Discuss the History of Korea and Its Impact on Korea Essay Example for Free

Discuss the History of Korea and Its Impact on Korea Essay Topic: Discuss the history of Korea and its impact on Koreas culture, politics and business. Korea is a civilization and formerly unified nation currently divided into two states. Korean civilization is one of the oldest ancient civilizations in world history, and Korea has the oldest history in East Asia. * GoJoseon (National foundation in BC 2333) The first Korean kingdom GoJoseon was established on a flourishing bronze culture in BC 2333 by Dangun who was the legendary founder of Go]eseon and people believed he was the grandson of heaven (Edward 2005). It was centered in the basins of Liao China) and Northern part of the Korean Peninsula. Politics and economy In Korean history, GoJoseon was the first state to unify its political and religious functions within one governing system and legal system as represented by its Eight Prohibitions (Edward 2005). Society It is believed that GoJoseon had achieved the status of a kingdom with a class-based society. * Three Kingdoms penod ( BC 18 AD 676) Town-states gradually united into tribal leagues with complex political structures which eventually grew into kingdoms. Koguryo (BC 37 AD 668) Koguryo was the first to mature into a kingdom. Koguryds aggressive troops onquered neighboring tribes one after another, and in 313, they even occupied Chinas Lolang outposts (Qiancheng 2009). paekje (BC 18 AD 660) PaekJe, which grew out of a town-state located south of the Han River in the surroundings of present-day Seoul(Capital city of South Korea), was another contederate kingdom similar to Koguryo deane 2 Shilla (BC 57 AD 935) Shilla was the weakest and most underdeveloped among three kingdoms at the beginning. However, because it was geographically removed from Chinese influence, it was more open to non-Chinese practices and ideas. The society was built on an advanced Buddhist in Shilla (Edward 2005). unified Shilla (676-918) By the mid-sixth century, the Shilla kingdom had brought under its control all of surrounding town-states within the Gaya confederation. Through an alliance with China, Shilla finally unified the Korean peninsula in 668 and saw the peak of its power and prosperity in the mid-eighth century. It attempted to build an ideal Buddhist country during Unified Shilla but Buddhist social order started to deteriorate as the nobility indulged in increasing luxury (Kim 2005). Hwarang-do (Flower-knight art) in Unified Shilla It is culturally important to Korea and Taekwondo which is well known Korean martial arts in the world. It was a military academy for young, aristocratic youth in Unified Shilla. They intimated with nature and studied poetry, art, literature and song, as well as martial arts. Confucianism and Taoism also were very influential to Hwarang-do. The Hwarang-dds ethics and legends of this knighthood helped form the ethical background of taekwondo (Theodore 2005). * Koryo penod ( 918 1392) Internal dissensions and external problems of Shilla between the king and regional leaders led to the disruption of Shilla. The name Koryo derives from Koguryd and it is the root of the modern name of Korea. The Koryo period from 935 to 1392 was arked by periodic internal disharmony and external wars (mostly defensive) with China and Japan. And also Koryo was invaded by the Mongols in 1231 and Mongols nearly destroyed Koryo. However, there were also great achievements which are flowering of culture that led to great advances in art and scholarship, particularly in the ceramics industry, which developed the unique grey-green celadon stoneware for which Korea is well-known today (Thomas 2003). * Chosun Dynasty (1392 1910) In 1392, a general Yi Seong-gye founded a new dynasty Chosun. In the early Chosun period, Confucianism was highly supported as the guideline of philosophy. And then, this Confucianism transformed into Neo-confucianism incorporating Taoist and Buddhist elements with and adaptation of Confucianism. Neo-confucianism is what people know as Korean culture and tradition today (Thomas 2 From 1418 to 1450, by Chosuns fourth monarch king SeJong, Korea had an unprecedented flowering of art and culture. The greatest achievement of king SeJong was invention of the Korean alphabet Hangeul. Before he invented the Korean alphabet, Korean used Chinese character (Theodore 2005). In 1 592, Toyotomi Hideyosi, who united Japan, wanted to conquer the Korean Peninsula and use it the way for its incursion into China. However, Japan was defeated by Admiral Yi sun-sin, one of the most respected fgures in Korean history. They invaded again in 1597 but they withdrew in 1598. The new religion, Catholicism, slowly spread in Korea since 18th century by Dutch Jesuit priest. In the 19th century of Chosun, they adopted an isolationist policy by the prince Taewongun because he was afraid that Chosun would be infected by western ideas. Therefore, he tried to prevent the opening of the country to foreign trade by closing the borders (Edward 2005). * Korea under Japanese Rule (1910†1945) During Japanese occupation, the first thing they did was construction of Koreas nfrastructure especially street and railroad system to control all over Korea easily and supply food for Japanese military properly. Japanese ruled with iron hand and tried to root out all elements of Korean culture from society.