Ancient and Medieval Japan, Korea, and Vietnam: A Complete Overview

Japan took a different path to China because of its geography the biggest difference was that Japan consisted of islands and later the Far East at the very end or very beginning of the world it is made up of four different Islands Hokkaido is the furthest North while hanchu is in the center and is the largest shikoku and Kyushu are smaller and lighter the South it might not seem large but this is Japan superimposed over the Eastern United States Japan's climate is mostly temperate and fertile Plains to the east influence the development of cities some of the most populous are Tokyo Kyoto and Osaka fertile areas are so valuable here as most of the islands are mountainous and like China only a small percentage is able to be used for farming the mountains here are also volcanic which increase soil fertility but the tectonic plates make Japan prone to earthquakes and tsunamis because of Japan's relative isolation they never felt threatened by the introduction of other cultures because it was never forced always voluntary the Chinese never had this luxury as they had to fend off Invaders from the north for Millennia and had a meshing of cultures whether they liked it or not this distinctiveness of their culture goes back to their origin myth an ancient Chronicle recorded in the 700s tales of the formation of Japan by the marriage of the god Izanagi and the goddess is an army is an army then gives birth to the sun goddess Amaterasu one of amaterasu's descendants then Falls to Earth and creates the Japanese civilization though Emperors throughout Japanese history were never worshiped as Gods themselves they were believed to have descended from the Sun Goddess the more historical story of the origins of the Japanese civilization are of course more mundane but still fascinating nonetheless the islands of Japan had been occupied for thousands of years after early human migrations while the sea levels were low enough to walk over over time by the late prehistoric period a culture called the German emerged this name comes from the cord marked patterns on their pottery their main survival strategies were hunting Gathering and fishing they might also have developed small-scale agriculture the German period lasted from around 14 000 BCE to around 300 BCE the last period being called the final German it was around this point that migrants from the Korean Peninsula began arriving in Japan these new arrivals introduced wet rice crops to Japan and the German although some historians claimed the German had already had the knowledge this mix of people and knowledge led to a new period called the yayoi period starting in 300 BCE the yayoi primarily lived on Kyushu at first but slowly migrated northwards onto Honshu mixing with or driving out the German and those indigenous Japanese who would be known as the ainu who still live on the Northern island of Hokkaido in the present day sources claim that by the turn of the century the yayoi were LED off their island in the South by a Divine Warrior jimu who would become the first Japanese emperor there is no basis for the existence of an emperor jumu but the story might be based on real events and a real Chieftain having settled on the Yamato plane Japan slowly shifted from a hunter-gatherer Society to an agrarian and militarized one settled the yayoi set up a tribal social structure based on Clans called UGI the uji were each ruled by a Chieftain Who provided protection in exchange for an annual percentage of the Harvest there was a small aristocratic class but the majority of the population were rice Farmers or small-scale artisans at this point Japan was still very decentralized but those of the Yamato plane had chosen Chieftains who claimed to be descended from the Sun Goddess still there was nothing like the centralized government seen in other ancient societies like China or Egypt by the late yayoi period Chinese sources tell of massive civil wars in Japan which they called the land of War a precursor to the Yamato State could have been ruled by a mysterious magical Queen well at least according to Chinese sources records from the 200s tell of a kingdom called yamataikoku ruled by a queen himiko it was said that she used her knowledge of spirit magic to seize the throne she is not mentioned in any contemporaneous Japanese sources though and remains semi-mythical the rise of the Japanese state began with the Yamato period beginning around 300 consisting of the kofun and Asuka periods the kofun is the earliest recorded period of Japanese history the Yamato were just one of a number of yayoi Clans in Japan but began dominating these other Chieftains and expanded to hold sway over most of the archipelago the name of this period kofun comes from the Japanese term for the megalithic tombs that were built many of these had distinctive keyhole-shaped Mounds the largest of these is the deason ryoko Foon thought to have been built for Emperor nintoku