Wiman Joseon (194–108 BC) was a dynasty of Gojoseon. It began with

Wiman Wi Man (in Korean) or Wei Man (in Chinese) was originally a military leader of the Chinese Kingdom of Yan. * :"The term was used again by a refugee from the Han dynasty named Wiman, who about 200 B.C.E. set up a kingdom in Korea called Wiman ...

's (Wei Man) seizure of the throne from Gija Joseon's King Jun and ended with the death of King Ugeo who was a grandson of Wiman. Apart from archaeological data, the main source on this historical period comes from chapter 115 of

Sima Qian Sima Qian (; ; ) was a Chinese historian of the early Han dynasty (206AD220). He is considered the father of Chinese historiography for his ''Records of the Grand Historian'', a general history of China covering more than two thousand years be ...

's ''

Records of the Grand Historian ''Records of the Grand Historian'', also known by its Chinese name ''Shiji'', is a monumental history of China that is the first of China's 24 dynastic histories. The ''Records'' was written in the early 1st century by the ancient Chinese his ...

''. Wiman was originally a Chinese military leader from the Kingdom of Yan under the

Han dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by th ...

Founding

According to

, Wiman was a general from the Kingdom of Yan of northeastern China after the collapse of China's

Qin dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ; zh, c=秦朝, p=Qín cháo, w=), or Ch'in dynasty in Wade–Giles romanization ( zh, c=, p=, w=Ch'in ch'ao), was the first dynasty of Imperial China. Named for its heartland in Qin state (modern Gansu and Shaanxi), ...

, who submitted to Gojoseon's King Jun. Jun accepted and appointed Wiman commander of the western border region of Gojoseon, which probably corresponds to the west of the present-day

Liaoning Liaoning () is a coastal province in Northeast China that is the smallest, southernmost, and most populous province in the region. With its capital at Shenyang, it is located on the northern shore of the Yellow Sea, and is the northernmo ...

. Despite the generosity that King Jun had demonstrated, Wiman revolted and destroyed Gojoseon. In 194 BC, he established Wiman Joseon and decided to locate his capital in Wanggeom-seong (왕검성, 王險城). Many Korean historians believe that the exact location of Wanggeom-seong was Yodong (요동) in Liaodong, China. In this period, Wiman Joseon expanded to control a vast territory and became strong economically by controlling trade between the Han dynasty and the peoples of

Manchuria Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer M ...

. The

Emperor Wu of Han Emperor Wu of Han (156 – 29 March 87BC), formally enshrined as Emperor Wu the Filial (), born Liu Che (劉徹) and courtesy name Tong (通), was the seventh emperor of the Han dynasty of ancient China, ruling from 141 to 87 BC. His reign last ...

thought that Wiman Joseon increasingly threatened the Han dynasty, and Wiman Joseon would ally with the

Xiongnu The Xiongnu (, ) were a tribal confederation of nomadic peoples who, according to ancient Chinese sources, inhabited the eastern Eurasian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. Modu Chanyu, the supreme leader after 20 ...

Canghai commandery

Around the period from 128 BC to 126 BC, Canghai commandery, covering an area in northern

Korean peninsula Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic ...

to southern

, existed. Nan Lü (

Hanja Hanja (Hangul: ; Hanja: , ), alternatively known as Hancha, are Chinese characters () used in the writing of Korean. Hanja was used as early as the Gojoseon period, the first ever Korean kingdom. (, ) refers to Sino-Korean vocabulary, ...

: 南閭), who was a monarch of Dongye and a subject of Wiman Joseon, revolted against Ugeo of Gojoseon and then surrendered to the

with 280,000 people. The Canghai Commandery was established following this revolution, however in 2 years, it was abolished by Gongsun Hong.창해군
한국민족문화대백과

Encyclopedia of Korean Culture The ''Encyclopedia of Korean Culture'' is a Korean language encyclopedia published by the Academy of Korean Studies and DongBang Media Co. The articles in the encyclopedia are aimed at readers who want to learn about Korean culture and histor ...

Fall

Wiman's grandson, King Ugeo (우거, 右渠), allowed many exiles from

of China to live in Wiman Joseon. However, the number of Han grew, and King Ugeo prevented the Jin state from communicating with the Han dynasty. As a result, in 109 BC, the

invaded Wiman Joseon near the Luan River. After failing several times to defeat Wiman Joseon's armies, Han Wudi tried to convince the princes of Wiman Joseon to kill King Ugeo. The conspiracy failed and it led to the destruction of the Gojoseon kingdom. After the war, Wudi of Han dynasty sentenced two generals to death for failing to defeat Wiman Joseon. After a year of battle, Wanggeom-seong was captured and Wiman Joseon was destroyed. The Han dynasty established the

Four Commanderies of Han The Four Commanderies of Han (; ) were Chinese commanderies located in the north of the Korean Peninsula and part of the Liaodong Peninsula from around the end of the second century BC through the early 4th AD, for the longest lasting. The comman ...

in the captured areas, which corresponds to the current area of Liaodong peninsula and the northwestern Korean peninsula. The Commanderies eventually fell to the rising Goguryeo in 4th century AD. Several nations were formed in its place. Among them was the Nangnang Nation. The Nangnang Nation must be differentiated from the Lelang commandery.

Monarchs of Wiman Joseon

Maps

File:History of Korea-108 BC.png, Korea in 108 BC. Gojoseon before destroyed by Han dynasty. File:Hangunhyeon.PNG,

Han Dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by th ...

destroys Wiman Joseon, and establishing the Four Commanderies. File:History of Korea-315.png, Korea in 315.

Goguryeo Goguryeo (37 BC–668 AD) ( ) also called Goryeo (), was a Korean kingdom located in the northern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula and the southern and central parts of Northeast China. At its peak of power, Goguryeo controlled mos ...

recovered the former Gojoseon territory.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * *

External links

* http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-9500.html * http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Asia-and-Oceania/Korea-Democratic-People-s-Republic-of-DPRK-HISTORY.html * http://www.bartleby.com/65/ko/Korea.html * https://web.archive.org/web/20030310223530/https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/04/eak/ht04eak.htm * https://web.archive.org/web/20060301054640/http://www.metmuseum.org/explore/publications/pdfs/korea/divided/History-Religions.pdf * https://www.nytimes.com/books/first/c/cumings-korea.html?_r=1&oref=slogin * http://www.mmtaylor.net/Literacy_Book/DOCS/Part_2_Korea.html {{Authority control Gojoseon History of Manchuria Former countries in Chinese history Former countries in Korean history