Islamic Goryeo?

[tormsen]

It is often noted that the spread of Islam in Southeast Asia was largely thanks to the voyages of Islamic traders who introduced the faith to the region. It eventually out-competed Buddhism and Hinduism in much of the region, but as far as I know this was a largely natural and mostly non-violent process (at least, compared to the initial Arab expansion period.)

Now, I was reading about the Goryeo dynasty of Korea, which was much more open to the outside world and external compared to the later Joseon dynasty. Along with regular trade with Song, Liao, Japan and the Jurchens; there was also a degree of trade with the Abbasid dynasty through the port of Byeokrando. It is through the Arab world that the word Korea, a corruption of Goryeo, comes from. The trade was significant and lasting enough that some Korean families trace their lineage to Middle Eastern traders who settled down and married Korean women.

Now, whether there was much influence at the time, it was far too small to have any major effect. So would it be possible to have a greater influence of Islamic traders leading to the spread of Islam in Korea in say the 10th or 11th century? Perhaps it's spread could somehow be tied to the Mongols: the Mongols were somewhat anti-Muslim in their behaviour at times. Rejection of Mongol influence was part of what led to the decline of Buddhism and the rise of Confucianism. If Islam establishes a presence, it might be able to prosper.

What would the likely effects of this be? There might be cooler relations and less influence from China in this case, and relations with SE Asia and the Middle East might be stronger. The same difficulties in transcribing the Korean language in Chinese characters that led to the creation of hangul OTL might instead lead to the adoption of the Arabic script or a derivation.

Also, as this was an important period in which Korea transmitted much culture and learning to Japan, an Islamic or partially Islamic Korea will have major effects on Japan as well.

 

[The Militant One]

I feel that the Koreans would have still been closed off. The way I remember my Korean history is that they were suspicious of any form of outsiders since they always seemed to get screwed over in the end. In my opinion, I feel that any kind of Islamic "missionary" that came through their area would have been killed and pitched to the side.

 

[tormsen]

I feel that the Koreans would have still been closed off. The way I remember my Korean history is that they were suspicious of any form of outsiders since they always seemed to get screwed over in the end. In my opinion, I feel that any kind of Islamic "missionary" that came through their area would have been killed and pitched to the side.

I feel that's a relatively recent characterization, which owes more to Joseon policies and the traumatic experiences of the 15th and 16th century (Waeku pirates, Imjin War, Two Manchu invasions, Korean contempt for the Qing). It wasn't always thus, and needn't have been in other timelines. Combined with Korea's 20th century troubles, this has led to the idea that Koreans were a put-upon people, but this feeling was not necessarily present in the Goryeo era. It was an era when China was divided among warring states and Japan was somewhat pre-civilized; Korea didn't feel like it was surrounded by larger, more powerful and populous states and didn't have the victim complex that developed in OTL later.

Korea accepted Buddhism and Confucianism, both foreign religions; and Catholic and Protestant missionary activity was quite successful in later periods, so there isn't an automatic tendency to kill missionaries or preachers as soon as they appear.

 

[Dan1988]

IThe same difficulties in transcribing the Korean language in Chinese characters that led to the creation of hangul OTL might instead lead to the adoption of the Arabic script or a derivation.

Hmm, could the Arabic script used here be a derivation of Jawi script?

 

[kasumigenx]

I feel that the Koreans would have still been closed off. The way I remember my Korean history is that they were suspicious of any form of outsiders since they always seemed to get screwed over in the end. In my opinion, I feel that any kind of Islamic "missionary" that came through their area would have been killed and pitched to the side.

Actually, all of the countries surrounding China used to be isolationist..