Samhan
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Samhan refers to the ancient confederacies of Mahan, Jinhan, and Byeonhan in central and southern Korean Peninsula, that eventually absorbed into two of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. This period generally constitutes a subdivision of the Three Kingdoms Period, historians also name the period the Proto-Three Kingdoms Period or the Samhan Period.
Sam (三) means "three," and Han means "great" or "leader" in Korean. Han transliterates into Chinese characters 韓, 幹, or 刊, but distintive from Han in Han Chinese and the Chinese kingdoms and dynasties also called Han (漢, 韓). The names of those confederacies reflect in the current name of South Korea, Daehan Minguk (literally, "Great Han People's Nation").
Historians believe Samhan formed around the time of the fall of Gojoseon in northern Korea in 108 B.C.E., when the state of Jin in southern Korea also disappeared from written records. By the fourth century, Mahan had fully absorbed into the Baekje kingdom, Jinhan into the Silla kingdom, and Byeonhan into the Gaya confederacy, all later annexed by Silla.
Three Hans
- Main articles: Byeonhan confederacy, Jinhan confederacy, Mahan confederacy
 History of Korea
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Jeulmun Period
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The Samhan, loose confederations of walled-town states, each appear to have had a ruling elite, whose power mixed politics and shamanism. Although each state appears to have had its own ruler, no evidence exists of systematic succession. The name of the poorly understood Jin state continued to be used in the name of the Jinhan confederacy and in the name "Byeonjin," an alternate term for Byeonhan. In addition, for some time the leader of Mahan continued to call himself the King of Jin, asserting nominal overlordship over all of the Samhan confederations.
Mahan, the largest and earliest developed of the three confederacies, consisted of fifty four minor statelets, one of which conquered or absorbed the others and became the center of the Baekje Kingdom. Historians generally believe Mahan located in the southwest of the Korean peninsula, covering Jeolla, Chungcheong, and portions of Gyeonggi.
Jinhan consisted of twelve statelets, one of which conquered or absorbed the others and became the center of the Silla Kingdom, believed located to the east of the Nakdong River valley.
Byeonhan consisted of twelve statelets, later giving rise to the Gaya confederacy, subsequently annexed by Silla, believed located in the south and west of the Nakdong River valley.
Geography
Historians dispute the exact locations occupied by the different Samhan confederations. Most likely, their boundaries changed over time. Samguk Sagi indicates that Mahan occupied the northern region later became Goguryeo, Jinhan in the region later occupied by Silla, and Byeonhan in the southwestern region later occupied by Baekje. The earlier Chinese San guo zhi places Mahan in the southwest, Jinhan in the southeast, and Byeonhan between them.
The Samhan villages usually hide deep in high mountain valleys, relatively secure from attack with mountain fortresses constructed as places of refuge during war. Historians and archeologists believe that the minor states comprising the federations covered about as much land as a modern-day myeon, or township. Based on historical and archeological records, river and sea routes appear to have been the primary means of long-distance transportation and trade. [1] Jinhan and Byeonhan, with their coastal and river locations, became particularly prominent in international trade during that time.
Technology
The Samhan saw the systematic introduction of iron into the southern Korean peninsula, taken up with particular intensity by the Byeonhan states of the Nakdong River valley. They manufactured and exported iron armor and weapons throughout Northeast Asia. The introduction of iron technology also facilitated growth in agriculture, as iron tools made the clearing and cultivation of land much easier. At this time the modern-day Jeolla area appears to have emerged as a center of rice production. [2]
Relations
Until the rise of Goguryeo, Samhan limited foreign relations largely to the Chinese commanderies located in the northern part of the peninsula. The longest standing of those, the Lelang commandery, appear to have maintained separate diplomatic relations with each individual state rather than with the heads of the confederacies as such. In the beginning, Shamhan maintained a tributary relationship was tributary: a political trading system in which China exchanged titles or prestige gifts for "tribute." Official seals identified each tribal leader's authority to trade with the commandery. After the fall of the Kingdom of Wei in the third century, San guo zhi reports that the Lelang commandery handed out official seals freely to local commoners, no longer symbolizing political authority. [3]
The Chinese commanderies also supplied luxury goods and consumed local products. Han dynasty coins and beads have been discovered throughout the Korean peninsula, exchanged for local iron or raw silk. After the second century C.E., as Chinese influence waned, iron ingots came into use as currency for the trade based around Jinhan and Byeonhan. Trade relations also existed with the emergent states of Japan at that time, most commonly involving the exchange of ornamental Japanese bronzeware for Korean iron. Those trade relations shifted in the third century, when the Yamatai federation of Kyūshū gained monopolistic control over Japanese trade with Byeonhan.
See also
- List of Korea-related topics
- History of Korea
Notes
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Kim, J.B. 1974. Characteristics of Mahan in ancient Korean society. Korea Journal 14(6), 4-10. [1]
- Lee, K.B. 1984. A new history of Korea. Tr. by E.W. Wagner & E.J. Schulz, based on 1979 rev. ed. Seoul: Ilchogak. ISBN 89-337-0204-0
- Yi, H.H. 2001. International trade system in East Asia from the first to the fourth century. Korea Journal 41(4), 239-268.[2]
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