History goes back hundreds of years, ancient Korea actually originated from the Chinese nation, and they have always been present in the history of the Chinese nation, but as a branch and vassal state of ours, why was the Korean Peninsula finally divided from the map, is it a historical necessity or a cultural abandonment?
What kind of historical fact does the division of the Korean Peninsula mean?
Ancient Joseon
History of ancient Korea
Ancient Korea in the traditional sense refers to the early states of the northern part of the Korean Peninsula established before 108 BC, and ancient Korea during this period does not belong to the historical category of Korea or Korea.
It is a local government belonging to our Chinese nation, so it is a bloodline belonging to the Chinese nation, and Korea at this time is also known as Mizi Joseon and Weiman Joseon.
However, the Koreans at that time did not agree with this statement, believing that their dynasty originated in Danjun Korea.
This is a dynasty that appeared in myths and legends, and it is said that the god Tangun came to the Korean Peninsula and met a beautiful woman transformed into a human form by a bear, and the two combined to give birth to the first Korean people, and then established the history of the Joseon Dynasty here.
Ancient Joseon
However, this statement cannot stand firm in history, there is no historical basis, it is purely myths and legends, and the real historical ones are Jizi Korea and Weiman Joseon.
The Miko Joseon dynasty existed in historical sources from the 12th century BC to the 2nd century BC.
Its founder was the uncle of King Shang of the Xia Shang period, and because he did not want to return to King Wu of Zhou, he came to the Korean Peninsula with a group of Shang dynasty people to make a fortune, and he was later promoted as the local king.
He used some of the ceremonial systems of the Shang Dynasty as management experience to manage the country, and was recognized by Zhou Tianzi at that time, and this period was known as Mizi Joseon, and the ethnic composition of the Korean Peninsula during this period was mainly the Chinese ethnic group and the ethnic minorities in the northeast.
King Shang
Their capital was in the area of present-day Pyongyang, and by 195 BC Wei Man, a native of the Yan state of the Han dynasty, had successfully overthrown the rule of the Mizi dynasty, and then succeeded in establishing himself as king, creating a new regime that came to be known as Wei Joseon or Wei Manchu Joseon.
Most history books have records of these two dynasties, at most it is only a matter of time, and it can be said that it is the oldest documented Korean history. And in archaeology, a large number of stone tools and stone axes and stone knives from the Shang and Zhou Dynasties have also been found, which are very characteristic of China's Longshan culture, which also confirms the statement at that time.
And during the Mizi Joseon Dynasty, the earliest legislation on the Korean Peninsula, the "Eight Prohibitions on Korean Civil Offenders" was also formed.
The so-called Lelang is actually a code name for the area ruled by the Jie dynasty during the reign of Emperor Wudi of Han.
Emperor
Later, the Jizi Dynasty was replaced by the Wei Manchu Dynasty, and under the efforts of Wei Manchu Korea, its power continued to grow, which seriously affected the development of the Han Dynasty region, and finally caused the Han Dynasty Wei Manchu Dynasty to be founded in 195 BC and died in 108 BC.
"Hanshu Geography" "Xuanjiao, Lelang, (Han) Wudi time, all Joseon, filthy marten, Guli barbarians".
It is evident from this period that Goguryeo and ancient Korea were not a unified whole, and there was no subordination relationship between ancient Korea and Goguryeo.
The location of Korea was probably the north-central region of the Korean Peninsula, until later Emperor Wudi of Han set up the four counties of Han to govern ancient Korea.
Miko
National development on the Korean Peninsula
Long before the emergence of the Miko Dynasty, there were already some indigenous people in Korea, but the population was sparse during this period, and their range of activities was relatively limited, mainly in the form of tribes.
But this tribe does not represent the existence of their so-called Tangun Joseon regime, because this tribe cannot form a unified institutional system and proper documentation.
In the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, the Shang Dynasty people came to Korea to carry out production activities, which brought some more advanced cultural systems, promoted the development of political power in the area, and also promoted the formation of local ethnic groups.
By the time of the Wei Manchu Joseon Dynasty, the main ethnic group was still the Chinese ethnic group, and later the tribal alliance of the Chenguo on the Korean Peninsula appeared.
Statue of Miko
This tribal confederation is believed to have existed in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula between the fourth and second centuries BC. At this time, the northern part of the Chenguo was the Mizi Dynasty, and the Chenguo was considered to be the predecessor of the development of the later three administrative powers, which was a very stable tribal alliance that also coexisted with the Wei Man Dynasty for a long time.
Although they once wanted to break through the limitations of the Wei Manchu Dynasty and achieve the unification of the entire Korean Peninsula, unfortunately their strength did not allow it. Until 109 BC, Emperor Wudi of Han sent people to attack the Wei Manchu Dynasty, and now Wei Manchu was conquered in a year, and after the destruction of Korea, the Chen Kingdom was further divided into three Han.
