Who they were
The founder of the Joseon dynasty, posthumously honored as Taejo. A brilliant frontier general of late Goryeo, he made his name with victories against Red Turban invaders and Japanese pirates.
What they did
In 1388, ordered to march against Ming China, he judged the campaign ruinous and turned his army back at Wihwado island — the coup that made him master of the state. He took the throne in 1392, founding Joseon, and moved the capital to Hanyang (Seoul) in 1394. He allied the new dynasty with Neo-Confucian reformers, curbing Buddhist institutional power. His final years were darkened by bloody succession strife among his sons — the “strife of princes” — and he abdicated in 1398.
Legacy
The five-century Joseon dynasty, and the capital city Korea keeps to this day.