竹島問題の歴史

4.11.07

1898 - Korean Map of Gangwondo & Ulleungdo

Below is a Korean map of Korea's Gangwon Province (江原道) from an 1898 altas entitled "Joseon Jido" (朝鮮地圖), the cover of which is pictured on the left. The atlas is stored in the Koryo University Library, which is in Seoul, Korea.

The map shows the Korean island of Ulleungdo (鬱陵島) off the east coast of Gangwon Province because Ulleungdo was under the authority of that province at the time. It also shows a small island labeled as "于山" (Usan) off Ulleungdo's east shore. Many Koreans claim that Usando (于山島) was an old Korean name for "Dokdo" (獨島), which is commonly referred to as "Liancourt Rocks" in the West. However, this Korean map and many others show Usando as a neighboring island of Ulleungdo, not Liancourt Rocks. The other writing next to Ulleungdo is "船泊處," which means "a place to dock ships."

The Usando on the map was almost certainly Ulleungdo's neighboring island of Jukdo (竹島), which is about 2.2 kilometers off Ulleungdo's east shore. The map also shows five small islands off Ulleungdo's southern shore, which was almost certainly a mapping error since most of Ulleungdo's "rock islets" (石島) are located off Ulleungdo's northern shore. An 1899 article in the Korean newspaper Hwangseong Sinmun (皇城新問) described Ulleungdo as having six, small neighboring islands, of which "Usando/Jukdo" (于山島竹島) was the most prominent. The six neighboring islands mentioned in the article were probably a reference to Usando/Jukdo and the five neighboring islands drawn off the southern shore of this map and many others. The linking of the names "Usando/Jukdo" was most likely done to show that both names were used to refer to the same island.

You can click of the maps and choose to see larger versions.

1898 - Joseon-jido - Gangwondo 1

1898 - Joseon-jido - Gangwondo 2

7 comments:

  1. Gerry,

    Thanks a lot, this is an interesting map!

    It was just two years before the 1900 ordinance about Seokdo, and one year before the Daehanjiji's map which depicted almost the same shape of Ulleungdo, Usan and small rock islets.

    At least around the year 1900, Korea recognised its eastern boundary as Ulleungdo and its surrounding islets including Jukdo/Usando.

    I think your theory that Seokdo may mean other small rock islets around Ulleungdo, it's a reasonable interpretation.

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  2. Gerry,
    Was this 「朝鮮地圖」made by Korean government like 学部編集局? Is it an official map? It looks like extremely similar to 1899 and 1900 version, and 大韓帝国地理書「大韓地誌」by 玄采 in 1901.

    Anyway, I agree that those maps had affected to the 皇城新聞 article in 1899. Do you know how this article was written? I thought it was based on 禹用鼎’s inspection, but the inspection was done in 1900, not 1899. The article is written in detail. Were there another inspection between 李奎遠’s inspection in 1882 and 禹用鼎’s in 1900?

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  3. Kaneganese,

    The 1899 Hwangseong Newspaper article was talking about an earlier inspection of Ulleungdo by the former Ulleungdo island administrator, Bae Gye-ju (裵季周), and E. Laporte (羅保得), who was a Frenchman who worked in the customs house at Busan at the time. They went to Ulleungdo at the end of June in 1899. U Yong-jeong (禹用鼎) and his group did not go to Ulleungdo until May 1900.

    I do not think the maker of the 1898 map I posted is known, but it is almost exactly the same as the map in the 1901 "Daehanjiji," which I have posted earlier.

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  4. Gerry,

    Thank you. Until now, I thought La Porte went to Ulleundo with 禹用鼎 along with Japanese MOFA officer 赤塚正助(Akamatsu) and police officer 渡辺鷹治郎(Watanabe). It's really confusing.

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  5. Kaneganese,

    Yes, La Porte went to Ulleungdo in 1899, and he returned to Ulleungdo with U Yong-jeong (禹用鼎)and Japanese officials in 1900. La Porte's first trip to Ulleungdo in 1899 turned out to be a pre-inspection trip.. U Yong-jeong's trip was meant to confirm what was Bae and La Porte reported of their 1899 inspection.

    Yes, it is confusing.

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  7. Gerry Bevers wrote "The linking of the names "Usando/Jukdo" was most likely done to show that both names were used to refer to the same island."

    He is wrong. "Usando/Jukdo(于山島竹島)" in Hwangseong Newspaper (皇城新問) indicates two different islands "Usando(于山島)" and "Jukdo(竹島)". Omitting comma between nouns was common way of writing in Chinese characters then. Thus,"于山島竹島" Hwangseong Newspaper was referring to was "于山島 and "竹島" Hwangseong Newspaper (皇城新問) described Ulleungdo had six, small neighboring islands and "Usando(于山島)" and "Jukdo(竹島)" were the most prominent.

    It seems his assertion Usan in this map is Jukdo, not Dokdo comes from his wrong understanding that "于山島竹島" on Hwangseong Newspaper is one name for one island. If Jukdo was referred to as "于山島竹島", why didn't the mapmaker use the name "于山島竹島" or "竹島" instead of "于山"? It didn't just happen. Jukdo is not Usando. It's very wrong to make all Usando Jukdo.

    There is Korean document saying "Usan is so-called Japanese Matsushima(=today's Takeshima).(于山則倭所謂松島也)

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