| Samhan | |
 Map of the approximate locations of the confederacies | |
| Korean name | |
|---|---|
| Hangul | 삼한 |
| Hanja | 三韓 |
| RR | Samhan |
| MR | Samhan |
Samhan, orThree Han (Korean: 삼한;Hanja: 三韓), is the collective name of theByeonhan,Jinhan, andMahan confederacies that emerged in the first century BC during theProto–Three Kingdoms of Korea, or Samhan, period. Located in the central and southern regions of theKorean Peninsula, the Samhan confederacies eventually merged and developed into the Baekje, Gaya, and Silla kingdoms.[1] The name "Samhan" also refers to theThree Kingdoms of Korea.[2]
Sam (三) is aSino-Korean word meaning "three" andHan is a Korean word meaning "great (one), grand, large, much, many".[3]Han was transliterated into Chinese characters韓,漢,幹, or刊,[citation needed] but is believed by foreign linguists to be unrelated to theHan inHan Chinese and the Chinese kingdoms and dynasties also calledHan (漢) andHan (韓). The wordHan is still found in many Korean words such asHangawi (한가위) — archaic native Korean forChuseok (秋夕, 추석),Hangaram (한가람) — archaic native Korean forHangang (漢江, 한강),Hanbat (한밭) — the original place name in native Korean forDaejeon (大田, 대전),hanabi (하나비) — aJoseon-era (Late Middle Korean) word for "grandfather; elderly man" (most often 할아버지harabeoji in present-day Korean, although speakers of some dialects, especially in North Korea, may still use the formhanabi).Ma means south,Byeon means shining andJin means east.[4]
Many historians have suggested that the wordHan might have been pronounced asGan orKan. TheSilla language had a usage of this word for king or ruler as found in the words 마립간 (麻立干; Maripgan) and 거서간 / 거슬한 (居西干 / 居瑟邯;Geoseogan / Geoseulhan). Alexander Vovin suggests this word is related to the MongolianKhan and ManchurianHan meaning ruler, and the ultimate origin isXiongnu andYeniseian.[5]
The Samhan are thought to have formed around the time of the fall ofGojoseon in northern Korea in 108 BC.Kim Pusik'sSamguk sagi, one of the two representative history books of Korea, mentions that people of Jin Han are migrants from Gojoseon, which suggests that early Han tribes who came to Southern Korean peninsula are originally Gojoseon people; this coincides with the state ofJin in southern Korea also disappearing from written records. By the 4th century, Mahan was fully absorbed into theBaekje kingdom, Jinhan into theSilla kingdom, and Byeonhan into theGaya confederacy, which was later annexed by Silla.
Beginning in the 7th century, the name "Samhan" became synonymous with the Three Kingdoms of Korea. The "Han" in the names of theKorean Empire,Daehan Jeguk, and theRepublic of Korea (South Korea),Daehan Minguk orHanguk, are named in reference to the Three Kingdoms of Korea, not the ancient confederacies in the southern Korean Peninsula.[2][6]
"Samhan" became a name for theThree Kingdoms of Korea beginning in the 7th century.[2]
According to theSamguk sagi andSamguk yusa,Silla implemented a national policy, "Samhan Unification" (삼한일통;三韓一統), to integrateBaekje andGoguryeo refugees. In 1982, a memorial stone dating back to 686 was discovered inCheongju with an inscription: "The Three Han were unified and the domain was expanded."[2] During theLater Silla period, the concepts of Samhan as the ancient confederacies and the Three Kingdoms of Korea were merged.[2] In a letter to an imperial tutor of the Tang dynasty,Ch'oe Ch'i-wŏn equated Byeonhan to Baekje, Jinhan to Silla, and Mahan to Goguryeo.[6] By theGoryeo period, Samhan became a common name to refer to all of Korea.[2] In his Ten Mandates to his descendants,Wang Geon declared that he had unified the Three Han (Samhan), referring to the Three Kingdoms of Korea.[2][6] Samhan continued to be a common name for Korea during theJoseon period and was widely referenced in theAnnals of the Joseon Dynasty.[2]
In China, the Three Kingdoms of Korea were collectively called Samhan since the beginning of the 7th century.[7] The use of the name Samhan to indicate the Three Kingdoms of Korea was widespread in theTang dynasty.[8] Goguryeo was alternately calledMahan by the Tang dynasty, as evidenced by a Tang document that called Goguryeo generals "Mahan leaders" (마한추장;馬韓酋長) in 645.[7] In 651,Emperor Gaozong of Tang sent a message to the king of Baekje referring to the Three Kingdoms of Korea as Samhan.[2] Epitaphs of the Tang dynasty, including those belonging to Baekje, Goguryeo, and Silla refugees and migrants, called the Three Kingdoms of Korea "Samhan", especially Goguryeo.[8] For example, the epitaph of Go Hyeon (고현;高玄), a Tang dynasty general of Goguryeo origin who died in 690, calls him a "Liaodong Samhan man" (요동 삼한인;遼東 三韓人).[7] TheHistory of Liao equates Byeonhan to Silla, Jinhan to Buyeo, and Mahan to Goguryeo.[6]
In 1897,Gojong changed the name of Joseon to theKorean Empire,Daehan Jeguk, in reference to the Three Kingdoms of Korea. In 1919, theprovisional government in exile during theJapanese occupation declared the name of Korea as the Republic of Korea,Daehan Minguk, also in reference to the Three Kingdoms of Korea.[2][6]
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The Samhan are generally considered loose confederations of walled-town states. Each appears to have had a ruling elite, whose power was a mix of politics andshamanism. Although each state appears to have had its own ruler, there is no evidence ofsystematic succession.
