Two of this period's most notable products are Goryeo celadon pottery and the Tripitaka Koreana — the Buddhist scriptures (Tripitaka) carved onto roughly 80,000 woodblocks and stored, and still in, Haeinsa. Subjects and officials of the Goryeo dynasty also created the world's first metal-based movable type in 1234; the oldest surviving movable metal type book, the Jikji, was made in 1377.
In 668, Silla conquered Baekje and Goguryeo with alliance of Tang Dynasty, but by the late 9th century it was tottering, its monarchs being unimaginative and pressed by the power of powerful statesmen. Many robbers and outlaws agitated and in 900 Gyeon Hwon revolted from Silla control in the Jeolla region as Hubaekje and next year Gung Ye revolted from the northern regions as Hugoguryeo (Taebong). A son of a regional lord, Wang Geon went into Hugoguryeo as a general.
Hugoguryeo fell when Wang Geon revolted and killed Gung Ye in 918; Silla was overpowered by Goryeo and Hubaekje and surrendered to Goryeo in 935. In 936 Hubaekje surrendered and Goryeo started an unbroken dynasty that ruled Korea for 474 years.
By the 14th century Goryeo had lost much of its power under Yuan Dynasty influences. Although King Gongmin managed to free his kingdom from the Mongol influence, the Goryeo general Yi Seonggye revolted and overthrew the last king of Goryeo, King Gongyang in 1392. Gongyang was killed in 1394.
Etymology
The name "Goryeo" is derived from "Goguryeo", one of the ancient Three Kingdoms of Korea, which changed its name to "Goryeo" during the reign of King Jangsu of Goguryeo (in the 5th century). The English name "Korea" derives from "Goryeo."
History
Background
Silla, which had accomplished an incomplete unification of the Three Kingdoms of Korea in 668, weakened and lost control over local lords during the end of the 9th century. The country entered a period of civil war and rebellion, led by Gung Ye, Gi Hwon, Yang Gil, and Gyeon Hwon.Gung Ye established Hugoguryeo (meaning "Later Goguryeo", renamed Taebong and Majin). Gyeon Hwon established Hubaekje (meaning "Later Baekje"). Together with the declining Silla, they are known as the Later Three Kingdoms.
Founding
Wang Geon, a descendant of a merchant family of Songdo (present-day Kaesŏng), joined Taebong but overthrew Gung Ye and established the Goryeo Kingdom and Dynasty in 918.
Goryeo adopted a Silla-friendly Hubaekje-hostile stage in the later Three Kingdoms, but in 927, Goryeo was defeated by Hubaekje in present-day Daegu. Wang Geon lost his best supporters in the battle. For 3 years after the battle, Hubaekje dominated the Later Three Kingdoms but after a defeat at the Andong in 930, Hubaekje lost his power.
The Later Three Kingdoms era ended as Goryeo annexed Silla in 935 and defeated Hubaekje in 936. Wang Geon moved the capital to his hometown Kaesǒng, and ruled the Korean peninsula as the first Emperor of Goryeo. Wang Geon married a daughter of the Silla royal family and let most nobles keep their lands. Even though Wang Geon ruled the united nation for only 7 years before his son took the reign after his death, the succession was not challenged.
Power struggles
The House Yi of Inju (Korean: 인주 이씨, Hanja: 仁州李氏) married the emperors from Munjong to the 17th emperor, Injong. Eventually the Yis gained more power than the monarch himself. This led to the coup of Yi Ja-gyeom in 1126. The coup failed but the power of the monarch was weakened; Goryeo underwent a civil war among the nobility.
In 1135, Myo Cheong argued in favor of moving the capital to Seogyeong (present day P'yŏngyang). This proposal divided the nobles of Goryeo in half. One faction, led by Myo Cheong, believed in moving the capital to Pyongyang and expanding into Manchuria. The other one, led by Kim Bu-sik (author of the Samguk Sagi), wanted to keep the status quo. Myo Cheong failed to persuade the emperor and rebelled against the central government and made a country named Daebang, but failed and was killed.
Military regime
In 1170, a group of army officers led by Jeong Jung-bu, Yi Ui-bang and Yi Go launched a coup d'état and succeeded. Emperor Uijong went into exile and Emperor Myeongjong was placed on the throne. Effective power, however, lay with a succession of generals who used an elite guard unit known as the Tobang to control the throne: military rule of Goryeo had begun. In 1179, the young general Gyeong Dae-seung rose to power and began an attempt to restore the full power of the monarch and purge the corruption of the state.
However, he died in 1183 and was succeeded by Yi Ui-min, who came from a nobi (slave) background. His unrestrained corruption and cruelty led to a coup by general Choe Chungheon, who assassinated Yi Ui-min and took supreme power in 1197. For the next 61 years, the Choe house ruled as military dictators, maintaining the emperors as puppet monarchs; Choe Chungheon was succeeded in turn by his son Choe U, his grandson Choe Hang and his great-grandson Choe Ui. On taking power, Choe Chungheon forced Myeongjong off the throne and replaced him with Emperor Sinjong, but after Sinjong died he forced two further monarchs off the throne until he found the pliable Emperor Gojong.
Mongol invasions
Meanwhile, the Mongols began a campaign from 1231 to 1259 that ravaged parts of Gyeongsang and Jeolla provinces. There were six major campaigns: 1231, 1232, 1235, 1238, 1247, 1253; between 1253 and 1258, the Mongols under Möngke Khan's general Jalairtai Qorchi launched four devastating invasions in the final successful campaign against Korea, at tremendous cost to civilian lives throughout the Korean peninsula.
Civilian resistance was strong, and the Imperial Court at Ganghwa attempted to strengthen its fortress. Korea won several victories but the Korean military could not withstand the waves of invasions. The repeated Mongol invasions caused havoc, loss of human lives and famine in Korea. In 1236, Gojong ordered the re-creation of the Tripitaka Koreana, destroyed during the 1232 invasion. This collection of Buddhist scriptures took 15 years to carve on some 81,000 wooden blocks, and is preserved to this day. In March 1258, the dictator Choe Ui was assassinated by Kim Jun. Thus, dictatorship by his military group was ended, and the scholars who had insisted on peace with Mongolia gained power. Eventually, the scholars sent an envoy to the Mongols, and a peace treaty was contracted between the Mongol Empire and Goryeo. Some military officials who refused to surrender formed the Sambyeolcho Rebellion and resisted in the islands off the southern shore of the Korean peninsula.
The treaty permitted the sovereign power and traditional cultures of Goryeo, and implied that the Mongols had no plans of controlling Goryeo. The Mongols annexed the northern areas of Korean peninsula after the invasions and incorporated them into their empire. After the peace treaty with Goryeo, the Mongols planned to conquer Japan by allying with Goryeo troops again; in 1274 and 1281 two campaigns to Japan took place; however, it failed due to a heavy storm (called the Kamikaze) and strong military resistance.
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