the 16th emperor of Japan it is part of the mozu tombs in the Osaka prefecture the later part of the Yamato period the Asuka saw more influence from the mainland specifically China this included the influence of Buddhism it was first introduced in 538 from the Korean Kingdom of pecture marking the start of a classical era the period's name comes from Asuka the capital city at the time the Yamato state was still decentralized and Powerful Clans often vied for influence over the emperor two of these powerful clans were the mononobi and soga Clans the mononobi washinto a religion we will touch on later in this video while the soga were devout Buddhists once the Emperor died in 587 conflict erupted between these two Clans Prince shotoku of the soga led the pro soccer Army at the Battle of Mount shiggy defeating the Rival Clan the prince attributed his victory to Bishop Montan the Buddhist deity of war and went on to build Buddhist temples throughout Japan after the battle the soga clan became the influential force behind the next few emperors Prince shotoku became Regent serving under Emperor suiko and in the 600s attempted to centralize the government based on a model like that of China perhaps a unified Japan was finally a possibility he established the 12 Rank and cap system in government in which officials wore silk caps with a colored feather denoting their Rank and the 17 article Constitution which unlike modern constitutions was targeted towards keeping court and government officials in line with Buddhist and Confucian morals and values Prince shotoku's main objective was to keep the government and nobility in check while allowing the state to become more centralized through the emperor once shotoku died members of the soga clan had begun to assert themselves more in Imperial Affairs and so a young courtier a junior member of the soga clan and the young son of the empress conspired in secret to assassinate the clan heads of the soga though the attempt nearly failed one of the heads was killed during a court ceremony and once his father heard of his son's death committed suicide by self-immolation ending the influence of the soga clan for good assassination was known as the ishi incident in 645 the new emperor Kotaku brought in an era of great reforms called the taika reforms the goals were to centralize more power and keep control in the hands of the emperor and his court land was nationalized and taxes regulated Civil Service examinations adopted and the absolute authority of the emperor was established envoys were sent to China in order to improve the Japanese centralized structure after the death of Prince shotoku and the decline in the influence of the mononobi and soga a new Clan began to come to prominence this was the fujiwara who had been involved in plotting the ishi incident and married into positions of prominence by 710 a new capital was built at Nara beginning The Next Period of classical Japan the city was modeled in the same style as the Tang capital of changan the biggest difference between the Japanese and Chinese rulers was that the Japanese emperor was always considered as being descended from the Sun Goddess but in China he who ruled only needed the Mandate of Heaven another major distinction were the Civil Service examinations Japan adopted these as well but unlike China which was a system theoretically based on Merit in Japan only those of noble birth could take the exams the narrow period also gives us the two oldest books written in Japan the kojiki and nihan Shoki are the oldest most complete works chronicling the Fantastical and semi-mythical history of ancient Japan the Nara period didn't even last 100 years and by 794 the emperor moved the capital to nearby heian location of present-day Kyoto marking the final era in the Japanese classical age the move was made to have a fresh start away from corruption and Buddhist influences no Buddhist temples were allowed in the central part of the city Japan was to stop the envoys to China and develop a flourishing culture of its own apart from Chinese influence while we mentioned the first known printed book last episode Japan produced one of the first novels around year 1000 by Lady Murasaki living in the cultural fluorescence of the heian period she took to the Chinese Classics despite women traditionally being excluded from this learning women also seem to appear quite frequently with men in scroll paintings giving the appearance of a more egalitarian society compared to other medieval cultures by this time the fujiwara clan had amassed even more power and a senior member of the clan was the de facto head of government the move away from the China model brought with it a return to decentralization taxes imposed on rice fields failed and Powerful rural families held onto their own tax-exempt private properties called shown as the hayan government lost more power local Lords became the driving forces in society to protect their properties they began hiring private