Joseon

## Great Joseon

Officially known as **Great Joseon** in English or **조선국** in Korean, Joseon is a small Kingdom located in East Asia between the state of Toyotomi and the Jin Dynasty. One of the foremost regional powers of the current era, it began its asendance into greater international relevancy after the seizure of the island of Daemado (Tsushima) from Japan and the establishment of the Eastland (동나라) colonies.

Joseon is a major trading partner with China and the Spanish Empire, and also conducts regular trade in South East and Western Asia through the use of its state-owned trading company called the Western Company (서무역회사), as well as limited trade with the Toyotomi Shogunate in Japan.

## History

### 1596 - 1641: The Reign of Gwanghaegun

After the conclusion of the Imjin War in the late 16th century, Joseon entered a period of recovery from the immensely difficult period that followed the most destructive war in the country's history. Under the leadership of the young King Gwanghaegun (光海君), the Kingdom of Joseon would also be led down a political path that was until that moment unprecedented in the country's history.

After the death of his father the King Injo, Gwanghaegun ascended to power amongst the corrupt factional squabbling that has dominated much of Joseon's history. Resolving to end this divide and protect himself and his family, Gwanghaegun executed, imprisoned or exiled those who he found guilty of conspiring to end his reign on the throne. Most notable out of all of those who were target was the then-prominent leader of the Westerner faction, Song Si-Yeol. After succesfully trapping him and his allies in political schemes, much of the Westerners were furious and immediately attempted a coup shortly thereafter. However, with many of their allies now gone from the city or in prisons, the coup was unsucessful. It did, however, give Gwanghaegun the proper cause to exile or imprison the rest of them, securing an Easterner ascendancy over the court.

After the fall of the Ming Dynasty to the Manchurian Jin, Gwanghaegun kept his stance somewhat neutral on the issue and readily accepted the new imperial dynasty now taking residency in Beijing.

During this period, Gwanghaegun would also begin to treat with the Spanish and Portuguese through the Phillipines and the port of Busan. The contact with both of these western powers would allow the importation of firearms into Joseon, as well as some of their brightest naval engineers, who brought with them the knowledge of European shipmaking. As a consequence of establishing relations between Madrid and Hanseong, Gwanghaegun would oversee a flourishing of military and civil technology within the country.

The burning desire for land reform among the peasantry as well as a persistent issue of starvation would incite greater internal shakeups than were previously aniticpated to be necessary. Gwanghaegun would begin the process of seizing empty plots of land from those he had exiled in the Purges and from those who had passed away in the war, along with simply seizing land taken from Yangban during the Imjin War. Those targeted were again mostly those who were supportive of or in favor of the Westerner Faction, whose elements were said to persist in Joseon even after many were purged or exiled from the country.

Gwangaegun's efforts at modernizing his country's technological capibilites in the aftermath of the horrors of the Imjin War would pay off after the first expedition to the Kuril (쿠릴) islands in the 1630's, establishing forts in the far north of the country. Gwanghaegun's goal was to find stable trading partners and new places to host prisoners in the wake of instability in both Japan and China, which continued to be rocked by political strife. He would also manage to find new trading partners in south-east Asia and expanded Joseon's influence as far as Johor.

### 1641 - 1671: The Reign of Yi Ji

In 1641, King Gwanghaegun, from thereon called Gwanghaegun the Great, would pass, leaving the throne to his experienced and well-revered son Yi Ji.

Yi Ji was supported by the progessive and