2013 EAI Special Report_A Unique 18th-Century Korean Map

 

Author 

Gari Keith Ledyard, King Sejong Professor Emeritus of Korean Studies at Columbia University, is mainly focused on Korean history of all periods, but also publishes generally on Korean literature, culture, and current affairs. While in U.S. military service he studied Korean at the U.S. Army Language School. On duty in Korea (1954-1955) he served as a translator. His B.A, M.A. and Ph.D. degrees are all from the University of California (Berkeley), and all in classical Chinese language and literature. He has specialized in Korean Studies, mainly in the field of history but also in general literature, culture, and current affairs. He served as the Director of Korean Studies at Columbia University in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures. He is the author of many articles and several books relating mainly to pre-modern Korean history. Among his longer articles is his “Cartography in Korea”, published in 1994, and translated into Korean as a book titled Hanguk ko chidoŭi yŏksa (한국 고지도의 역사), published by Sonamu (소나무) Publishers in 2011. Though he retired from Columbia thirteen years ago, he continues his research and publication projects in a variety of different fields.

 

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Abstract From the late Koryo dynasty to the last years of the Chosŏn dynasty, Korea had a rich cartographic history, producing thousands of beautiful national maps using a wide range of cartographic methods and styles. For their abundant notes and the indication of place-names, the mapmakers used only Classical Chinese (Hanmun). That was the cultural standard of those times. But sometime during the 18th century, an anonymous and probably self-trained cartographer decided to produce a map on which all the notes and place-names would be written exclusively in Hangul. As far as this author can determine, the anonymous mapmaker’s map of Korea is the only example from the Chosŏn dynasty on which notes and district names appear only in Hangul. In this article the author examines his style and methods.

 

* Permission to release the digital map was received from Dr. Gabor Lukacs, Paris, owner of the map; Courtesy of C.V. Starr East Asian Library, Columbia University.

[The Original Image of Higher Definition]