soldiers and a new warrior class would emerge the samurai the samurai were expected to have impartial loyalty for their lord this was similar to the night class in the European Middle Ages a period we'll get to next episode so be sure to subscribe instead of a bulky Lance and shield though the Samurai's favorite weapon was the sword though they had the choice of many sizes the katana is the most well known of these bows and arrows were also common they lived their life by the way of the warrior called Bushido Japan became embroiled in destructive Civil War while in the distance the tears of the Kingdom slowly mixed with the puddles of blood of the Dead classical era this was now the age of Samurai the Japanese feudal age was here by 1185 minamoto no urotomo a powerful Aristocrat from a warrior Clan defeated his Rivals and set up a power center on the Kamakura Peninsula to the south of modern day Tokyo he created what was called a bakufu or tent government referring to the tents where his soldiers camped the emperor declared minamoto no urotomo the first Shogun a term denoting a general or military dictator this new political system was called the shogunate system in which the emperor ruled in name only but it was the Shogun who held true power through marriage to minamoto no urotomo the Hojo Clan became Regents of the bakufu after his death though they were newly founded they had a link to the past as an offshoot of one of the major clans of the heian period the system worked well as the shogunate also dealt with keeping smaller Lords in check but they would soon come to face a menace that was unfamiliar this was a threat that overran most of Asia and conquered all of China the Mongols were at the door check out our previous episode to see how the Mongols Rose to prominence in 1266 Kublai Khan new emperor of the Mongols commanded tribute from Japan but they refused the Mongols invaded in both 1274 and 1281 but the Japanese mobilized their entire military to fend them off the first attempt saw the Mongols attack with up to 900 ships but the gods acted as Wind Waker and a monstrous typhoon destroyed the Mongol Fleet in the second attempt the Mongols returned with even more men some estimates as high as 140 000 the largest naval invasion in history at the time but stayed afloat for months searching for a place to land and once again the winds awoke from slumber these Divine winds called Kamikaze destroyed half the Mongol ships and those who made it onto land found the Japanese ready to take their weary Souls it was a decisive victory that ended the Mongol expansion in the East and left Japan free of foreign invaders for centuries though the Kamakura shogunate defended Japan the mobilization efforts put a financial strain on them and their Phantom Hourglass reached its end Pro godigo launched a rebellion hoping to eliminate the Kamakura and restore centralized power to the Imperial Court in the Genco War a coalition of powerful Clans overthrew the Kamakura and after centuries Imperial power was finally restored this was called the kenmu restoration but it wasn't to last [Music] ashikaga takorji who was instrumental in the kamakura's demise wanted to be appointed new Shogun but the emperor refused so ashikaga rebelled forcing the emperor to flee and set up another Imperial Court in the South while a new emperor appointed ashikaga Shogun the ashikaga set up their own shogunate at The muramachi District in Kyoto but didn't hold much power at first there was now a Southern and Northern Court each with an emperor and landed aristocracy had amassed unprecedented power nobles were now called daimio meaning great names and controlled large tracts of land all tax exempt the lands that had been nationalized all reverted to become private with the increased decentralization the samurai became more important and power fell to the Clans with the best warriors by the end of the medieval period in the mid-1400s a massive civil war broke out brought on by controversy during a succession struggle in the ashikaga shogunate this conflict was known as the Onan war or upheaval of Onin for 10 long years this war between Clans raged by the end in 1477 Kyoto lay almost entirely destroyed the shogunate's power greatly diminished with the military government strength completely depleted it was replaced by the breath of the wild as the daimio seized control over vast amounts of territory this brought in a period of Warring States called sengoku similar to the period of decentralized Warring States during the Joe period in ancient China during the upheaval groups of peasant Warriors from eager Province and nearby Koga District banded together to form a Nikki an alliance or Confederacy of Defense there on the plains nestled by secluded mountains they trained in secret refining an older technique which came to be known as ninjutsu this style was based not on brute strength but on subversion and spying [Music] soon they would become paid agents of daimio called Shinobi and