted in Korea being made (1637) a vassal of the Manchu dynasty. Korea attempted to close its frontiers and became so isolated from other foreign contact as to be called the Hermit Kingdom. All non-Chinese influences were excluded until 1876, when Japan forced a commercial treaty with Korea.
To offset the Japanese influence, trade agreements were also concluded (1880s) with the United States and the countries of Europe. Japan's control was tightened after the First Sino-Japanese War (1894–95) and the Russo-Japanese War (1904–5), when Japanese troops moved through Korea to attack Manchuria. These troops were never withdrawn, and in 1905 Japan declared a virtual protectorate over Korea and in 1910 formally annexed the country. The Japanese instituted vast social and economic changes, building modern industries and railroads, but their rule (1910–45) was harsh and exploitative. Sporadic Korean attempts to overthrow the Japanese were unsuccessful, and after 1919 a provisional Korean government, under Syngman Rhee, was established at Shanghai, China.
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