Page 113 - 100 Events That Made History

Hangul alphabet

An invention that gave Korean people the

LETTERS to write their own language

King Sejong’s idea
Before the mid-15th century, KOREANS wrote their own
language in Chinese script. Only a few educated people
knew how to do it. Around 1443, the Korean monarch,
King Sejong, decided this was wrong. He believed
that all his subjects should be able to write—and
even send him letters of complaint if they wanted
to. So he invented a new alphabet for them.

This is a sample of Hangul
writing. In modern times, By the way…
just 24 letters are used; It took ages for my
four of the originals alphabet to catch on.
have been dropped. liked it, and then Hangul
The aristocrats never

was banned for a time
in the 16th century.

How it changed

Korean script Hangul has contributed
of literacy. The alphabet
King Sejong created a special 28-letter alphabet, to Korea’s high levels
which became known as the Hangul alphabet, or works well with computers
the world
“Hunmin chong-um.” It is SO SIMPLE that most and may have improved
Korean children master it before they start school, communications.
and almost everyone in Korea today reads and
writes with the Hangul alphabet.

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