were used as mercenaries primarily to spy terms differed for each region but today we collectively call these Ninja they obtained Peak Physical performance which made it look like their Feats were Supernatural the climbing of the wall the sudden disappearances and high endurance made them seem magical the blinding powder used in their escape was called Mitsubishi which was kept in an eggshell a misconception is that they were mainly expert assassins and while they did administer poison and lurk in the shadows their primary role was the Gathering of information despite this they trained extensively in the use of special Weaponry like blow guns kusarigama and of course the katana Japan would remain locked in war for decades and it wasn't until the next Century that Japan would start to become Unified daily life in Japan remains somewhat a mystery but one of the first descriptions comes from China depicting it as an agrarian society based on the cultivation of wet rice the rest of the Japanese peasants lived fairly normal lives and changed very little most were farmers but few of these owned the land they worked land was either the property of their local Lords or during times of more centralization the state Buddhist monasteries also came to control large swaths of land some peasants Rose to become local officials who organized The Village labor and collected taxes for the Lord or state in exchange these peasants would be tax-exempt most peasants gave these officials their grain as a tax but sometimes they were unable to pay those who couldn't pay were dropped to the lowest rank called genin or low person these were landless laborers and had to become household servants even below guenin were the ATA a class of hereditary slaves they were considered Untouchable and lived in separate Villages working the jobs that were associated with defilement like executioners Undertakers and slaughterhouse workers it's possible they could have been descended from a slave class criminal class or Mountain Folk the ATA still exist in the present day although the name is considered derogatory most of the Japanese population lived in small villages usually in small houses of wood or mud and their diet was mainly made up of rice but also wild grasses fish and birds while polygyny the taking of more than one wife was common with Nobles having four or five wives and even commoners with two or three women were still regarded highly in Japanese Society women were guaranteed inheritance rights and wives could file for divorce and remarry under certain conditions Japan also had numerous female Emperors both legendary and historical once Buddhism came to Japan hierarchies became more highlighted as women were not permitted to become monks unless their husbands died nor to visit the holy sites some even interpreted the Buddhist Doctrine as viewing women as inherently sinful While others kept a more egalitarian View it took time but by the feudal period women were eventually given the same rights as men to participate in Buddhist practices religion in Japan began with animist beliefs and the worship of spirits in the natural world these Spirits were called Kami and were thought to live all around them in tall trees the rapid rivers and Majestic mountains this belief system became known as Shinto meaning the sacred way or way of the Gods and is still practiced in the present day though we don't have records of the origins of this religion we know the Kami was worshiped at least as far back as the yayoi period there is little importance placed on moral values or ethical standards and more so stresses the importance and beauty of nature Cameo worshiped both in private at kamadana household shrines and in public at more General Ginger shrines over time the early Japanese Incorporated the beliefs into an official state Doctrine and a National Shrine was built at ese where the emperor would go to pay tribute to the Sun Goddess from whom he is descended as in other societies animist beliefs began to become Incorporated with the religions that entered from other regions in the case of the Japanese it was Buddhism by the Asuka period in the 500s Buddhism had entered Japan from the mainland spreading among the nobility by the 700s it had spread to the majority of the population since Buddhism and the Shinto beliefs weren't mutually exclusive the two were integrated to create a mixed religion called shinbutsu shuko meaning syncretism of Kami and Buddhas it remained Japan's only organized religion until the late modern period the two most popular Buddhist schools in Japan were of the Mahayana Branch the pure land sect which we discussed in our last episode was popular among the general population because it only stressed devotion and that devotion alone leads to enlightenment the aristocracy instead followed Zen Buddhism it emphasized self-restraint meditation and was less concerned with Doctrine and sutras Zen Buddhism became popular with the samurai class during the feudal age