korea 111Korea
Emperor Wu of Former Han conquered northwestern Korea in 198
BC. and established a number of commanderies. These were eventu-
ally reduced to one, named Lo-lang. It comprised the lowlands to the
mountains in the east and to just north of present Seoul in the south.
The capital was at present P’yongyang. In the early 3rd century A.D.,
Lo-lang was subdivided, and its southernmost part and adjoining ter-
ritory to the south became the Tai-fang commandery.
In the 1st century B.C., the Tungusic Koguryo people had estab-
lished themselves in northeastern Korea and soon expanded into
southern Manchuria. In the early 4th century A.D., they overran
Lo-lang and Tai-fang, and in 427 made P’yongyang their capital.
Han tribes inhabited southwestern Korea and in the late 3rd century
evolved into the state of Paekche. From 538, its capital was Puyo. The
tribes of southeastern Korea were gradually federated into the state of
Silla with its capital near modern Kyongju. All three kingdoms were
under Chinese cultural influence. Silla was destined to unify Korea
in the 7th century (map 3).
KOGURYO[
During the Six Dynasties, Koguryo was a sizable state, comprising not
only northern Korea but also the Liao-tung Peninsula and Manchuria
northward beyond the latitude of modern Mukden. In the west, it
reached the Sea of Japan. For that period, 38 missions by sea are
recorded from Koguryo to Eastern Chin, Liu Sung, Southern Ch’i,
Liang, and Ch’en from 336 to 585. But Koguryo between 425 and
583 also sent no less than 100 missions by land to Northern Wei,
Eastern Wei, Northern Ch’i, Northern Chou, and Sui (before the
reunification of 589). It therefore had much closer relations to the
northern dynasties than to the southern ones.^1
(^1) See my Six Dynasties, vol.II, pp.92-97.