According to legend, Joseon, the first state in Korean history, was founded in 2333 BCE by Dangun Wanggeom. He was the son of a prince of Heaven and a bear-turned-woman. The story seems to symbolize the arrival of a migrant agricultural group and its union with a local bear-worshipping population.
The prefix Go-, meaning “old,” was later added to differentiate this kingdom from the more recent Joseon dynasty; it is therefore known as Gojoseon.
Rice farmers actually arrived in the area in 1500 BCE, with the emergence of the Mumun pottery culture. The Mumun people displaced the native millet farmers of southern Korea and built countless dolmen burials.
The Mumun people likely spoke proto-Japonic. Linguist Robbeets argues that proto-Koreanic was already used by the southern millet farmers, while Whitman and Vovin contend that Korean speakers arrived later from the north.
Dangun is said to have ruled from the city of Asadal for 1,211 years before being replaced by Gija from China’s Shang dynasty, in 1122 BCE. This led to the end of Dangun Joseon and the beginning of Gija Joseon. Dangun then became a mountain god.
Though no longer considered historical, both Dangun and Gija were worshipped as ancestor gods in Korea for centuries.
Archaeological evidence for Gojoseon appears in the 10th century BCE in modern Chaoyang, China. The Twelfth Taiyingzi Burial Mounds may be the remains of Asadal, and, according to Whitman, the Liaoning bronze dagger culture corresponds to the early distribution of Proto-Koreanic speakers.
By the 7th and 6th centuries BCE, Gojoseon’s center had shifted east to Liaodong: the Zhengjiawazi Tombs of Shenyang may be the site of its new capital, Jangdanggyeong. By this time, Gojoseon almost definitely existed and traded with China’s Qi state across the Bohai Strait.
Gojoseon appears in Chinese texts by the 4th century BCE. Its leader is said to have used the Chinese title of hou, equivalent to marquess, but some speculate that the native title of Wanggeom may have been used. Wanggeom may be related to Sillan niskum and Korean imgeum, both meaning “king.”
Though Gojoseon was a tribal confederation, it had an advanced Bronze Age economy with trade and social classes. Gojoseon had a criminal law called the Eight Prohibitions, of which only three are known: murder was punishable by death, injury by fines, and stealing by enslavement.
According to Volume 49 of the History of Liao (1344), the Eight Prohibitions remained as a local tradition in Liaodong up to the early 2nd millennium. Meanwhile, “Do Not Cross the River” by Gojoseon’s Yeo Ok is allegedly the oldest song and poem in Korean history, though its authenticity is disputed.
In 323 BCE, the duke of the Chinese Yan state just west of Gojoseon styled himself wang, or king. This had hitherto been reserved for the king of the Zhou dynasty, the regional hegemon. The marquess of Gojoseon followed suit, and tensions brewed until Yan sent general Qin Kai to conquer Liaodong.
Yan defeated both Gojoseon and the proto-Mongolic Donghu, and Gojoseon was forced to retreat south of the Chongchon River. Its new capital, Wanggeom Fortress, was located in modern-day southern Pyongyang. This event led to a great shift in the Liaoning bronze dagger culture.
The daggers, which had been violin-shaped, transitioned into slender daggers. They also disappeared from the lost northern territories and spread to southern Korea. Whitman interprets this spread as the Koreanization of the south, while Kim Jangsuk points out it may be evidence of trade instead.
In any case, Gojoseon had recovered by the late 3rd century BCE. When Qin, China’s first imperial dynasty, collapsed in 206 BCE, King Jun took advantage of the power vacuum to regain lands up to the Yalu River. Yan, conquered by Qin, briefly regained independence but was defeated by the Han dynasty.
The Qin-Han transition destabilized the region, and 1,000 Yan refugees defected to Gojoseon in 195 BCE. Their leader, Wi Man, overthrew King Jun the following year and established the Wiman Joseon dynasty, adopting local customs. With new iron technology, Wi Man conquered neighboring states.
Royal authority in Gojoseon increased under the Wiman dynasty. Meanwhile, King Jun allegedly went on to establish the Mahan confederacy in southwestern Korea, and there is some archaeological evidence to suggest that a southward migration took place. Another entity in southern Korea was Jin.
Gojoseon’s attempts to control interactions between Jin and Han, among other factors, led to the Gojoseon-Han War. Gojoseon fell in 108 BCE after King Ugeo was assassinated and his son killed the last resistance leader. The Han dynasty installed the Four Commanderies of Han in northern Korea.
Most of the commanderies of Han were disbanded or relocated by the end of the century due to local resistance. The Lelang Commandery, however, survived to become an important trading post between Korea and China until it was destroyed by the proto-Korean kingdom of Goguryeo in 313.