Goryeo

Despite frequent foreign invasions, the Korean Peninsula has been ruled by a single government since the Silla unification in 668 while maintaining its political independence and cultural and ethnic heritage. Both the Goryeo (r. 918-1392) and the Joseon (r. 1392-1910) Dynasties consolidated their authority and flourished culturally, while repelling such intruders as the Khitans, Mongols and Japanese.

The Goryeo Dynasty was founded by Wang Geon, a general who had served under a rebel prince of the Silla Kingdom. Choosing his native town of Songak (the present-day Gaeseong in North Korea) as the capital, Wang Geon proclaimed the goal of recovering the lost territory of the Goguryeo Kingdom in the area of Lo-lang.

He named his dynasty Goryeo, from which the modern name Korea is derived. Although the Goryeo Dynasty could not realize its ambition to reclaim lost lands, its exceptional cultural achievements including cheongja or blue-green celadon and flourishing Buddhist tradition are well known.

No less significant was the invention of the world's first movable metal type in 1234, which preceded Gutenberg by two centuries. About that time, Korean skilled artisans also completed the herculean task of carving the entire Buddhist canon on large woodblocks.

These woodblocks, numbering more than 80,000, were intended to invoke the influence of Buddha for the repulsion of the Mongol invaders. Called Tripitaka Koreana, they are now stored at the historic Haeinsa temple. In its later years, the Goryeo Dynasty was weakened by internal struggles among scholar officials and warriors, and between Confucianists and Buddhists. The Mongol incursions that began in 1231, left Goryeo as a Mongol vassal state for nearly a century despite the courageous resistance from Goryeo's people.