for practitioners of Zen Enlightenment could be achieved through Satori a sudden inexpressible feeling of inner understanding for example while listening to distant bamboo sticks or watching a beautiful event in nature but many claimed Enlightenment was only achieved through a rigorous regimen of zazen meaning seated Zen this is a long and arduous process of constant meditation the complete cleansing of one's mind while Japanese culture was initially influenced from the mainland it never lost its own native elements the early Japanese had no writing system of their own but adopted the Chinese pictographic system early on as the Japanese spoken language wasn't at all related to the Chinese family that is the Sino Tibetan they had to incorporate the Chinese characters in order to create a hybrid system called kanji which used borrowed Chinese characters with Japanese pronunciation by the 800s this writing style evolved to include hiragana and Katakana early Japanese writers and members of the Imperial Court at first preferred to write their poetry and essays In classical Chinese but by the heian period and Beyond Chinese influence waned and Japanese culture came into its own by the feudal period Japanese Court officials also lost their influence and written works like poetry came from non-public officials these intellectuals attempted to mimic the feelings of Zen in their poetry describing natural scenes and setting relaxing or somber moods the most popular form of poetry among the aristocracy was kanchi the word means Han poetry and remained popular during the end of the classical era by the feudal age a new type of poetry became highly regarded it was short and formed with exactly 17 syllables total divided into lines of 5 7 and 5. this was eventually called a haiku haikus generally have a kigo a phrase that references the season Anna kiraji a specific category of word used in traditional poetry they do not have to end after 17 syllables and can be linked with other haikus by other poets a collaborative work called arenga poetry was also used as a means of communication upper-class women were usually separated from males early on and took to writing poetry they were only allowed to talk to men from behind screens so this poetry was often their only means of courtship by the feudal and more militarized Kamakura period literature evolved and focused on more war-like subjects instead of refined or courtly Heroes novels instead were about more common people dealing with the battles around them or the adventures of Warriors the highs and lows of the Symphony of War a type of theater also developed taking elements from native traditions and others brought in from China it has its origins in the early feudal period but became a distinctive form of theater by the 1300s these were dance-based dramatic plays called No and were based on traditional Japanese literature and usually involved Supernatural elements masks were regularly used to depict deities demons and women as they were not permitted to be performers until modern times it is the oldest major theater art still performed today classical Japanese architecture was influenced by both Buddhism and Chinese styles from the Tang During the heian period as Japan distanced itself from China it developed its own culture called kokufu one of its architectural Styles was called shindonsukuri it featured a wide open structure with tsudare traditional blinds or screens and chitomi lattice folding doors which are hinged horizontally by the mural marchy period a newer architecture developed influenced by Zen Buddhism called shonzukuri showing means drawing room or study this style replaced the hinged doors with sliding panels called fusuma flooring material was made up of tatami a kind of mat these rooms were meant to be empty with no ornaments just hidden shelves guests would be invited for tea ceremonies here as part of a Zen ritual Outdoors Gardens were modeled after the Chinese and emphasized streams or ponds the kinkakuji or golden Pavilion in Kyoto demonstrates a perfect union of traditional Building architecture the surrounding Gardens and flow of water as tea ceremonies were an indoor expression of Zen it was expressed outdoors with the art of arranging flowers and Bonsai the art of growing and maintaining miniature trees as we discussed last episode scroll paintings called hand Scrolls were popular in China in Japan they were given their own style initially nature was the dominant theme but during the Warring States period Art became more narrative telling stories of Warriors or priests full of detailed expression Japanese sculpture also tended to depict their generals and deities like the guardian Kings in more warlike fashion Japan became a shining example of how a mix of cultures can be used as an asset but they weren't the only ones China was ancient China was big and it touched many just to the west of Japan was the second East Asian region in China's sphere we now travel to Korea the