ABSTRACT
Recorded Korean history begins with the period known as the Three Kingdoms, 57 b.c. to 668 a.d. The long historical continuity, during which Korean cultural and social patterns became firmly fixed, has left a unique heritage to the Koreans. Korea has had many periods of brilliant government and cultural achievement, but in the latter nineteenth century, while the country was attempting to adjust to the Western international system, the Korean monarchy fell into a state of disintegration. Chinese designs to convert the tributary status of Korea, which had no counterpart in Western international practice, into a protectorate were finally challenged by Japan in the Sino-Japanese War. Korea has considerable deposits of iron ore but is wholly lacking in petroleum. The disintegrated state of Korean society at the time of the opening of the country to Western trade was reflected in the backward state of the arts and industry.
