Old Chosà Ân, also known as Gojoseon () and its contemporary name Joseon (), was the first kingdom on the Korean Peninsula. According to Korean mythology, the kingdom was established by the legendary king Tan'gun. Old Chosà Ân possessed the most advanced culture in the Korean Peninsula at the time and was an important marker in the progression towards the more centralized states of later periods. The addition of Go (), meaning "old" or "ancient", is used in historiography to distinguish the kingdom from the Joseon dynasty, founded in 1392 CE.
According to the Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms, Old Chosà Ân was established in 2333 BCE by Tan'gun, who was said to be born from the heavenly prince Hwanung and a bear-woman, Ungnyeo. While Tan'gun is a mythological figure of whose existence no concrete evidence has been found, some interpret his legend as reflections of the sociocultural situations involving the kingdom's early development. Regardless, the account of Tan'gun has played an important role in the development of Korean identity. Today, the founding date of Old Chosà Ân is officially celebrated as National Foundation Day in North and South Korea.
Some sources claim that in the 12th century BCE, following the establishment of Old Chosà Ân, Jizi (also known as Gija), a sage who belonged to the royal family from the Shang dynasty, immigrated to the northern part of the Korean Peninsula and became the founder of Gija Joseon. There are many interpretations of Old Chosà Ân and Gija Joseon as well as debates regarding Gija Joseon's existence.
In 194 BCE, the ruling dynasty of Old Chosà Ân was overthrown by Wi Man (Wei Man in Chinese), a refugee from the Han vassal state of Yan, who then established Wiman Joseon.
In 108 BCE, the Han dynasty, under Emperor Wu, invaded and conquered Wiman Joseon. The Han established four commanderies to administer the former Old Chosà Ân territory. After the fragmentation of the Han Empire during the 3rd century and the subsequent chaotic 4th century, the area escaped Chinese control and was conquered by Goguryeo in 313 CE.
The capital of Old Chosà Ân was Wanggeom (modern Pyongyang) from at least the 2nd century BCE. In the southern region of the Korean Peninsula, the Jin state arose by the 3rd century BCE.
There are three different main founding myths concerning Old Chosà Ân, which revolve around Tan'gun, Gija, or Wi Man.
The myths revolving around Tan'gun were recorded in the later Korean work Samguk yusa of the 13th century. This work states that Tan'gun, the offspring of a heavenly prince and a bear-woman, founded Old Chosà Ân in 2333 BCE, and was succeeded by Gija (Jizi) after King Wu of Zhou had placed him onto the throne in 1122 BCE. A similar account is found in Jewang Ungi. According to the legend, the Lord of Heaven, Hwanin had a son, Hwanung, who descended to Baekdu Mountain and founded the city of Shinsi. Then a bear and a tiger came to Hwanung and said that they wanted to become people. Hwanung said to them that if they went in a cave and lived there for 100 days while only eating mugwort and garlic he would change them into human beings. However, about halfway through the 100 days the tiger gave up and ran out of the cave. The bear, in contrast, successfully restrained herself and became a beautiful woman named Ungnyeo. Hwanung later married Ungnyeo, and she gave birth to Tan'gun.
While the Tan'gun story is considered to be a myth, it is believed it is a mythical synthesis of a series of historical events relating to the founding of Old Chosà Ân. There are various theories on the origin of this myth. Seo and Kang (2002) believe the Tan'gun myth is based on integration of two different tribes, an invasive sky-worshipping Bronze Age tribe and a native bear-worshipping neolithic tribe, that led to the foundation of Old Chosà Ân. Lee K. B. (1984) believes 'Tan'gun-wanggeom' was a title borne by successive leaders of Old Chosà Ân.
Tan'gun is said to have founded Old Chosà Ân around 2333 BCE, based on the descriptions of the Samguk yusa, Jewang Ungi, Tongguk t'onggam and the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty. The date differs among historical sources, although all of them put it during the mythical Emperor Yao's reign (traditional dates: 2357 BCE? â 2256 BCE?). Samguk yusa says Tan'gun ascended to the throne in the 50th year of the legendary Yao's reign, Annals of the King Sejong says the first year, and Tongguk t'onggam says the 25th year.
In the 7th century BCE, the Yan pioneered the Northeast regions. According to The Growth of Yan and The Context of Guanzi, it can be presumed that Old Chosà Ân grew through trade in this era. It is estimated that Old Chosà Ân developed so far as to be able to wage war against the Yan in the 4th century BCE.
Gija, a man from the period of the Shang dynasty, allegedly fled to the Korean peninsula in 1122 BCE during the fall of the Shang to the Zhou dynasty and founded Gija Joseon. Gija Joseon is recognized and mentioned in the earliest surviving Chinese record, Records of the Three Kingdoms. No contemporary Korean sources existed for Kija Chosà Ân, and the oldest sources produced in Korea were from the Goryeo dynasty. The earliest Korean record about Kija Chosà Ân can be seen from Samguk Yusa.