Korean Peninsula like China and Japan was mountainous and only around 20 was available for farming farming itself was probably not introduced until around 2000 BCE although hunting and Gathering were still the preferred method of survival though not all academics agree Korean Scholars claimed that the first major Kingdom in Korea was the ancient joseon or gojo-sun it was reportedly founded in 233 BCE by tangoon the grandson of heaven and Son of a bear like emperor jimu of Japan it's possible the story of tangoon could have been based on a more historical Chieftain or Warrior he is credited with bringing in the Bronze Age and the beginnings of centralization and development archaeological evidence for the formation of gojo-sun seems to point to a more recent time frame around 700 BCE onwards as an Iron Age Society based around town alliances near the tidal and Liao river basins further rulers and dynasties of gojo-sun remain debated but less disputed are the events around 108 BCE When the Northern regions came under the influence of the Han Dynasty which put an end to the gojo-sun kingdom this began a period of decentralization and Warring States similar to that of China the Han had established four commanderies in the region but three of these fell to Korean resistance the Han fell in 220 as we had discussed in our ancient world video and the last commandary was destroyed by 313. in time three main kingdoms emerged as hegemonic powers on the peninsula gaguria was in the North bacter in the southwest and Sheila in the southeast this was the Three Kingdoms period in Korea though they were each founded earlier they reached their Peak during the three to six hundreds gagurio in the north with its capital at Pyongyang became the first to adopt Buddhism by the three hundreds it prospered under cuencetto the Great Sheila nestled to the southeast was not as immersed in the Chinese sphere but as they were threatened by the massive gagurio they Allied themselves first with picture an alliance that was broken and then with tang China at the hands of the tang and Sheila Reliance picture and gagurio were defeated by 668 but then conflict erupted between the Chinese and Korean allies by 676 the war ended and the Tang kept much of the former gagurio territory north of the peninsula but Sheila had expelled the Chinese and took control of Korea up to the tidon river needing to govern this newly unified State the Sheila adopted many of the systems of centralized government based on the Chinese Buddhism which came to Korea in the 300s reaching Sheila by the 500s flourished once again and became the state religion at the capital of kyongju art and architecture began to resemble the Chinese model as well and written Chinese became the official written language the aristocracy though were wary of the Civil Service examinations and prevented their adoption along with other reforms to help the lower classes not long after Sheila was unified another entity emerged to the North in much of the former gagurio territory marking the northern and southern period this was to be called The balhay Kingdom it was a multi-ethnic kingdom mostly situated north of the peninsula and composed of former gagurio peoples and the moha these were a tanguzik people native to Siberia and Northeast Asia and some could have been ancestors to the jurchen and later Manchu there remains controversy over the kingdom as Korean Scholars consider it predominantly Korean like Sheila to the South while China believes it was predominantly moha but under Tang rule Russian Scholars claim it was a moha state but independent of Korea and China whichever the case balhay was conquered in 926 by the Liao Empire of the Catan Sheila had difficulties of its own as Regional conflicts broke out in the former picture hungario territories leading to another period of disunity called the later Three Kingdoms beginning in 889. Sheila had been in Decline long prior to this as policies that only favored the king led to resentment among the aristocracy the landowners and peasants Sheila began to lose territory and became the weakest of the Three Kingdoms one of these kingdoms later gagurio managed to defeat its Rivals by 936 and even absorbed parts of the balhead of the North the New Kingdom was named gorio after its predecessor and it was to be the first true unification of the entire Korean Peninsula and the start of stable dynastic rule for centuries it not only unified the gagurio pekche and Sheila but also the ruling classes of the balhay in the North it was from this Kingdom that the modern name of Korea was born the gorio state implemented the Civil Service examinations in 958 although it did little to change the makeup of the governmental bureaucracy agriculture remained the main industry and while all lands were owned by the king they were run by local Nobles like in other medieval societies the Farms were worked by The Peasant classes below peasant on the social ladder were chonmin or Volga commoners these