Korean history at a glance: the main periods

Periods are a frame for organising

Periodisation is a frame that makes history easier to grasp; it does not mean the world changed overnight. Korean history is usually divided by dynasty into Gojoseon, the Three Kingdoms, the North and South States, Goryeo, Joseon and the modern era, and separately into prehistoric, ancient, medieval, early modern, modern and contemporary. Boundaries differ slightly between books because they use different criteria. At first, simply fix the order of dynasties and the years each began and ended; the remaining events then slot in between much more easily.

Prehistory and Gojoseon

Prehistory, the time before written records, is divided by tools into the Palaeolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Ages. Comb-pattern pottery and settled life typify the Neolithic, while dolmens and the rise of social ranks typify the Bronze Age. The first state to appear in the records is Gojoseon. Its founding date rests on later tradition and is still discussed by scholars, but the fall of Wiman Joseon to an attack by the Han dynasty in 108 BCE is a fact confirmed by Chinese histories.

From many states to three kingdoms

After Gojoseon, Manchuria and the Korean peninsula held many states, including Buyeo, Goguryeo, Okjeo, Dongye and the Samhan in the south. Of these, Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla grew into centralised kingdoms, opening the Three Kingdoms period, while the Gaya confederacy lay along the Nakdong River. Gaya disappeared when Daegaya was absorbed by Silla in 562. Silla then allied with Tang China to overthrow Baekje in 660 and Goguryeo in 668, and completed unification in 676 by driving out Tang forces.

North and South States: Unified Silla and Balhae

After Silla took the land south of the Taedong River, Dae Jo-yeong founded Balhae in the north in 698. Balhae presented itself as the heir of Goguryeo and ruled much of Manchuria and the Maritime region until it fell to the Khitan in 926. Because Silla in the south and Balhae in the north existed together, this era is sometimes called the North and South States period. Unified Silla was a flowering of Buddhist culture, and Bulguksa Temple and Seokguram Grotto in Gyeongju date from this time. From the ninth century regional powers grew, and Silla split into the Later Three Kingdoms.

Goryeo: 918 to 1392

Wang Geon founded Goryeo in 918 and reunified the Later Three Kingdoms in 936. In 958, under King Gwangjong, the civil service examination was first held, beginning the tradition of selecting officials by exam. Goryeo endured repeated invasions by the Khitan, the Jurchen and, in the thirteenth century, the Mongols, and during that time carved the Tripitaka Koreana woodblocks. Jikji, printed at Heungdeoksa Temple in Cheongju in 1377, is widely recognised as the oldest surviving book printed with metal movable type. At the end of Goryeo, new scholar-officials joined forces with military leaders, and the dynasty changed.

Joseon: 1392 to the Korean Empire

Yi Seong-gye founded Joseon in 1392 and moved the capital to Hanyang. Under King Sejong the Korean alphabet, Hunminjeongeum, was created in 1443 and promulgated in 1446. Joseon adopted Neo-Confucianism as its state ideology and governed through law codes and a bureaucracy. It went through major wars, the Imjin War from 1592 to 1598 and the Manchu invasion of 1636, yet kept the dynasty going by reforming its institutions. After the ports were opened in 1876 and foreign pressure grew, the country was renamed the Korean Empire in 1897.

• 1392 Joseon founded
• 1443 Korean alphabet created, 1446 promulgated
• 1592 to 1598 Imjin War
• 1636 Manchu invasion
• 1897 Korean Empire proclaimed

Major events of the modern era

In 1910 the Korean Empire lost its sovereignty and came under Japanese rule, and in 1919 the March First Movement took place. Liberation came in 1945, but the peninsula was divided, and in 1948 the government of the Republic of Korea was established in the south. The Korean War broke out in 1950, and an armistice was signed in 1953. In modern history the events themselves are clear, but judgements of people and policies differ sharply, so it is best to get dates and facts right first and form views by reading books from several perspectives.

Making the flow stick

Trying to memorise all of Korean history at once is exhausting. Build the skeleton in the order below and add flesh afterwards, and it will stay with you.

• Write only dynasty names with start and end years on one sheet
• Attach just two or three key events to each dynasty
• Write world history events of the same period in a column alongside
• Read deeply only in the eras that catch your interest