East Asia · Confederacies, Han and the steppe
Goguryeo
37 BCE – 668 CE
Goguryeo (Koguryŏ, 高句麗; traditionally 37 BCE – 668 CE) was the largest of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, founded by Jumong (Dongmyeong). From capitals at Jolbon, then Gungnae, and finally Pyongyang (from 427 under Jangsu), it grew into a militarized aristocratic monarchy.
- Existed
- 37 BCE – 668 CE
- Shown on the map
- AD 1–673
- Peak area
- 415k km²
- Region
- East Asia
Overview
Goguryeo (Koguryŏ, 高句麗; traditionally 37 BCE – 668 CE) was the largest of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, founded by Jumong (Dongmyeong). From capitals at Jolbon, then Gungnae, and finally Pyongyang (from 427 under Jangsu), it grew into a militarized aristocratic monarchy. Its zenith came under Gwanggaeto the Great (r. 391–413), who expanded into Manchuria and the peninsula, and his son Jangsu (r. 413–491). Goguryeo repelled massive Sui invasions (notably the 612 campaign, crushed by Eulji Mundeok at the Salsu River) and initial Tang attacks, but fell in 668 to a Tang–Silla alliance amid internal division after the death of the dictator Yeon Gaesomun. Its martial legacy and its very name were later invoked by Balhae and Goryeo.
Common questions
- What was Goguryeo?
- Goguryeo (Koguryŏ, 高句麗; traditionally 37 BCE – 668 CE) was the largest of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, founded by Jumong (Dongmyeong). From capitals at Jolbon, then Gungnae, and finally Pyongyang (from 427 under Jangsu), it grew into a militarized aristocratic monarchy.
- When did Goguryeo exist?
- Goguryeo existed 37 BCE – 668 CE. On this map it is drawn AD 1–673.
- How large was Goguryeo?
- At its greatest extent drawn on this map, Goguryeo covered about 415,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.
Sources
This compendium cites its sources once for the whole document rather than per territory. Its bibliography names the English Wikipedia article for each polity as the basis of these profiles, supplemented by Encyclopaedia Britannica, chinaknowledge.de, the World History Encyclopedia, museum and university sources, and the academic works it lists. The article this entry is anchored on:
- Wikipedia — Goguryeo en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goguryeo
This entry was last updated .
This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made
Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.
Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).
See Goguryeo in its world
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