South 고등학교 1학년 Korean History 1
Chapters: 3
1. Understanding pre-modern Korean history
Formation of ancient states · Goryeo government and ruling groups · Founding and politics of Joseon · Changes in late Joseon
- The Goryeo Dynasty (918–1392) – Goryeo was a Korean kingdom that lasted 474 years. Wang Geon founded it in 918 and joined the divided land in 936. It copied a Tang-style government, picked officials by exam, traded with Song, held off the Khitan, fell under military rulers, fought the Mongols and then lived under Yuan influence until King Gongmin's reforms. General Yi Seong-gye ended it in 1392. The name Korea comes from Goryeo.
- The Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) – Joseon was the Korean kingdom that lasted from 1392 to 1910, about 518 years. It was built as a Confucian state: a king, six ministries, watchdog offices and an exam to pick officials. It survived Japanese (1592) and Manchu (1627, 1636) invasions, repaired itself with tax reform and practical learning, and then weakened under in-law rule and peasant unrest.
2. Inquiry into pre-modern Korean history
Foreign relations and exchange · Tax systems and farm economy · Social status system · Thought and culture in exchange · Student inquiry project
- East Asian History: How China, Korea and Japan Shaped Each Other – East Asia (China, Korea, Japan, Mongolia and nearby lands such as Vietnam) shares a long history. Steppe herders and river-plain farmers met and clashed. Early states grew into empires. A tribute system, Chinese characters, Confucian ideas, Buddhism and law codes linked the region. Trade, Mongol conquest and the wars of the 1590s–1640s changed it, and the Qing, Joseon and Edo orders followed.
- Economic History: How People Made a Living Through Time – Economic history studies how people produced, traded and shared wealth over time. For most of history, economies were based on farming, and rulers lived on taxes paid in crops, labour or coins. Trade, money and banks slowly raised incomes. The Industrial Revolution made output per person grow fast. In the 20th century, countries tried market, planned and mixed models. Growth came with crises: hyperinflation after the First World War, the Great Depression of 1929, the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the 2008 global crisis. Today the challenge is growth that is fair and sustainable.
- Social History: How Ordinary People Lived – Social history studies the lives of ordinary people, not only kings, wars and treaties. It asks how people worked, lived, ate, dressed, married, worshipped, fell ill and had fun, and how society was divided into groups. Before modern times most societies were shaped like a pyramid: a small group of rulers and nobles, priests and rich families, a middle layer of townspeople, merchants and craftsmen, and a huge base of peasants, with some unfree people such as serfs or slaves. Villages ran their own communities; towns were places of markets, guilds and mixing between groups. Industrialisation moved people from farms to factories, created a working class and a growing middle class, and led to unions, new laws and later welfare states. Daily life changed with new light, transport, newspapers, schools and medicine. Social historians also look for 'hidden' people (women, the poor, minorities, migrants) and even at how feelings and customs changed.
- Cultural History: How People's Ideas, Arts and Ways of Life Change – Cultural history is the part of history that studies how people thought, believed, created and lived, not only what kings and armies did. It looks at four pillars: beliefs and religion, arts (literature, music, painting, buildings), knowledge (education, science, technology) and daily life (food, clothing, family, festivals, leisure). Historians use sources such as objects, buildings, books, paintings and letters. Culture changes when ideas are exchanged along trade routes and through travel, missions and migration, as with paper, numerals and faiths. New technologies like printing, newspapers, radio and the internet made knowledge spread faster, and mass schooling raised world literacy from about 12% in 1820 to about 87% today. In every country the same pattern repeats: national schools, universities, science societies, writers and artists shape a people's identity.
- Historical Thinking: How Historians Work – History is the study of the past using evidence. Put events in order on a timeline and read them in their context. Use primary sources (made at the time) and secondary sources (made later). Judge each source: who made it, when, why, and what is missing. Events have many causes: slow long-term causes and a short trigger. Look for both change and continuity, decide what was significant, and build an argument backed by evidence.
3. Efforts to build a modern state
Opening of ports in world context · Reform movements for a modern state · Social and economic change after opening · Loss of sovereignty and resistance
- Imperialism: Why Empires Grew and How People Resisted – Imperialism is when a powerful state takes control over other lands and peoples, by war, treaties or money. Colonialism is one form: ruling a colony directly. Between about 1870 and 1914 ('New Imperialism') industrial powers raced for colonies in Africa, Asia and the Pacific. They wanted raw materials, markets, places to invest, ports and prestige, and excused it with racist ideas. Control grew from trading posts to unequal treaties to full colonies. The colonies were drained: raw materials left cheap, factory goods came back, local industry fell. People resisted with revolts, reforms and mass movements, and most colonies were free by the 1970s. The borders and inequalities left behind still shape the world.
- Paths to Modernisation: Japan, China and Korea – Japan, China and Korea all became modern, but by different paths. Japan, opened by US ships in 1853, began the Meiji reforms in 1868: railways, factories, schools and a strong army under the emperor. It then grew into an empire, fought the Second World War and was defeated in 1945. Under US occupation it got a peaceful constitution and rebuilt into a rich country (1964 Olympics). China ended the rule of emperors in 1911 under Sun Yat-sen; after years of civil war and Japanese invasion Mao's Communist Party won in 1949. Mao's Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution hurt the economy. From 1978 Deng Xiaoping opened markets under the Four Modernisations, and China grew fast. Korea was a Japanese colony (1910–45), was split in two and suffered a war (1950–53); South Korea then grew through export factories and became a democracy in 1987.