By the middle of Goryeo dynasty, a state cult had developed around Gija. The Dongsa Gangmok of 1778 described Gija's activities and contributions in Old Chosà Ân. The records of Gija refer to Eight Prohibitions (), that are recorded by the Book of Han and evidence a hierarchical society with legal protections of private property.
In pre-modern Korea, Gija represented the authenticating presence of Chinese civilization. Until the 12th century CE, Koreans commonly believed that Tan'gun bestowed upon Korea its people and basic culture, while Gija gave Korea its high culture, and presumably, standing as a legitimate civilisation.
Many modern experts have denied Gija Joseon's existence for various reasons, mainly due to contradicting archaeological evidence and anachronistic historical evidence. They point to the Bamboo Annals and the Analects of Confucius, which were among the first works to mention Gija, but do not mention his migration to Old Chosà Ân. Gija Joseon might have just existed as a symbol of the pre-Qin dynasty migrants who escaped the chaos of the Warring States period.
Wi Man was a military officer of the Yan of northeastern China who fled to the northern Korean peninsula in 195 BCE from the encroaching Han dynasty. He founded a principality with Wanggeom-seong as its capital, which is thought to be in the region of present-day Pyongyang. The 3rd-century Chinese text Weilüe of the Sanguozhi recorded that Wi Man usurped King Jun and thus took over the kingship of Old Chosà Ân.
Old Chosà Ân mythology and history can be divided into three phases, Tan'gun, Gija Joseon, and Wi Man Joseon.
The first extant Korean text to mention Kija (the Korean pronunciation of Jizi) was Kim Pusik's Samguk sagi (completed in 1145), which claimed that Kija had been enfeoffed in Haedong (: Korea) by the Zhou court, but commented that this account was uncertain because of the brevity of the sources. Only in the thirteenth century did Korean texts start to integrate Kija more fully into Korean history. The Samguk yusa (1281) explained that after being enfeoffed by King Wu of Zhou, Kija replaced Dangun's descendants as the ruler of Old Chosà Ân, whereas Jewang Ungi (1287) identified Tan'gun and Kija as the first rulers of former and latter Joseon respectively. Most premodern Korean historians after that accepted that Kija had replaced another indigenous power (represented by Tan'gun) in Old Joseon.
In 1102, during the Goryeo period, King Sukjong built a mausoleum to Kija in a place near Pyongyang that had been identified as Kija's tomb.Sadang for Kija called Kijasa () was also built in Pyongyang. The mausoleum was rebuilt in 1324 and was repaired in 1355, but the cult of Kija spread most widely after the establishment of the Joseon Dynasty in 1392. Because Joseon's state ideology was Neo-Confucianism borrowed from China, Joseon intellectuals promoted Kija as a culture hero who had raised Korean civilization to the same level as China.
By the mid-Joseon dynasty, the established view among historians traced Korean origins to Chinese refugees, considering Korean history that of a long series of kingdoms connected with China. As such, the Gija Joseon and Silla states were valorized, while the Old Chosà Ân and Goguryeo states were not considered as important. According to this view, the first state in Korea, Gija Joseon, was founded by Jizi in 1122 BCE, who was a disgruntled Chinese advisor to the Shang dynasty. The story of how he brought poetry, music, medicine, trade, and a political system to the Korean peninsula was conceived similarly to the proposed Founding of Rome by the Trojan refugee Aeneas. But by the 1930s, under the influence of Shin Chaeho's histories, the Jizi Korean founding story became less popular than that of Tan'gun, the son of a tiger and a bear â the latter being common in Japanese folklore â who brought civilization to the Korean peninsula. Shin and the other historians who promulgated this myth had been influenced by Daejonggyo, a new religious movement which worshipped Tan'gun, but attacked pre-annexation textbook narratives of Tan'gun which portrayed him as the brother of the Japanese god Susanoo. To Shin, Tan'gun was both the founder of the Korean minjok and the first Korean state (kuk), and thus the necessary starting point for Korean history. In response to a challenge by the Japanese scholars Shiratori Kurakichi and of Tan'gun as a fabrication by the author of the Samguk yusa, nationalist historian Choe Nam-seon attacked Japanese mythology as being built upon fabrications.
