Three Kingdoms of Korea

Three Kingdoms of Korea
Map of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, at the end of the 5th century.
Korean name
Hangul
Hanja
Revised Romanization	Samguk-sidae
McCune–Reischauer	Samguk-sidae

The concept of the Three Kingdoms of Korea (Hangul: 삼국시대; Hanja: 三國時代) refers to the three kingdoms of Baekje (百濟), Silla (新羅) and Goguryeo (高句麗), which was later known as Goryeo (高麗), from which the name Korea is derived. The Three Kingdoms period was defined as being from 57 BC to 668 AD (but there existed about 78 tribal states in the southern region of Korean peninsula and relatively big states like Okjeo, Buyeo, and Dongye in its northern part and Manchuria).

The three kingdoms occupied parts of Manchuria, in present-day China and Russia, and the Korean Peninsula. Baekje and Silla only dominated the southern part of the peninsula whereas Goguryeo controlled the Liaodong Peninsula, Manchuria and the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. In the 7th century, allied with China under the Tang dynasty, Silla unified the Korean Peninsula for the first time in Korean history, forming a Korean national identity for the first time.

After the fall of Baekje and Goguryeo, the Tang dynasty established a short-lived military government to administer parts of the Korean peninsula. However, as a result of the Silla–Tang Wars (≈670–676), Silla forces expelled the Protectorate armies from the peninsula in 676.

Subsequently, Dae Joyeong, a former Goguryeo general, founded Balhae in the former territory of Goguryeo after defeating the Tang dynasty at the Battle of Tianmenling.

The predecessor period, before the development of the full-fledged kingdoms, is sometimes called Proto–Three Kingdoms period.