The History of Tae Kwon Do

Tae Kwon Do is a martial art from Korea. Korea is on the other side of the world where Asia is, only a little more to the east. Tae Kwon Do is a different sport, because unlike many other sports in America, there are much more added things to get you're new belt such as forms, kick boxing, kicking combos, one step sparring, and regular sparring. Belts in this sports are not like the belts to keep your pants from falling down. Belts have different colors to show how advanced you are in the sport. The different colors from lowest to greatest are, white,white-yellow,yellow, yellow-orange, orange, orange-purple, purple, purple -green, green, green-blue,

blue-brown, brown, brown - red, red, skunk belt, black belt and all the way up to 10th degree. Even my master isn't a 10th degree black belt but he is a 6th degree black belt. Tae Kwon Do isn't a sport you can have fun and joke around with, it can only be used as self defense. Tae Kwon Do is a breath-panting and back-breaking work out too. It teaches self discipline, focus, and strength. IT is a sport that you can take seriously and still have a fun time with you're class.
http://www.barrel.net/history.php

The earliest records of Martial Arts practice in Korea date back to about 50 B.C. These earliest forms of korean martial arts are known as 'Taek Kyon'. Evidence that Martial Arts were being practiced at that time can be found in tombs where wall-paintings show two men in fighting-stance. Others reject this evidence and say that these men could be simply dancing.

Back then, time there were three kingdoms:

Koguryo (37 B.C. - 668 A.D.)
Paekje (18 B.C. - 600 A.D.)
Silla (57 B.C. - 935 A.D.)
Silla unified the kingdoms after winning the war against Paekje in 660 A.D. and Koguryo in 668 A.D. The Hwa Rang Do played an important role at this unification. The Hwa Rang Do was an elite group of young noble men, devoted to cultivating mind and body and serve the kingdom Silla. The best translation for HwaRang would probably be "flowering youth" (Hwa ="flower", Rang="young man"). The HwaRang Do had an honor-code and practiced various forms of martial arts, including Taekyon and Soo Bakh Do. The old honor-code of the HwaRang is the philosophical background of modern Taekwondo.

What followed was a time of peace and the HwaRang turned from a military organization to a group specialized in poetry and music. It was in 936 A.D. when Wang Kon founded the Koryo dynasty, an abbreviation of Koguryo. The name Korea is derived from Koryo.