- Korea is about the same size as the British Isles, New Zealand, or Honshu, Japan.
- Border between North Korea and China/Russia is determined by 2 rivers:
- Yalu (Amrok) River
- Tumen (Duman) River
- To the east is the East Sea (Sea of Japan).
- To the west is the Yellow Sea
- To the south is the Korea Strait
- Roughly 80% of Korea is mountainous
- The main mountain range is Baekdudaegan- runs from Baekdusan to Jirisan ("The Spine of Korea")
Besides the Han River, the rivers run west from the mountains in the east.
- Very few lakes.
- The east coast has very mild and gentle tides (only a few feet high).
- West coast tides range from 18-30 feet high! Seafaring on the west coast was very difficult for early Koreans.
- Korea is temperate, but Busan and Jeju-do are especially warm-temperate.
- North Korea is much drier than South Korea in terms of rainfall - it's much easier to grow rice in the south due to the abundant rain and flat areas.
- Humans (or pre-humans) came to Korea roughly 300,000 years ago.
- 120,000 years ago - modern humans (120,000 - 8,000 BC - Stone Age).
- Original Koreans were hunter-gatherers, same as everywhere else. Shit gets Neolithic around 8,000 BC with tools and stuff like that.
- Koreans during this time were of a Paleo-Siberian ethnicity - spoke an Altaic language.
- Came from Manchuria - same people who occupied Japan, Mongolia, and Siberia.
- Korea used to be pretty dangerous - vicious tigers, wild boars, and leopards!
- Neolithic Koreans used bows, arrows, and spears.
- Hunted deer, wild boar, fish, whales, and sharks.
- Agriculture spread from China to Korea around 2000 BC, typically slash and burn-style.
- According to the Samgukyusa (written by a Buddhist monk in the 13th century), the first Korean kingdom of Gojoseon was founded in 2333 BC in Manchuria.
-The people in this story also lived to be 1000 years old and worshiped the sun, in addition to talking animals.
- The base unit of the agricultural society was the clan, who worshiped totems.
- Korean shamanism- everything has a soul, and the soul is immortal.
- Ritualistic burials of people and objects - burials in dolmens.
