Goguryeo (Hangul: 고구려; hanja: 高句麗; RR: Goguryeo; MR: Koguryŏ, Korean pronunciation: [koɡuɾjʌ], 37 BCE–668 CE), or Goryeo (Hangul: 고려; hanja: 高麗; RR: Goryeo; MR: Koryŏ, Korean pronunciation: [koɾjʌ]), was one of the ancient Three Kingdoms of Korea, located in the northern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula and the southern and central parts of inner and outer Manchuria. Goguryeo was an active participant in the power struggle for control of the Korean peninsula and was also associated with the foreign affairs of neighboring polities in China and Japan. The Samguk Sagi, a 12th-century text from Goryeo, indicates that Goguryeo was founded in 37 BCE by Jumong (hanja: 朱蒙 ), a prince from Buyeo, who was enthroned as Dongmyeong. There is archaeological and textual evidence from Chinese geographic monographs that suggests that Goguryeo may have been in existence since the second century BCE around the fall of Gojoseon, an earlier kingdom which also occupied southern Manchuria and the northern Korean Peninsula. Goguryeo was a powerful empire and one of the great powers in East Asia, until it was defeated by a Silla–Tang alliance in 668. After its fall, its territory was divided among the states of Later Silla, Balhae and Tang China. The name Goryeo (also spelled as Koryŏ), a shortened form of the name Goguryeo (also spelled as Koguryŏ), was adopted by Jangsu who ruled the nation from 413 to 491, and is the origin of the English word "Korea". According to the 12th century Samguk Sagi and the 13th century Samgungnyusa, a prince from the Buyeo kingdom named Jumong fled after a power struggle with other princes of the court and founded Goguryeo in 37 BCE in a region called Jolbon Buyeo, usually thought to be located in the middle Yalu and Tongjia River basin, overlapping the current China-North Korea border. In the geographic monographs of the Book of Han, the word Goguryeo (hanja: 高句麗 ) was first mentioned in 113 BCE as a region under the jurisdiction of the Xuantu Commandery, page 33. In the Old Book of Tang (945), it is recorded that Emperor Taizong refers to Goguryeo's history as being some 900 years old. In 75 BCE, a group of Yemaek who may have originated from Goguryeo made an incursion into China's Xuantu Commandery west of the Yalu. However, the weight of textual evidence from the Old Book of Tang, New Book of Tang, the Samguk Sagi, the Nihon Shoki as well as other ancient sources would support a 37 BCE or "middle" first century BCE foundation date for Goguryeo. Archaeological evidence would support centralized groups of Yemaek tribes in the 2nd century BC, but there is no direct evidence that would suggest these Yemaek groups were known as or would identify themselves as Goguryeo. The first mention of Goguryeo as a group label associated with Yemaek tribes is a reference in the Han Shu that discusses a Goguryeo revolt in 12 CE, during which they broke away from the influence of the Chinese at Xuantu. At its founding, the Goguryeo people are believed to be a blend of people from Buyeo and Yemaek, as leadership from Buyeo may have fled their kingdom and integrated with existing Yemaek chiefdoms. The Records of the Three Kingdoms, in the section titled "Accounts of the Eastern Barbarians", implied that Buyeo and the Yemaek people were ethnically related and spoke a similar language.

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