the downgrade of Goryeo monarchs' titles and the forced marriage of Goryeo princes with princesses of the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty.
With Mongol troops stationed at the capital of Goryeo, Yuan actively engaged in the politics of the Korean Peninsula.
Goryeo managed to survive this difficult period and regained its sovereignty midway through the 14th century when Yuan faded away so as to carry out a series of reformative policies.
However, its national prowess had weakened too much under the century-long Mongolian influence to regain its past glory and it met its end in 1392 at the hands of one of its own generals, Yi Seong-gye.
Goryeo's Contribution to World Intellectual History
Although the war against Mongols devastated Goryeo, it also led to a period of great cultural production. The most significant cultural asset produced was the carving of the Buddhist texts known as the Tripitaka Koreana, which people believed would protect them from Mongol invasions.
The importance of the Tripitaka Koreana cannot be over-emphasized: it is the world's most comprehensive and oldest intact version of the entire Buddhist scriptures and it is written in Chinese characters comprising more than 52 million individual characters, without any known typos.
The scriptures are carved onto more than 80,000 wooden printing blocks and are held in the magnificent Haeinsa Temple in southern Korea where they remain in an almost perfect state despite no high-tech storage devices after several centuries.
They are designated as the National Treasure No. 32 of Korea, and Haeinsa Temple's facilities, which hold them, are UNESCO World Heritage sites.
With regards to printing, Goryeo was definitely advanced, more than Europe at that time. On top of the Tripitaka Koreana, which was carved onto wooden blocks, the medieval state came up with the technology of moveable metal print.
Historical records note that Goryeo printed its first book based on this innovative method in 1234, but the oldest extant book printed with this technology is Jikji (a Buddhist text), which dates back to 1377.
Still, it pre-dates to the printing of the famous Gutenberg Bible in the 1450s by the Western hero of printing Johannes Gutenberg _ by about three quarters of a century as confirmed by UNESCO in 2001. Unfortunately, only one copy remains, and it is kept in the National Library of France.
In addition, the current national name of Korea was known to the West thanks to Goryeo's openness _ Arabian merchants carried out regular trading with Goryeo seeking such items as its famous green-grey colored Celadon pottery and Korea's red ginseng, celebrated for its manifold health benefits.
It was through their pronunciation of Goryeo as "Korea" that this relatively small peninsula in East Asia became known to the world.
Dr. Kevin N. Cawley is currently the Director of the Irish Institute of Korean Studies at University College Cork (UCC), Ireland ― the only institute in Ireland dedicated to promoting Korean studies ― funded by the Academy of Korean Studies, South Korea. He was previously a Gyujanggak Fellow at Seoul National University.
Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392):
A Korean kingdom that succeeded the Southern-and-Northern States period
Unified Silla (AD668-935):
Korea's first unified country after the Three Kingdom era
The Late Three Kingdoms:
Three-way rivalry in the late 9th and early 10th century in the Korean Peninsula
Gung Ye, Gyeong Hwon:
Rebel leaders who revolted against Silla so as to proclaim as successors of Gogurye and Baekje in the era of Late Three Kingdoms
Wang Geon (King Taejo, reign: 918-943):
Founder of the Goryeo Dynasty
Uicheon (1055-1101), Jinul (1158-1210):
Famous monks in the Goryeo Dynasty
A Manchurian kingdom set up after the collapse of Goguryeo
The national university of Goryeo, which is equivalent to Seonggyungwan in Joseon Dynasty
An Hyang (1243-1306):
A famous Confucian scholar in Goryeo Dynasty
Liao Dynasty (907-1125):
A Khitan empire that ruled over the regions of Manchuria, Mongolia and parts of northeast China
General Gang Gam-chan (948~1031):
As one of the g