Choson

Korea

 Korean Choson or Taehan

Former kingdom, a peninsula (Korean peninsula) on the eastern coast of Asia. In 1948 it was partitioned into two republics, North Korea and South Korea. According to tradition, the ancient kingdom of Choson was established in the northern part of the peninsula probably by peoples from northern China in the 3rd millennium BC. Conquered by China in 108 BC, it later developed into the Three Kingdoms of Silla, Koguryo, and Paekche. Silla conquered the other two in the 7th century AD and ruled until 936, when the Paekche dynasty became prominent. Invaded by the Mongols in 1231, the kingdom of Choson, with its capital at Seoul, was ruled by the Choson (Yi) dynasty (see Yi Song-gye) from 1392 to 1910. From c. 1636 it shut out foreign contacts but was forced after 1873 to open ports to Japan. Rivalry over Korea brought on the Russo-Japanese War (1904–05), after which Korea became a Japanese protectorate. Formally annexed to Japan in 1910, it was freed from Japanese control in 1945 at the end of World War II. After the war it was divided into two zones of occupation, Soviet in the north and U.S. in the south; the two republics were established in 1948. For Korea's later history, see North Korea and South Korea; see also Korean War.

---

Choson 

the first state in the history of Korea. Because few details are given in written sources, many questions concerning the history of ancient Choson still remain unanswered.

The state of Choson emerged circa the first millennium B.C. Before the 1960’s, Choson was generally regarded as a tribal alliance on the threshold of civilization; since the 1960’s, however, scholars in the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea have regarded Choson as the first slaveholding state in Korean history. In the late second century B.C, Choson was conquered by the Han Dynasty of China. In the early part of the first millennium A.D., during the people’s struggle against the Chinese conquerors, the early feudal Korean states of Koguryo, Paekche, and Silla were formed.

REFERENCES

Istoriia Korei, vol. 1. Moscow, 1974. Pages 25–28.
Li Chi-rin. Kochoson yon-gu. (Study of Ancient Choson). Pyongyang, 1963.
Kochoson munje yon-gu. (Study of Questions Concerning Ancient Choson). Pyongyang, 1973.

---

Choson 

(literally, “morning beauty”; often rendered in translation as Land of the Morning Calm), one of the names of Korea. The etymology of the name remains obscure, but many authors think that the word was used to designate the east, or the direction in which the sun rises. Choson was originally the name of a tribe or of a group of tribes whose alliance gave rise to the first Korean state, also known as Choson. The name later fell into disuse, but it was revived in 1392 when the Yi dynasty was founded and gave the name “Choson” to the state; the Korean state retained the name until 1897, when it was renamed the Taehan Empire. With the formation of the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea, the name was incorporated into the official designation of the state, which is known in Korean as the Choson Minjujuui Inmin Konghwaguk.