Buyeo kingdom

, during the 36th year of the reign of Gojoseon's 43rd King Mulli, Gojoseon was faced with the uprising of General Wu Hwa-Chung, a bandit leader. Gojoseon had lost many of its former lands and was sharply deteriorating. Mulli was eventually killed in battle. Gumul, a magistrate of Baegmin fortress, was ordered by the royal court to defeat Wu, who had already taken control of Jangdang fortress, the capital of Gojoseon at the time. With reinforcements from 18 fortresses, Gumul led an army of ten thousand and defeated Wu Hwa-Chung. Victorious in battle, Gumul was named king of Gojoseon in 425 BCE by the royal court. Gumul nevertheless maintained the lineage of the late King, though he crenamed the state to "Great Buyeo". Centuries later, long after the death of King Gumul, Gojoseon's final King, Goyeolga abdicated from the throne, and left the empire in the hands of the royal court.

Many of Gojoseon's generals saw this as a chance to form their own kingdoms and left Gojoseon, splitting the age-old kingdom into many states. Some generals remained loyal to the empire, and among these generals was the general Hae-Mosu. Hae-Mosu fought for Gojoseon and pacified numerous rebellions, but in the end, Hae-Mosu saw that Gojoseon was an empire with no head. Hae-Mosu secretly began to build a palace at Baekak Mountain Fortress, which was a former capital of Gojoseon. Hae-Mosu brought the royal court to his new palace, and they proclaimed him King. Hae-Mosu called his new kingdom "Buyeo" to show that he was the true successor to the Kings of Great Buyeo, and the Kings of Gojoseon before them.

Dongbuyeo

According to the Samguk Sagi and other accounts, the kingdom of Dongbuyeo (86 BCE - 22 CE) branched out to the east of Bukbuyeo, near the land of Okjeo. Bukbuyeo's 4th King Go Uru of Bukbuyeo died, and his brother Hae Buru succeeded him and became the 5th king of Bukbuyeo. A power struggle occurred between Buru and Go Dumak, another contender to the throne, and resulted in the victory of the latter. Buru fled to Gaseopwon, where he established Dongbuyeo. Haeburu submitted as a vassal to Bukbuyeo, to avoid conflicts with Go Dumak of Bukbuyeo, who is also considered a fifth king of Bukbuyeo.

According to the Samguk Sagi, Hae Buru found a golden frog-like child under a large rock. Hae Buru named the child Geumwa, meaning golden frog, and later made him crown prince.

Geumwa became king after Hae Buru's death. Geumwa met Yuhwa, the daughter of Habaek, and brought her back to his palace. She was said to have been impregnated by sunlight and to have laid a golden egg. Geumwa made many attempts to destroy the egg, but failed, and returned the egg to Yuhwa. From the egg hatched Jumong, who later founded the kingdom of Goguryeo. Jumong later fled to Jolbon Buyeo after numerous assassination attempts by the seven sons of King Geumwa.

Geumwa's eldest son Daeso became the next king. Daeso attacked Goguryeo during the reign of its second King Yuri. Goguryeo's third king Daemusin attacked Dongbuyeo and killed Daeso. After internal strife, Dongbuyeo fell, and its territory was absorbed into Goguryeo.

Contrarily, Gwanggaeto stele mentioned Dongbuyeo as a vassal state of Goguryeo, even long after its destruction. Since the chronology is inconsistent with the Samguk Sagi, the Dongbuyeo mentioned in the stele is widely speculated by historians to have been a revival movement of Dongbuyeo, formed around 285.

Jolbon Buyeo

Many historical records name a “Jolbon Buyeo” (卒本夫餘, 졸본부여), apparently referring to the incipient Goguryeo or its capital city. Jolbon Buyeo was a continuation of Bukbuyeo during the reign of its 5th King King Dongmyeong. Go Museo Dangun, the next king of Jolbon, passed down his throne to King Chumo,

In 37 BCE, Jumong became the 7th King of Buyeo, and after pacifying the eight rebellious tribes, he changed the state name to Goguryeo in 58 BCE. Goguryeo under Jumong went on to conquer Okjeo, Dongye, and Haengin, regaining some of Gojoseon's former territory.

Under attack

At the end of Eastern Han, Gongsun Du, a Chinese warlord in Liaodong, supported Buyeo to counter Xianbei in the north and Goguryeo in the east. After destroying the Gongsun family, the Kingdom of Wei sent Wuqiu Jian to attack Goguryeo. A squad of the third expeditionary force led by the Governor of the Xuantu commandery was welcomed by Buyeo. It brought detailed information of the kingdom to China.Fact|date=February 2007

Since then, Buyeo was torn between big powers, and ravaged during the waves of movement of northern nomadic peoples into China.Fact|date=February 2007 In 285 the Murong tribe of the Xianbei, led by Murong Hui, invaded Buyeo, pushing King Uiryeo (依慮, Yilü) to suicide, and forcing the relocation of the court to Okjeo. Considering its friendly relationship with Jin Dynasty, Emperor Wu helped King Uira (依羅, Yiluo) revive Buyeo. Fact|date=February 2007

Goguryeo's attack sometime before 347 caused further decline. Having lost its stronghold near Harbin, Buyeo moved southwestward to Nong'an. Around 347, Buyeo was attacked by Murong Huang of the Former Yan, and King Hyeon (玄, Xuan) was captured.

Fall

A remnant of Buyeo seems to have lingered around Harbin under the influence of Goguryeo. Buyeo paid tribute once to Northern Wei in 457, but otherwise seems to have been controlled by Goguryeo. Goguryeo and Buyeo were under attack by the rising Wuji (Mohe, 勿吉, 물길) in 494 and the Buyeo court moved into Goguryeo.

Culture

The Buyeo were agricultural people who occupied the vastest plain in Manchuria. Their manners and customs were mostly recorded in "Sanguo Zhi" ("Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms"). They already maintained a complex social structure and named official titled after animals. Fact|date=February 2007

Language

The Buyeo (Puyŏ, Fuyu) languages are a hypothetical language family that would relate the languages of Buyeo, Goguryeo, and Baekje with the Japonic languages, and possibly place them together as a family under the hypothetical Altaic family. However, the hypothetical is unverified and thought unproven.

The Buyeo language itself is unknown except for a small number of words, but thought to have been similar to languages of Gojoseon, Goguryeo and East Okjeo.

Legacy

In the 1930s, Chinese historian Jin Yufu developed a linear model of descent for the people of Manchuria and northern Korea, from the kingdoms of Buyeo, Goguryeo, and Baekje, to the present Korean nationality. Later historians of Northeast China built upon this influential model. [http://hnn.us/articles/7077.html]

Goguryeo and Baekje, two of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, considered themselves successors of Buyeo. King Onjo, the founder of Baekje, is said to have been a son of King Dongmyeongseong, founder of Goguryeo. Baekje officially changed its name to Nambuyeo (남부여, 南夫餘 "South Buyeo") in 538.

ee also

*Bukbuyeo
*Dongbuyeo
*Haemosu
*Hae Buru
*Jumong
*List of Korea-related topics

External links

* [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-35004?query=puyo&ct=eb Encyclopedia Britannica]
* http://bluecabin.com.ne.kr/handangoki/bukbuyo.htm
* http://blog.naver.com/casahoo/20001617401
* http://hanfuture.com/bbs/zboard.php?id=ga3_2&page=1&sn1=&divpage=1&sn=off&ss=on&sc=on&select_arrange=headnum&desc=asc&no=123
* [http://www.donga.com/fbin/output?n=200705190046 The origin of the Proto-Bulgarians: Korea's Bu-Yeo Tribe (부여족)]