The name of the poorly understoodJin 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 was the largest and earliest developed of the three confederacies. It consisted of 54 minor statelets, one of which conquered or absorbed the others and became the center of theBaekje Kingdom. Mahan is usually considered to have been located in the southwest of the Korean peninsula, coveringJeolla,Chungcheong, and portions ofGyeonggi.
Jinhan consisted of 12 statelets, one of which conquered or absorbed the others and became the center of theSilla Kingdom. It is usually considered to have been located to the east of the Nakdong River valley.
Byeonhan consisted of 12 statelets, which later gave rise to theGaya confederacy, subsequently annexed bySilla. It is usually considered to have been located in the south and west of theNakdong River valley.
The exact locations occupied by the different Samhan confederations are disputed. It is also quite likely that their boundaries changed over time.Samguk sagi indicates that Mahan was located in the northern region later occupied byGoguryeo, Jinhan in the region later occupied bySilla, and Byeonhan in the southwestern region later occupied byBaekje. However, the earlier ChineseRecords of the Three Kingdoms places Mahan in the southwest, Jinhan in the southeast, and Byeonhan between them.
Villages were usually constructed deep in high mountain valleys, where they were relatively secure from attack. Mountain fortresses were also often constructed as places of refuge during war. The minor states which made up the federations are usually considered to have covered about as much land as a modern-daymyeon, 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 (Yi, 2001, p. 246). It is thus not surprising that Jinhan and Byeonhan, with their coastal and river locations, became particularly prominent in international trade during this time.
One of the most prominent leader of the Han (Korean: 한; 韓) Immigration wasKing Jun of Gojoseon from the northern Korea, having lost the throne toWiman, fled to the state ofJin in southern Korea around 194 - 180 BC.[9] He and his followers establishedMahan which was one of the Samhan ("Three Hans"), along withByeonhan andJinhan. Further Han(韓) migration followed the fall of Gojoseon and establishment of the Chinese commanderies in 108 BC.
TheSamhan languages (Korean: 삼한어; 三韓語) were a branch of the ancientKoreanic languages,[10][11][12][13][14][15][16] referring to the non-Buyeo Koreanic languages,[10] once spoken in the southernKorean Peninsula, which were closely related to theBuyeo languages.[14]
The Samhan languages were spoken in theMahan,Byeonhan andJinhan.[11][12][13] The extent ofHan languages is unclear. It is generally accepted as includingSillan, and may also have includedthe language(s) spoken in Baekje. A number of researchers have suggested thatBaekje may have been bilingual, with the ruling class speaking aPuyŏ language and the commoners speaking a Han language.[17][18][19][20]
Linguistic evidence suggests thatJaponic languages (seePeninsular Japonic) were spoken in large parts of the southernKorean Peninsula, but its speakers were eventually assimilated byKoreanic-speaking peoples and the languages replaced/supplanted.[21][22][23] Evidence also suggests that Peninsular Japonic and Koreanic languages co-existed in the southern Korean Peninsula for an extended period of time and influenced each other.[24][25][26] As has been suggested for the later Korean kingdom ofBaekje,[20][17][18][19] it is possible that the Samhan states were bilingual prior to the complete replacement of Peninsular Japonic by Koreanic languages.
The Samhan saw the systematic introduction ofiron into the southern Korean peninsula. This was taken up with particular intensity by theByeonhan states of theNakdong River valley, which 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. It appears that at this time the modern-dayJeolla area emerged as a center ofrice production (Kim, 1974).
Until the rise ofGoguryeo, the external relations of Samhan were largely limited to the Chinese commanderies located in the former territory ofGojoseon. The longest standing of these, theLelang 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, the relationship was a political trading system in which "tribute" was exchanged for titles or prestige gifts. Officialseals identified each tribal leader's authority to trade with the commandery. However, after the fall of theKingdom of Wei in the 3rd century,San guo zhi reports that the Lelang commandery handed out official seals freely to local commoners, no longer symbolizing political authority (Yi, 2001, p. 245).
The Chinese commanderies also supplied luxury goods and consumed local products. LaterHan dynasty coins and beads are found throughout the Korean peninsula. These were exchanged for local iron or rawsilk. After the 2nd century CE, as Chinese influence waned, iron ingots came into use ascurrency for the trade based around Jinhan and Byeonhan.
Trade relations also existed with the emergent states ofJapan at this time, most commonly involving the exchange of ornamental Japanese bronzeware for Korean iron. These trade relations shifted in the 3rd century, when theYamatai federation ofKyūshū gained monopolistic control over Japanese trade with Byeonhan.
... there are strong indications that the neighbouring Baekje state (in the southwest) was predominantly Japonic-speaking until it was linguistically Koreanized.
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