The Routledge Handbook of Early Modern Korea (Routledge History Handbooks)

Korea is a historical region of prominence in the global political economy.Still, a comprehensive overview of its early modern era has yet to receive a book-length treatment in English.Comprising topical chapters written by 22 experts from 11 countries, The Routledge Handbook of Early Modern Korea presents an interdisciplinary survey of Korea’s politics, society, economy, and culture from the founding of the Choson state (1392-1897) to 1873 when its political leadership began preparing for treaty relations with Imperial Japan, the United States, and other Western nations. Choson mirrors shared historical patterns among literate sedentary societies of early modern Afro-Eurasia.Various long-term developments that shaped early modern Korea include the completion of centralized bureaucratic governance as codified in the State Administrative Code (Kyongguk taejon); the appearance of regular rural marketplaces facilitating transactions in an increasingly liberalized economy; continuity of an