By focusing on a mythological god which founded a "sacred race" (shinsà Âng chongjok), Korean nationalist historiography aims to portray ancient Korea as a golden age of "gods and heroes" where Korea's cultural achievements rivaled those of China and Japan. Accordingly, Shin Chaeho elevated Tan'gun to play a similar role as did the Yellow Emperor in China and which Amaterasu does in Japan. Choe Nam-seon, according to his , places Tan'gun even above the Chinese and Japanese emperors, because those rulers were supposedly Shamanistic rulers of the ancient Korean "PÃÂrk" tradition. The Tan'gun story also lends credence to claims that Korean heritage is over 5000 years old. According to Hyung Il Pai, the popularity of Tan'gun studies can be said to "reflect the progressively ultra-nationalistic trend in Korean historical and archaeological scholarship today". Shin Chaeho named Mount Paektu in the Changbai Mountains on the Sino-Korean border as a part of Korean heritage, by virtue of connection with the mythical Tan'gun. The mountain, however, was also claimed by the Manchus of the Qing dynasty as part of their origin myth at least since the 17th century, and the mountain range is considered sacred in Han Chinese culture as well. This nationalist identification of Baekdu with Koreans was cemented by the operation of Korean independence movement partisans operating from the Chinese border and legitimized with associations to the history of the Old Chosà Ân and Balhae states. The Chinese civilizational connection to ancient Korea continues to be attacked by North Korean historians, who allege that the history of Gija Joseon was "viciously distorted by the feudal ruling class, the sadaejuui followers, and the big-power chauvinists".
The first mentions of Old Chosà Ân are found in historical records of Guanzi. It locates Old Chosà Ân around Bohai Bay and mentions the state trading with Qi (é½Â) of China. The Zhanguoce, Shanhaijing, and ShijiâÂÂcontaining some of its earliest recordsâÂÂrefers to Joseon as a region, until the text Shiji began referring it as a country from 195 BCE onwards.
By the 4th century BCE, other states with defined political structures developed in the areas of the earlier Bronze Age "walled-town states"; Old Chosà Ân was the most advanced of them in the peninsular region. The city-state expanded by incorporating other neighboring city-states by alliance or military conquest. Thus, a vast confederation of political entities between the Taedong and Liao rivers was formed. As Old Chosà Ân evolved, so did the title and function of its leader, who came to be designated as "king" (Han), in the tradition of the Zhou dynasty, around the same time as the Yan (çÂÂ) leader. Records of that time mention the hostility between the feudal state in Northern China and the "confederated" kingdom of Old Chosà Ân. Notably, a plan to attack the Yan beyond the Liao River frontier is recorded. This confrontation led to the decline and eventual downfall of Old Chosà Ân, described in Yan records as "arrogant" and "cruel". But the ancient kingdom also appears as a prosperous Bronze Age civilization with a complex social structure, including a class of horse-riding warriors who contributed to the development of Old Chosà Ân and its northern expansion into most of the Liaodong basin.
Around 300 BCE, Old Chosà Ân lost significant western territory after a war with the Yan state, but this indicates Old Chosà Ân was already a large enough state that it could wage war against the Yan and survive the loss of 2000 li (800 kilometers) of territory. Old Chosà Ân is thought to have relocated its capital to the Pyongyang region around this time.
In 195 BCE, King Jun appointed a refugee from Yan, Wi Man, to guard the frontier. Wi Man later rebelled in 194 BCE and usurped the throne of Old Chosà Ân. King Jun fled to Jin in the south of the Korean Peninsula.
In 109 BCE, Emperor Wu of Han invaded near the Liao River. A conflict would erupt in 109 BCE, when Wi Man's grandson King Ugeo () refused to let Jin's ambassadors through his territory in order to reach the Han dynasty. King Ugeo refused and had his son, Prince Wi Jang (é·éÂÂ) escort the ambassador back home. However, when they got close to Han's borders, the ambassador assassinated Wi Jang (é·éÂÂ) and claimed to Emperor Wu that he had defeated Joseon in battle. Emperor Wu, unaware of this deception, made him the military commander of the Commandery of Liaodong. The outraged King Ugeo made a raid on Liaodong and killed She He. Scholars also hypothesize that the initiation of war may also have been because the Han dynasty was concerned that Old Chosà Ân would ally with the Xiongnu against the Han.
In response, Emperor Wu commissioned a two-pronged attack, one by land and one by sea, against Old Chosà Ân. The two forces attacking Old Chosà Ân were unable to coordinate well with each other and suffered large losses. Eventually, the commands were merged, and Wanggeom fell in 108 BCE. Han took over the Old Chosà Ân lands and established Four Commanderies of Han in the western part of former Old Chosà Ân.
Old Chosà Ân disintegrated by the 1st century BCE as it gradually lost the control of its former fiefs. Many successor states sprang from its former territory, such as Buyeo, Okjeo, Dongye. Goguryeo and Baekje arose out from Buyeo.
