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Baekje History

According to the Samguk Sagi, King Onjo, who led a group of people from Goguryeo to the Han River region of Korea founded Baekje in 18 B.C.E. According to the Chinese record San Guo Zhi, during the Samhan period, one of the chiefdoms of the Mahan confederacy in the Han River basin was called Baekje.

The Samguk Sagi provides a detailed account of Baekje’s founding. Jumong had left his son Yuri in Buyeo when he left that kingdom to establish the new kingdom of Goguryeo. Jumong became King Dongmyeongseong, and had two sons, Onjo and Biryu, by a new queen. When Yuri later arrived in Goguryeo, Jumong promptly made him the crown prince. Realizing Yuri would become the next king, Onjo and Biryu decided to head south with their people, along with ten vassals.

Onjo settled in Wiryeseong (present-day Seoul), and called his country Sipje (meaning "Ten Vassals"), while Biryu settle in Michuhol (present-day Incheon), against the vassals’ advice. The salty water and marshes in Michuhol made settlement difficult, while the people of Wiryeseong lived prosperously. In shame, Biryu committed suicide, and his people moved to Wiryeseong, where King Onjo welcomed them and renamed his country Baekje ("Hundred Vassals").

King Onjo moved the capital from the south to the north of the Han River, and then south again, probably all within present Seoul, under pressure from other Mahan states. Evidence suggests that King Gaeru moved the capital to the Bukhan Mountain Fortress in 132 C.E., probably in present-day Gwangju City (Gyeonggi), to the southeast of Seoul. Through the early centuries of the Common Era, sometimes called the Proto-Three Kingdoms Period, Baekje gradually gained control over the other Mahan tribes.

Fall and restoration movement

In 660, the coalition troops of Silla and Tang of China attacked Baekje. The capital Sabi eventually fell, resulting in the annexation of Baekje by Silla. King Uija and his son went into exile in China while some of the royals probably fled to Japan.

Baekje forces attempted a brief restoration movement, but faced Silla-Tang joint forces of 130,000 men. General Boksin proclaimed Prince Buyeo Pung as the new king of Baekje, called King Pungjang. Baekje requested Japanese aid, and Prince Naka no ?e, later Emperor Tenji, dispatched an army contingent led by Abe no Hirafu to Korea. Before the ships from Japan arrived, his forces harassed a contingent of Tang forces in Ungjin County.

In 663, Baekje revival forces and a Japanese naval fleet convened in southern Baekje to confront the Silla forces. The Tang dynasty also sent 7000 soldiers and 170 ships. After five naval confrontations that took place in August 663 at Baekgang, considered the lower reaches of Tongjin river, the Silla-Tang forces emerged victorious.