were made up of Nobi slaves which were used to serve the young ban or aristocracy and the bekjong or Untouchables these were those who worked professions that were deemed unclean such as butchers Shaman magicians and prostitutes the gorio era was considered a golden age for Buddhism pure land and Zen Buddhism both became popular and came to control large tracts of land the goryotra pataka the sacred collection of Buddhist scripture was carved into wood Block in the 1200s it is the oldest intact version of Buddhist canon in hanja script the Korean writing system that uses Chinese characters though relatively small goryo was often entangled in conflict with both the Catan and German tribes to their West but by the mid-1200s it was the Mongols who successfully achieved victory in Korea after years of attempts though the goryo were reduced to a tributary state to the Yuan for 80 years they were noted for putting up more resistance than most of the other regions the Mongols had conquered and remained semi-autonomous the invasions brought Untold destruction to gorio the Huang yongsa an enormous Buddhist temple built 600 years earlier was destroyed along with the first version of the gorio tripitaka as the Mongol leader Kublai Khan set his sights on Japan next he forced peasants and Artisans to build the invasion Fleet though the state of gorio continued to exist unlike the southern song in China the ruling class was forced into marriages with the Mongol leaders and their families once the Yuan began to decline in the mid-1300s gorio fought to fend off the red turban rebellions which had originated in China and Pirates called The wuko Vicious seafarers from Japan Korea attempted to expand further and even proposed the ambitious Act of invading Ming China but in 1392 the general Yi seanye overthrew the garrillo Dynasty in a coup he founded a new state called joseon and moved the capital to hansung present-day Seoul Confucianism was adopted as the state ideology resulting in the loss of power and wealth for Buddhist temples among the sunbi or scholar class neo-confucianism became prominent this class only grew as this was a golden age for Korean academics and Sciences there were advances in printing astronomy military technology medicine and agriculture one of the oldest surviving world maps from East Asia comes from here called the carnido it depicts an early representation of the old world the most notable ruler during the joseon was say John the great who is responsible for creating harmful the Korean alphabet he is regarded as one of the greatest rulers in Korean history and as we leave the chosun which will continue to exist for another 500 years we head to a land to the South another region which had its own struggles with China this is Vietnam we've touched on Southern Vietnam and the rest of Southeast Asia in an earlier episode today we will focus on the North as it was less involved with Indian culture and more in the Chinese sphere of influence this region had been occupied since the Paleolithic and by around 1000 BCE the first complex culture appeared called the dongsong or Lark Viet they appear to have been expert bronze casters creating the Dawn song drums which are found widely throughout the region like Korea and Japan Vietnam also has a semi-legendry early Kingdom from which it claims descent it was called the hangbang dynasty said to have been founded from 2879 BCE but like gojo-sun there is no evidence for such an early date it's more likely the creation of the Vietnamese State wasn't so early or so large it could have developed around 700 BCE or later in Northern Vietnam from the Lac Viet a conglomeration of kradai and austro-asiatic tribes the kingdom itself was called Von long and was the first historical Vietnamese state further north the aviate were a confederation of biowa tribes but in 258 BCE tukfan invaded the Lark Viet and created a newer and larger Kingdom called a lark consolidating the Lark Viet and aviat tribes the bayua were a conglomeration of many different tribes living all over Southern China and the Red River delta at this time they were composed of austro-asiatics kradai mon and others the Chinese just used this name to group them all As non-han the Qin dynasty of China conducted expansion campaigns to the South to subdue the yua but after the chin fell a Chinese General named jiaotuo declared independence in 204 BCE creating the kingdom of nanua [Music] but once the Han Empire emerged they embarked on expansion campaigns of their own first making their new or a tribute State and then fully conquering and annexing it in 111 BCE this would become the first of four periods of Northern domination in Vietnamese history rule under the Chinese was oppressive and wheels of rebellion soon started to turn an armed civil Uprising began in 40 CE led by trungtrack and her sister Trung knee the trunk sisters were initially successful and ruled China for three years before the Han armies regrouped and suppressed the