Wandu Mountain City

Wandu Mountain City

Ruins of a watchtower at Wandu Mountain City
Chinese name
Chinese 丸都山城
Korean name
Hangul 환도산성
Hanja 丸都山城

Wandu, called Hwando in Korean, was the second capital of the Goguryeo kingdom. The remains of the mountain fortress are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Capital Cities and Tombs of the Ancient Koguryo Kingdom. It is located 2.5 kilometers west of Ji'an, Jilin province, China, near the North Korean border.

History

As Gogeryeo consolidated its power, it proceeded to act to conquer the territories on the Korean peninsula which were under Chinese rule.[3] Goguryeo initiated the Goguryeo–Wei Wars in 242, trying to cut off Chinese access to its territories in Korea by attempting to take a Chinese fort. However, the Chinese Wei state responded by invading and defeated Goguryeo. Hwando was destroyed in revenge by the Chinese Wei forces in 244.[4]

Goguryeo ended China's rule on the Korean peninsula by conquering Lelang in 313. However, Goguryeo faced devastation by the Murong Xianbei people who attacked Goguryeo. Hwando was destroyed again by them in 341, and the Xianbei used the captured Goguryeo people for slave labor. The Xianbei also devastated Buyeo in 346, accelerating Buyeo migration to the Korean peninsula.[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Volume 13(page 18) of Samguk Sagi
  2. ↑ Volume 16(pages 21 and 23) of Samguk Sagi
  3. ↑ Charles Roger Tennant (1996). A history of Korea (illustrated ed.). Kegan Paul International. p. 22. ISBN 0-7103-0532-X. capital on the middle reaches of the Yalu near the modern Chinese town of Ji'an, calling it 'Hwando'. By developing both their iron weapons and their political organization, they had reached a stage where in the turmoil that accompanied the break-up of the Han empire they were able to threaten the Chinese colonies now under the nominal control of the
  4. ↑ Charles Roger Tennant (1996). A history of Korea (illustrated ed.). Kegan Paul International. p. 22. ISBN 0-7103-0532-X. Wei. In 242, under King Tongch'ŏn, they attacked a Chinese fortress near the mouth of the Yalu in an attempt to cut the land route across Liao, in return for which the Wei invaded them in 244 and sacked Hwando.
  5. ↑ Tennant, Charles Roger. A History of Korea. Routledge. p. 22. ISBN 9780710305329. Retrieved 10 October 2016. Soon after, the Wei fell to the Jin and Koguryŏ grew stronger, until in 313 they finally succeeded in occupying Lelang and bringing to an end the 400 years of China's presence in the peninsula, a period sufficient to ensure that for the next 1,500 it would remain firmly within the sphere of its culture. After the fall of the Jin in 316, the proto-Mongol Xianbei occupied the North of China, of which the Murong clan took the Shandong area, moved up to the Liao, and in 341 sacked and burned the Koguryŏ capital at Hwando. They took away some thousands of prisoners to provide cheap labour to build more walls of their own, and in 346 went on to wreak even greater destruction on Puyŏ, hastening what seems to have been a continuing migration of its people into the north-eastern area of the peninsula, but Koguryŏ, though temporarily weakened, would soon rebuild its walls and continue to expand.

Coordinates: 41°09′56″N 126°09′31″E / 41.1656°N 126.1586°E / 41.1656; 126.1586

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/10/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.