Around 2000 BCE, a new pottery culture of painted and chiseled design was developed. These people practiced agriculture in a settled communal life, probably organized into familial clans. Rectangular huts and increasingly larger dolmen burial sites were found throughout the peninsula. Bronze daggers and mirrors have been excavated, and there is archaeological evidence of small walled-town states in this period. Dolmens and bronze daggers found in the area are uniquely Korean and cannot be found in China. A few dolmens are found in China, mostly in the Shandong province.
In the Mumun pottery period (1500 â 300 BCE), plain coarse pottery replaced earlier comb-pattern wares, possibly as a result of the influence of new populations migrating to Korea from Manchuria and Siberia. This type of pottery typically has thicker walls and displays a wider variety of shapes, indicating improvements in kiln technology. This period is sometimes called the "Korean Bronze Age", but bronze artifacts are relatively rare and regionalized until the 7th century BCE.
Rice cultivation was extensive in the lower parts of South Korea and Manchuria in the periods between 1900 BCE to 200 CE.
The beginning of the Bronze Age on the peninsula is usually said to be 1000 BCE, but estimates range from the 13th to 8th centuries BCE. Although the Korean Bronze Age culture derives from the Liaoning and Manchuria, it exhibits unique typology and styles, especially in ritual objects.
By the 7th century BCE, a Bronze Age material culture with influences from Manchuria, eastern Mongolia, as well as Siberia and Scythian bronze styles, flourished on the peninsula. Korean bronzes contain a higher percentage of zinc than those of the neighboring bronze cultures. Bronze artifacts, found most frequently in burial sites, consist mainly of swords, spears, daggers, small bells, and mirrors decorated with geometric patterns.
Gojoseon's development seems linked to the adoption of bronze technology. Its singularity finds its most notable expression in the idiosyncratic type of bronze swords, or "mandolin-shaped daggers" (). The mandolin-shape dagger is found in the regions of Liaoning, Hebei, and Manchuria down to the Korean Peninsula. It suggests the existence of Old Chosà Ân dominions. Remarkably, the shape of the "mandolin" dagger of Old Chosà Ân differs significantly from the sword artifacts found in China.
Megalithic dolmens appear in Korean peninsula and Manchuria around 2000 BCE to 400 BCE. Around 900 BCE, burial practices become more elaborate, a reflection of increasing social stratification. Goindol, the dolmen tombs in Korea and Manchuria, comprising upright stones supporting a horizontal slab, are more numerous in Korea than in other parts of East Asia. Other new forms of burial are stone cists (underground burial chambers lined with stone) and earthenware jar coffins. The bronze objects, pottery, and jade ornaments recovered from dolmens and stone cists indicate that such tombs were reserved for the elite class.
Around the 6th century BCE, burnished red wares, made of a fine iron-rich clay and characterized by a smooth, lustrous surface, appear in dolmen tombs, as well as in domestic bowls and cups.
In 1964, through a joint excavation by China and North Korea, Gangsang tomb () and Nusang tomb () were found in 1964 at the Liaodong peninsula. Nusang was found earlier prior to the excavation in 1958 Gangsang and Nusang tombs are considered to be burial cairn tombs of local nobilities of Old Chosà Ân. Some consider the tombs as the evidences of the slavery that could have existed, but others find that the evidences are inadequate and lacking to deduce such conclusion.
Around this time, the state of Jin occupied the southern part of the Korean peninsula. Very little is known about this state except that it was the apparent predecessor to the Samhan confederacies.
Around 300 BCE, iron technology was introduced into Korea from Yan state. Iron was produced locally in the southern part of the peninsula by the 2nd century BCE. According to Chinese accounts, iron from the lower Nakdong River in the southeast was valued throughout the peninsula and Japan.
In the book of Gogeumju () written by Cui Bao (å´Âè±¹) of the Western Jin period, poetry called Gonghuyin (ç®Âç¯Âå¼Â) or () is said to be of Old Chosà Ân origin. The poetry is as follows:
å ¬ç¡渡河 "Don't cross the river, my love."
å ¬ç«Â渡河 "My love eventually crossed the river.'
墮河èÂÂæ» "Now that my love is drowned,"
ç¶å¥Â堬你"There's nothing that I can do."
Numerous small states and confederations arose from the remnants of Old Chosà Ân, including Goguryeo, the Buyeo kingdom, Okjeo, and Dongye. Three of the Chinese commanderies fell to local resistance within a few decades, but the last, Nakrang, remained an important commercial and cultural outpost until it was destroyed by the expanding Goguryeo in 313 CE.
Jun of Gojoseon is said to have fled to the state of Jin in the southern Korean Peninsula. Jin developed into the Samhan confederacies, the beginnings of Baekje and Silla, continuing to absorb migration from the north. The Samhan confederacies were Mahan, Jinhan, and Byeonhan. King Jun ruled Mahan, which was eventually annexed by Baekje. Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla gradually grew into the Three Kingdoms of Korea that dominated the entire peninsula by around the 4th century.