Timeline and Map
Korean History
Course 1 · Appendix · Timeline and Map
This appendix gathers the dates the eleven chapters used, and a schematic diagram of the places and lines the course keeps returning to. It adds no new research. Every date here is in a chapter, with the chapter's own caution; the status column says whether the chapter found it firm, contested or a story.
How this appendix was checked
The dates come from the chapters of this course (Korean History 1 to 11), which took them from Wikipedia articles, mostly read in part and through a summarising tool. "Firm" means the chapter's article gave one date without a conflict; "contested" means the chapters showed two or more versions or a hedge; "story" means a foundation story or claim. The diagram is mine: I did not trace borders or coastlines, and the positions of places in it are approximate relative positions from my own general knowledge, unverified. Check any position against an atlas before relying on it.
Timeline
Prehistory to the Three Kingdoms (Chapters 1 to 3)
| Date | Event | Ch | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| c. 8000 BC | Earliest known Korean pottery; Jeulmun period begins (c. 8000 to 1500 BC) | 1, 2 | contested ("around") |
| c. 1500 to 300 BC | Mumun period (rice, plain pottery, megalithic burials) | 2 | contested (bronze 13th century BCE or c. 700 to 550 BC) |
| 2333 BC | Dangun founds Joseon (Samguk yusa; date from the Tongguk tonggam, 1485) | 2 | story |
| 1122 BCE | Gija said to arrive after the Shang fell | 2 | story (widely doubted) |
| 194 BCE | Wiman usurps King Jun | 2 | contested (195 or 194 BCE) |
| 108 BCE | Wanggeom falls to Han; Four Commanderies | 2 | firm |
| 57 BC, 37 BC, 18 BC | Traditional founding of Silla; Goguryeo and Baekje infobox dates | 3 | contested (traditional) |
| AD 42 | Gaya (traditional start); ends 532 (first conquest) or 562 | 3 | contested |
| 313 | Goguryeo destroys the last commandery, Nakrang | 2, 3 | firm |
| 372, 384, 528, 552 | Buddhism: Goguryeo 372; Baekje 384 (state religion 552); Silla 528 | 3 | contested (first arrival, third or fourth century) |
| 414 | Gwanggaeto Stele erected | 1 | firm (reading disputed) |
| 520 | Bone-rank system, if Lee Ki-baik is right | 3 | contested |
| 598, 612 to 614 | Sui wars on Goguryeo; Sui falls, Tang proclaimed 618 | 3 | firm dates, contested figures |
Silla, Balhae and Goryeo (Chapters 4 and 5)
| Date | Event | Ch | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 660, 668 | Baekje falls; Goguryeo falls | 3, 4 | firm |
| 670 to 676 | Silla–Tang War; Tang leaves south of the Taedong | 4 | contested ("victory" or "truce") |
| 698, 926 | Balhae founded; Balhae falls to the Khitans | 4 | contested (14 January or late February 926) |
| 889, 892, 900 | Later Three Kingdoms begin; end 935 or 936 | 4 | contested |
| 918 | Wang Geon founds Goryeo | 5 | firm |
| 935, 936 | Silla yields; Later Baekje conquered | 5 | firm |
| 958 | Civil service examination introduced | 5 | firm |
| 993, 1010, 1018, 1022 | Khitan invasions; peace and vassalage | 5 | firm dates, hedged figures |
| 1087, 1237 | First Tripitaka completed; second begun (1236 or 1237) | 5 | contested |
| 1170 | Military coup | 5 | firm |
| 1231 to 1259 | Mongol invasions; court on Ganghwa from 1232; peace 1259 | 5 | contested (nine or six invasions) |
Joseon and the End of the Dynasty (Chapters 6 and 7)
| Date | Event | Ch | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1388 | Wihwado retreat; King U forced out | 6 | firm |
| 1392 | Joseon founded (5 or 13 August); name Joseon 1393; capital 1393 or 1394 | 6 | contested |
| 1418 to 1450 | Sejong; Hangul promulgated 9 October 1446 (created 1443) | 6 | firm (Hangul dates from the Joseon article) |
| 1498, 1504, 1519, 1545 | The four literati purges | 6 | firm years, contested causes |
| 1592 to 1598 | Imjin War; Yi Sun-sin dies at Noryang 16 December 1598 | 7 | firm dates, contested figures |
