Korean Maps & Documents

Korean Maps

• 1530 - "Paldo Chongdo" (八道總圖 - 팔도총도)
  This was the first Korean map to show Ulleungdo (鬱陵島 - 울릉도) with a neighboring island called Usando (于山島 - 우산도), which Koreans claim was the old Korean name for Dokdo (Liancourt Rocks). The map, however, shows Usando to the west of Ulleungdo, but Dokdo is ninety-two kilometers to the southeast of Ulleungdo.
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• 1600s - "Map of the Original Regions of Silla, Goguryo, and Baekje" (新羅高勾麗百濟肇造區域之圖 - 신라고구려백제조조구역지도)
  This map is part of an atlas from the 1600s entitled "Old Maps of China & Joseon" (支那朝鮮古地圖 - 지나조선고지도). The map appears to be a historical map of Korea during the time of Silla, Goguryo, and Baekje. It shows Ulleungdo as a single island off the east coast of Korea labeled as "Usanguk, now Ulleungdo" (羽山國 今 鬱陵島 - 우산국, 지금 울릉도). According to Korea's Korea's Samguk Sagi (三國史記 - 삼국사기), Usanguk was the name of Ulleungdo during the time of Silla.
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• 1884 - 1894 - Map of Gangwon Province & Ulleungdo (地圖 - 咸鏡道 - 江原道)
  The maps come from an atlas entitled "Maps - Hamgyeong Province - Gwangwon Province (地圖 - 咸鏡道 - 江原道), which is stored in Korea's Koryo University Library. The map of Ulleungdo (鬱陵島) shows Usando (于山) as a neighboring island off Ulleungdo's east shore. That means that it was almost certainly Ulleungdo's neighboring island of Jukdo, which is located about 2.2 kilometers off Ulleungdo's east shore. Koreans claim that Usando was the old Korean name for Liancourt Rocks, but this map and many others contradict that claim. The map is important in the Dokdo/Takeshima debate because it was made after 1883, which was when Ulleungdo was opened up to Korean settlement.