Rebellion the trunk sisters were either killed or committed suicide this led to the second and third period of Northern domination separated by the short-lived Empire of Van Shen apart from this Vietnam was continuously under the Chinese heel for one thousand years because of the strong sense of nationality among the Vietnamese the Chinese were forced to rule more directly Aristocrats began to intermarry and a new class of sino-vietnamese emerged Chinese culture was slowly brought in through the Arts literature writing system and Confucianism as China tried to assimilate the Vietnamese population despite the cultural integration the Vietnamese longed for sovereignty and once the powerful Tang Dynasty of China collapsed in the early 900s the Vietnamese became more autonomous after a period of Civil War Vietnam became fully independent and established their own kingdom in 968 called diviet the name diviet means great Viet and reflects the ambition of the new Dynasty to consolidate and expand the territory of Vietnam as China had ruled over the region for such a long time it was only natural that the rulers of David integrate some of the Chinese model in their Administration as they were a river valley Society they needed stricter and more centralized government David succeeded more than Japan in their centralized governmental model King remained powerful and the aristocratic classes held less power religion was initially based on earlier Vietnamese folk religion called Duo long over time though with the influence of the Chinese Buddhism Confucianism and taoism became more popular art and architecture was also greatly influenced by China some of the early historic constructions of the diviet like the one pillar Pagoda were based on Chinese styles as in Japan and Korea Vietnam wasn't Bound by the traditions of its northern neighbor and arrived their own style though they use Chinese characters they would adapt them to create a writing system for their own language called chunam similarly to China those aiming for governmental positions could be from any class just as long as they were male and would write the Civil Service examinations the test was based on confusion Classics as well as traditional Vietnamese stories the life of the average Vietnamese peasant was different to that of Japan large private Farms or properties were rare as a means to keep the landed Nobles in check most Farmers owned their own small piece of land or rented from another small farmer family life was also similar to China but despite the Confucian hierarchies women were more valued they were able to initiate divorces and had the same property rights as men though Chinese domination subverted this to some extent women were always viewed as more equal to men from a labor and legal standpoint compared to China the ancient Vietnamese Society was most likely matrilineal and as the old adage goes when the enemy is at the gate the woman goes out fighting over the next many centuries diviet was engaged in numerous Wars and conflicts mostly from the north on numerous occasions the Mongols attempted to conquer both David and Champa to the South but the Vietnamese use of scorched Earth was the perfect counter to the Mongolian armies the decisive battle was fought on water with General Tran whom Dao predicting the enemy's movement and setting up booba traps for the Yuan ships after losing the battle Kublai Khan gave up his invasion of Southeast Asia and it fittingly ended on the same River from where the Vietnamese gained independence from China over three centuries earlier the Vietnamese came under the fourth and final period of Northern domination in 1407 this time under the Ming but unlike the previous eras which lasted one thousand years Vietnam was free by 1427 just 20 years later as population increased over the years diviet would have to expand southwards to the territory of Champa Champa was a state set up in 192 and was more in the Indian sphere of influence than the Chinese check out our previous video to see more of the Southeast Asian States by 1471 diviet went on to conquer Champa in the cham Vietnamese War unifying most of the coastline which makes up the present-day country of Vietnam with their freedom from Chinese rule came an even greater sense of unity which would carry dive Viet well into the early modern age and Beyond [Music]

Channel: Made In History

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Keywords: made in history, made in history medieval world, world history, world history documentary, world history summarized, history of the world, medieval history documentary, history of japan, korean history documentary, made in history japan, samurai vs ninja, goryeo dynasty, dai viet history, daiviet empire, dai vietnam, gojoseon history, feudal japan documentary, feudal japan history, ancient japan documentary, jomon people, ancient korea history, baiyue history, east asian

Id: iaM0fqMJz3Q

Length: 47min 8sec (2828 seconds)

Published: Thu May 11 2023