Korean gunpowder production and cannon (Hwatongdogam)
Producción coreana de pólvora y cañón (Hwatongdogam)
- Date
- 1377 · confidence high
- Place
- Kaesong, North Korea
- Credited to
- Choe Mu-seon
- Field
- Conflict
What it is
Choe Mu-seon learned to purify saltpetre and make gunpowder, and in 1377 King U set up the Directorate of Firearms (Hwatongdogam). In 1380 the cannon of Goryeo ships destroyed a Wokou pirate fleet at Jinpo.
The Goryeosa says Choe obtained the method from a Chinese merchant, Li Yuan, and that before 1377 powder weapons were scarce or absent in Goryeo. The link between the cannon and the defeat of the Wokou at Jinpo (1380) rests mostly on Korean sources.
What it led to
- Korean naval artillery that culminated with Yi Sun-sin's ships
- Joseon firearms: hwacha, singijeon and cannon
- the first decisive use of cannon in a Korean sea battle