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Mahan (Korean: 마한; Hanja: 馬韓) was a tribal grouping in southwestern Korea described in Chinese sources from the 3rd century. It was the largest of the 'three Hans' (the Samhan), along with Byeonhan and Jinhan. During the 4th century, the kingdom of Paekche rose in the territory of Mahan and became one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea.
"Mahan" (馬韓; 마한) is believed to be a combination of the Old Korean words "ma", meaning "south", and "han", meaning "big". Together, the name could possibly be interpreted as "Big Nation of the South". As part of the Samhan, Jinhan meant "Big Nation of the East" and Byeonhan meant "Big Nation of Shimmer".
Mahan most likely developed from the existing bronze society of third to second centuries BCE of the Samhan people, while continuing to absorb migration of Yemaek people from the north in subsequent centuries. Further migration followed after the fall of Wiman Chosŏn and establishment of the Chinese commanderies in the Korean peninsula region in 108 BCE.
In the 1st century CE, the Wolji/Mokji (月支/目支) state, that formed and led Mahan confederacy, was defeated in struggles with Paekche, another member of Mahan, and consequently losing whole region of present-day Han River basin. But the San Guo Zhi recorded the Han state fallen in struggles with the Lelang Commandery and Daifang Commandery in the 246. Under continuous pressure from Paekche, only 20 statelets of Mahan confederacy survived until the late 3rd century. Paekche eventually absorbed or conquered all of Mahan by the 5th century, growing into one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, along with Silla and Goguryeo.
According to the Book of the Later Han of ancient China, King Chun of the kingdom of Kija Chosŏn (second dynasty of Old Chosŏn allegedly founded by Jizi/Kija), having lost the throne to Wiman, fled to the state of Jin in southern Korea around 194–180 BCE. Following this story, King Chun and his followers are thought to have established a base within the previous Jin territory and founded a polity.
However, it is unclear whether Mahan is related to this polity due to the lack of archaeological evidence found in Korea and the nature of the source being of foreign (Chinese) origin. In addition, the same book claims that King Chun was Jizi (Kija)'s descendant whereas no Korean sources allude to such genealogy, hence the existence of such controversy.
Currently, historians from both Koreas (North and South) suspect an attempt of sinicization (similar to Jinhan with Qin dynasty; see Jinhan confederacy's misconceptions) and reject the existence of Jizi (Kija) and Kija Chosŏn within history of Korea, thus in turn, rejecting the claims found in the same source, the Book of the Later Han. The general consensus is that there were only two Chosŏn dynasties: the earliest native Old Chosŏn, and Wiman Chosŏn after Wiman (Weiman) fled to Korea, assimilated, and replaced the previous dynasty with his own until he was defeated by the Han dynasty and the Four Commanderies of Han were formed.
Kings of Mahan occasionally called themselves "King of Jin," referring to the earlier Jin state and asserting nominal sovereignty over all of Samhan. A wealth of bronze artifacts and production facilities indicate that Mahan was probably the earliest developed of the three Hans. At its height, Mahan covered much of the Han River Basin and the modern-day provinces of Gyeonggi, Chungcheong, and Jeolla, although political unity was strongest led by Mokji state (목지국, 目支國) in Cheonan, Chungcheong.
"There are three stocks: the first is called Mahan, the second Jinhan, and the third Byeonhan, which is the ancient state of Jin. Mahan is to the west of it. Its people are settled on the land and both sow and plant... Scattered between the mountains and the sea, their settlements have no inner or outer walls... By custom they have few rules and regulations. Their national town has a dominant leader, but the people's settlements are scattered, and they are not readily subject to regulation and control. They do not have the ceremony of kneeling to make obeisance. For their dwellings they make grass-roofed earth-chambers shaped like tumuli; the door is on the top, and a whole family lives together inside, with no distinction as to old or young, male or female... They do not know about riding oxen and horses, their oxen and horses being used exclusively for accompanying the dead... They are strong and brave by nature. They wear the "tadpole knot" and leave it bare like a shining fishtail. They wear gowns of rough cloth, and on their feet they wear leather sandals. When there is something to be done within their community up to the point where the authorities have walls built, all the young braves and stalwarts gouge out the skin of their backs to string themselves together with a large rope, or, again, they insert through their shin wooden poles about a zhang in length. They then chant all day as they work, not because they consider the work painful, but to give themselves encouragement; moreover they consider this to be stalwart behavior... They have a fondness for brigandage... Among their men one occasionally sees one who is tattooed. Moreover on the large islands in the sea west of Mahan there are outlanders, very short and small people whose language is not the same as that of the Han. They all bind their hair like Xianbei, but they make their clothing of leather and like to raise oxen and pigs. Their clothing has an upper part, but no lower part, and indeed it is almost as if they were naked. They go back and forth by boat, buying and selling in the Han."
Goryeo historians identified Mahan with Goguryeo, which was supported by their works like Samguk sagi, Samguk yusa and Chewang un'gi. That historical view was previously given by Ch'oe Ch'iwŏn, a noted Confucian scholar and historian in the late Silla period. Apart from the geographical location of Mahan, the Chinese historical record History of Song defines the ethnical origin of the Chŏngan kingdom, a successor state of Parhae, as Mahan.
In the late Joseon period, that historical notion came under criticism by early Silhak scholar Han Baek-gyeom, who emphasized the linkage between Mahan and Paekche in terms of the geographical location.
Mahan was an ancient Korean confederacy established after the fall of Jin. The following list is based on the records of the Cheongju Han clan.
According to the San Guo Zhi, Mahan consisted of 54 statelets of up to ten thousand families each:
Text from the Wikipedia article “Mahan confederacy”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.