| 1636 to 1637 | Manchu invasion; surrender at Samjeondo | 7 | firm (day inferred) |
| 1724 to 1800 | Yeongjo (1724 to 1776); Jeongjo (1776 to 1800) | 7 | firm |
| 26 February 1876 | Treaty of Ganghwa | 7 | firm |
| 1894 | Donghak revolution; Treaty of Jeonju 7 May; Ugeumchi 8 to 10 November; yangban status abolished | 6, 7 | firm dates, contested figures |
| October 1897 | Korean Empire proclaimed | 7 | firm |
| 1905, 1907, 1910 | Eulsa Treaty 17 November 1905; Gojong abdicates 19 July 1907; annexation signed 22 August 1910 | 7 | firm dates, contested validity |
Colony, Division and the Republic (Chapters 8 to 10)
| Date | Event | Ch | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 March 1919 | March First Movement | 8 | firm date, contested figures |
| 11 April 1919 | Provisional Government in Shanghai | 8 | firm (recognition contested) |
| 1939 to 1940 | Name ordinances; notification 11 February to 10 August 1940 | 8 | firm (voluntariness contested) |
| 15 August 1945 | Liberation announcement; formal surrender 2 September | 8, 9 | contested (dates differ by article) |
| 10 August 1945 | 38th parallel chosen | 9 | firm (as the article states) |
| 3 April 1948 | Jeju uprising begins | 9 | firm date, contested toll |
| 15 August 1948 | Republic of Korea; DPRK 10 July or 9 September 1948 | 9 | contested (DPRK) |
| 25 June 1950 to 27 July 1953 | Korean War; armistice | 9 | firm dates, contested figures |
| 19 April 1960, 16 May 1961 | Bloody Tuesday; Park's coup | 10 | firm (April toll contested) |
| 12 December 1979; May 1980 | Chun's coup; Gwangju Uprising 18 to 27 May | 10 | firm dates, no accepted toll |
| 29 June 1987 | Declaration; referendum 28 October; election 16 December | 10 | firm |
| December 1997 | IMF programme (US$21 billion) | 10 | firm (as the article states) |
| 2016 to 2017 | Park Geun-hye impeached 9 December 2016; Court 10 March 2017 | 10 | firm (vote tally details inconsistent) |
| 2024 to 2025 | Martial law 3 December 2024; Yoon impeached 14 December; Court 4 April (year inferred 2025) | 10 | provisional |
Schematic Diagram (Not a Map)
This is a diagram, not a map. The box stands for the peninsula and is not its coastline. Only three things in it come from the course's sources: the neighbours and seas (from the Geography of Korea article, Korean History 1), the Taedong line of 676 ("from the mouth of the Taedong River in the west to the East Korea Bay", Korean History 4), and the 38th parallel chosen in 1945 (Korean History 9). The place dots are my own approximate relative positions, unverified.
Place Index by Chapter
Where the places in the diagram appear. The "Where" column is my approximate reading and is unverified; the chapter column is from the course.
| Place | Where (mine) | Appears in |
|---|---|---|
| Ji'an (Gwanggaeto Stele) | across the northern border river, in China | 1 |
| Wanggeom / Pyongyang | north, west side | 2, 4, 5, 9 |
| Gimhae and Goryeong (Gaya) | southeast, Nakdong valley | 3 |
| Gyeongju (Silla capital) | southeast | 4 |
| Kaesong / Gaegyeong (Goryeo capital) | near the line of 1945, north side | 5 |
| Ganghwa Island | west coast, near Seoul | 5, 7 |
| Haeinsa (Tripitaka Koreana) | south-centre | 5 |
| Hanseong / Seoul (Joseon capital from 1394) | west-centre, just south of the line of 1945 | 6 to 10 |
| Incheon | west coast | 7, 9 |
| Busan | southeast coast | 7, 9 |
| Wonsan | east coast, north of the line | 7, 9 |
| Gwangju | southwest | 10 |
| Jeju | island south of the mainland | 9 |
Quick Reference
- Periods: Gojoseon, Three Kingdoms, Unified Silla and Balhae, Goryeo (918 to 1392), Joseon (1392 to 1897), Empire, colony (1910 to 1945), two states (1948)
- Lines: Yalu and Tumen rivers; Taedong line of 676; 38th parallel of 1945; DMZ of 1953
- Status words: firm, contested, story
- Caution: the diagram is schematic, and its places are approximate
Back to the course: Korean History 11 gives the checklist for using these dates.