"Hou Hanshu Dongyi Chuan Han Biography" There are three kinds of Han: one is Ma Han, two is Chen Han, and three is Ben Han. ...... Where seventy-eight countries ,...... All ancient Tatsumi Kuniya.
The distribution of ethnic groups on the Korean Peninsula during this period was mainly from northern and northeastern China, and they were also known as Yiqi.
Miko
As early as the Warring States period, because of the rise of the Yan and Zhao states, they were forced to move to the northeast, and by the time of King Yan Zhao, the people of this ethnic group went to the area east of the Liao River, and by the end of the Warring States period and the Qin and Han periods, the people in these areas branched, and new titles such as Buyeo, Goguryeo, and Woyu appeared successively.
Some of them are also based on the period of the Gangwon region of the Korean Peninsula, this tribe and the Chenzhu tribe and the Mizi Korean Weiman, Korea existed in a scattered pattern, it can be said that this tribe is one of the indigenous peoples of the Korean Peninsula.
So in the process of later historical evolution, how did they withdraw from the historical stage?
King Yan Zhao
Cultural fusion of ancient Korea
After Emperor Wudi of Han succeeded in annihilating Wei Manchu Korea, he established four counties in the northern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula to administer it. In 82 BC, the Han Dynasty merged these counties.
Since these counties were threatened by the indigenous peoples of the Korean Peninsula after the Eastern Han Dynasty, they chose to merge with the Liaodong region, and Lelang County and Xuanji County were retained during the Wei and Jin dynasties. It can be said that for a long period of history, the Korean Peninsula lived under the shadow of the rule of the Central Plains Dynasty.
"Zizhi Tongjian" "During the Wei and Jin dynasties, Goguryeo attacked Lelang County, and because he could not bear the long-term lone army to fight Goguryeo and Baekje, he defected to Murong Xiang. ”
Later, after the Han Dynasty gradually withdrew from the historical stage, the control of the Korean Peninsula also perished.
Statue of Emperor Wudi of Han
Coupled with the turbulent situation in the Central Plains during this period, and the lack of intention to manage these limitations on the Korean Peninsula, the Korean Peninsula received a respite during this period, and the national power dominated by them developed rapidly.
For example, the development of Goguryeo Silla Baiji and these regimes, during this period the people of the Central Plains did not intend to continue to expand to the north, because for the people of the Central Plains, they paid more attention to the fertile land.
They dismissed places like the Korean Peninsula that had a harsh winter and no summer and were not conducive to crop production, so the return of the Central Plains culture also gave the regime on the Korean Peninsula a powerful respite.
Korean peninsula
In addition, the Korean Peninsula is a type that is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and there have been many dynasties attacking them in the history of the mainland, in fact, at the beginning of the Sui Dynasty, the Sui Dynasty's conquest of the Korean Peninsula accelerated its demise.
Although the Tang Dynasty was able to bring them under our administration, we would not interfere much with these small countries.
During the Ming Dynasty, the Korean region was rewarded by Zhu Yuanzhang and became our vassal state, but basically the Central Plains region no longer regarded the Korean Peninsula as its own territorial planning.
The development of the ethnic groups here has also entered a free development mode, and their living habits have also been quite different from those in the Central Plains, and their economic development is too slow, so they have slowly faded out of the vision of the civil government.
Zhu Yuanzhang
epilogue
The relationship between ancient Korea and ancient China is still very close, after all, it used to be an administrative division under our jurisdiction, and then the national power on the Korean Peninsula continued to develop and grow, and formed a momentum to threaten the Central Plains, only then was it surrounded and suppressed by Emperor Wudi of Han, and finally formed a later form of power division.
It can also be seen from this that the regime in the Central Plains does not really care about the development of these remote areas, as long as their development does not threaten itself.
Then we have no interest in developing the economy and culture in the direction of these harsh environments, plus the Central Plains advocate agricultural civilization, which is a place with a bad environment itself, and it is not the most ideal place for the people in the Central Plains to settle down.
Statue of Emperor Wudi of Han
Therefore, too much energy will not be invested in these areas, and the reason why ancient Korea will slowly fade out of our national system is on the one hand because the development of agricultural civilization spurns those areas that are difficult to grow plant crops, and on the other hand, they have formed their own national characteristic culture in the process of continuous historical evolution.
We do not disdain to occupy such areas, which have neither mineral nor material resources, so the Korean region is slowly forgotten by the Central Plains region, and eventually becomes a vassal state of the Central Plains regime.
They will not have much impact on the Central Plains, plus they have formed their own unique cultural system, from once a member of the Chinese nation to now can only become one of our neighbors, with their own development trajectory, in fact, it is also the result of economic development.
bibliography
"Hou Hanshu Dongyi Chuan Han Biography"
Hanshu Geography
"General Guide to Governance"