Volta
Conflict109–108 BCE

Fall of Gojoseon

Also called: Four Commanderies of Han

Emperor Wu of Han captured Wanggeom-seong and destroyed Gojoseon, setting up four commanderies including Lelang.

Green-glazed incense burner from a Lelang tomb — relic of the Han commandery set up after Gojoseon fell, Tokyo National Museum
Green-glazed incense burner from a Lelang tomb — relic of the Han commandery set up after Gojoseon fell, Tokyo National Museum

Daderot · Public domain · Source

When Gojoseon blocked direct trade between Han and the southern state of Jin, Emperor Wu attacked by land and sea in 109 BCE. King Ugeo held Wanggeom-seong for almost a year until a split among his nobles led to his murder, and the city fell the next year.

Han set up the Lelang, Zhenfan, Lintun and Xuantu commanderies — the Han commanderies, often called the Four Commanderies (Hansagun); Lelang lasted until Goguryeo expelled it in 313. After the commanderies arrived the laws reportedly grew to more than sixty articles and customs grew harsher. Three surviving articles of Gojoseon’s Eight-Article Law (beomgeum paljo) — death for murder, grain for injury, enslavement for theft — show its society.

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The map in 109 BC

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States and rulers at the time
Gojoseon · fell
Han · invader — Emperor Wu
Places
Wanggeom-seong

People

  • King Ugeo108 BC

    monarch · Wiman's grandson and last king of Gojoseon, assassinated during the Han siege

  • Emperor Wu of Han156 BC – 87 BC

    monarch · Seventh Han emperor who destroyed Gojoseon and set up commanderies

Before and after

Earlier
139 BC Zhang Qian’s Missions to the Western Regions and the Silk Road
Later
91 BC Sima Qian’s Records of the Grand Historian

Themes that include this event

  • Ancient China and India770 BC – AD 220

    From the Hundred Schools of the Warring States to the unified empires of Qin and Han, and from the Buddha to the Maurya and Kushan empires — the millennium that shaped East and South Asian civilisation

  • Pyongyang194 BC – 2007

    From Wanggeom-seong of Gojoseon to the inter-Korean summits — capital of Goguryeo, Western Capital of Goryeo, the great city on the Taedong