Wiman Joseon (194–108 BC) was a dynasty of

Gojoseon Gojoseon (; ), contemporary name Joseon (; ), was the first kingdom on the Korea, Korean Peninsula. According to Korean mythology, the kingdom was established by the legendary king Dangun. Gojoseon possessed the most advanced culture in th ...

. It began with Wiman's (Wei Man) seizure of the throne from

Gija Joseon Gija Joseon (1120–194 BC) was a dynasty of Gojoseon allegedly founded by the sage Jizi (Gija), a member of the Shang (Yin) dynasty royal house. Understanding before 20th century Chinese records Chinese records before the Qin dynasty descr ...

'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 during the early Han dynasty. He is considered the father of Chinese historiography for the ''Shiji'' (sometimes translated into English as ''Records of the Grand Historian''), a general history of China cov ...

's ''

Records of the Grand Historian The ''Shiji'', also known as ''Records of the Grand Historian'' or ''The Grand Scribe's Records'', is a Chinese historical text that is the first of the Twenty-Four Histories of imperial China. It was written during the late 2nd and early 1st ce ...

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

Han dynasty The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...

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 ( ) was the first Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China. It is named for its progenitor state of Qin, a fief of the confederal Zhou dynasty (256 BC). Beginning in 230 BC, the Qin under King Ying Zheng enga ...

, 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 ) , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = Clockwise: Mukden Palace in Shenyang, Xinghai Square in Dalian, Dalian coast, Yalu River at Dandong , image_map = Liaoning in China (+all claims hatched).svg , ...

. 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 a historical region in northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day northeast China and parts of the modern-day Russian Far East south of the Uda (Khabarovsk Krai), Uda River and the Tukuringra-Dzhagdy Ranges. The exact ...

. The

Emperor Wu of Han Emperor Wu of Han (156 – 29 March 87BC), born Liu Che and courtesy name Tong, was the seventh Emperor of China, emperor of the Han dynasty from 141 to 87 BC. His reign lasted 54 years – a record not broken until the reign of the Kangxi ...

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

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

Canghai commandery

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

Korean peninsula Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically divided at or near the 38th parallel between North Korea (Dem ...

to southern

, existed. Nan Lü (

Hanja Hanja (; ), alternatively spelled Hancha, are Chinese characters used to write the Korean language. After characters were introduced to Korea to write Literary Chinese, they were adapted to write Korean as early as the Gojoseon period. () ...

: 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. It was originally published as physical books from 1991 to 2001. There is now an online version of the ...

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 in the captured areas, which corresponds to the current area of

Liaodong peninsula The Liaodong or Liaotung Peninsula ( zh, s=辽东半岛, t=遼東半島, p=Liáodōng Bàndǎo) is a peninsula in southern Liaoning province in Northeast China, and makes up the southwestern coastal half of the Liaodong region. It is located ...

and the northwestern Korean peninsula. The Commanderies eventually fell to the rising Goguryeo in 4th century AD.

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,

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

Goguryeo Goguryeo (37 BC – 668 AD) (; ; Old Korean: Guryeo) also later known as Goryeo (; ; Middle Korean: 고ᇢ롕〮, ''kwòwlyéy''), was a Korean kingdom which was located on the northern and central parts of the Korea, Korean Peninsula an ...

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 Former countries in Korean history History of Manchuria