The Very First Koreans
Long before there were kingdoms or written records, people were already living on the Korean Peninsula. They arrived more than 700,000 years ago. At first, they hunted animals and gathered wild plants to survive. Over thousands of years, they learned to farm crops like millet and rice. They made pottery decorated with beautiful comb-like patterns and settled into villages with their families and clans.
One of the most mysterious things these early people left behind are dolmens. These are massive stone monuments built from enormous boulders. About half of the more than 80,000 dolmens that have been found throughout the world are in Korea. Scholars still debate whether they were tombs, altars or something else entirely. They were so impressive that a Korean scholar from the 12th century wrote, “People say that the saints put the dolmens there in the olden days” (“The Beginnings”). Some Korean dolmens are now UNESCO World Heritage sites.
Korea’s First Kingdom: Gojoseon
The first Korean kingdom was called Gojoseon. According to a beloved Korean legend, it was founded in 2333 B.C.E. by a man named Dangun Wanggeom. He was said to be the son of a god and a bear who was magically transformed into a woman. While historians debate the legend, they agree that Gojoseon was a real kingdom.
Gojoseon grew powerful through farming, trade and the use of iron tools introduced from China. It tried to control trade routes between the Korean Peninsula and China. This made Gojoseon rich, but this also put it on a collision course with the powerful Han Dynasty of China. After a year of fierce war, Gojoseon’s capital fell in 108 B.C.E., and the kingdom came to an end. In its place, China set up military outposts in the north. Still, Korean culture and identity survived and grew stronger in the south.
The Three Kingdoms: Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla
Out of the chaos that followed Gojoseon’s fall, three great kingdoms eventually emerged. Their rivalry and competition would shape Korean civilization for hundreds of years.
Goguryeo rose in the north and became the largest and most powerful of the three kingdoms. Its warriors were legendary. In 612 C.E., General Eulji Mundeok lured a million-man Chinese army deep into Korean territory. Then he destroyed most of them in a brilliant trap at the Salsu River. One of Goguryeo’s greatest rulers, King Gwanggaeto the Great (who ruled from 391 to 413 C.E.), was a mighty conqueror. His son built a massive stone monument standing 20 feet tall and weighing 37 tons just to celebrate his father’s achievements. Goguryeo controlled not only northern Korea but most of Manchuria and even parts of what is now Inner Mongolia.
Baekje developed along the western coast. It became a center of culture and craftsmanship, producing beautiful bronze artwork and fine ceramics. Baekje also played a huge role in spreading Korean and Chinese culture to Japan, sending teachers, scholars and artists across the sea.
Silla began as a small state in the southeast. It grew steadily, adopting new farming techniques like ox-drawn ploughs and irrigation systems. Silla had a very strict social class system called the “bone rank system.” In this system, your rank at birth determined almost everything about your life—what job you could have, what taxes you paid and even what kind of clothes you were allowed to wear.
A fourth power was the Gaya confederation. It existed in the south between the larger kingdoms, but it was never able to fully unite and was eventually absorbed by Silla.
These kingdoms were not just at war with each other. They also built stunning temples, created magnificent art, adopted Buddhism as a state religion and developed sophisticated governments. The tombs of Goguryeo’s kings, for example, were decorated with vividly painted scenes that are still visible today. They show everyday life, feasts and mythical creatures.
Silla Unites the Peninsula
For centuries, the three kingdoms fought, formed alliances and broke them. The turning point came when Silla made a deal with China’s powerful Tang Dynasty. Together, they crushed Baekje in 660 C.E., and then they toppled Goguryeo in 668 C.E. But Silla had no intention of becoming a Chinese colony. In a remarkable show of independence, Silla’s armies drove all Tang forces off the peninsula by 676 C.E. After, Silla unified Korea for the very first time under one rule.
The Unified Silla Kingdom brought peace. With peace, came a golden age. The capital city eventually grew to around 900,000 people. Merchants, Buddhist monks and scholars traveled to China and back, bringing home new ideas. Korea exported gold, silver and ginseng, and it imported silk, books and fine ceramics. Silla even built what is the oldest surviving astronomical observatory in all of East Asia. It is a nine-meter-tall stone tower called the Cheomseongdae. Beautiful Buddhist temples were built. Royal crowns were made of gold and adorned with tree-shaped ornaments and jade jewels. This was a society that was prosperous, confident and creative.
But success can breed problems. Over time, the aristocracy grew greedy and corrupt, local lords became hard to control and the peasants grew resentful of heavy taxes. By the late 800s C.E., rival leaders rose up to challenge Silla’s rule. One peasant leader declared a revival of Baekje in the southwest. A rebellious monk declared a revival of Goguryeo in the north. Korea was plunged back into chaos, in what historians call the Later Three Kingdoms Period.
The Rise of Goryeo
From this new chaos emerged one of Korea’s most celebrated dynasties. A capable leader named Wang Geon replaced the fanatical monk-ruler of Later Goguryeo in 918 C.E. He named his new kingdom Goryeo, which is the origin of the English word “Korea.” He moved the capital to the city of Songdo (modern Gaeseong) and worked skillfully to bring the other rival kingdoms to his side. The last Silla king surrendered peacefully in 935 C.E., and Later Baekje fell to Goryeo soon after. Korea was unified once again.
Goryeo became one of the most culturally brilliant kingdoms in all of Asia. Its merchants traded with China, Arabia and Southeast Asia. The capital boasted over 1,000 shops, and Korea minted its own coins for the first time. Most remarkably, Goryeo craftsmen invented movable metal type printing, more than 200 years before Johannes Gutenberg did the same thing in Europe. A book printed in Goryeo in 1377, called the Jikji, is still preserved today (“The Beginnings”). It is recognized as the world’s oldest surviving book printed with metal type.
China invented a type of pottery called celadon. It features a beautiful glaze. But Goryeo’s green celadon pottery, decorated with delicate inlaid designs of cranes and lotus flowers, was so exquisite that even the Chinese wanted to import it. And when Goryeo scholars carved the entire Buddhist scripture—81,258 wooden printing blocks’ worth—they created a treasure called the Tripitaka Koreana that still survives today.
But foreign invaders were never far away. Beginning in 1231 C.E., the Mongols swept into Korea again and again. Goryeo’s royal court fled to an island and held on for decades, while ordinary Koreans were left to fight the Mongol armies. A peace agreement was finally reached in 1259, but the damage had been enormous. Goryeo would survive, but it was weakened, and the stage was set for a new dynasty to rise. Korea’s next chapter, the Joseon Dynasty, would begin in 1392.
Work Cited
“The Beginnings of the Country’s History.” Korean Cultural Center New York, https://www.koreanculture.org/korea-information-history. Accessed 5 Apr. 2026.