This map is from the "Popular Atlas of The World" which was published by G.W. Bacon & Co., Limited in London in 1894. The book of atlas contained fifty double page maps and this map is #36. The three islands can be seen in the Japan Sea - "Argonaut I.", "Dagelet I." and "Hornet Is.". Argonaut island was drawn in broken line, which may mean the presence of the island was doubtful. Dagelet island, today's Ulleungdo, was painted in red (pink) - the same colour as Oki islands and Izumo county. The most importantly, there is a red line drawn between Japan and Korea, which means the national border. As you can see, Argonaut island is in the Korean territory while Dagelet island and Hornet islands are in the Japanese territory.So now we can see that not only Germany and USA but also UK believed that Liancourt Rocks to be Japanese territory in the 1890's. The most developed countries in those days recognised that Liancourt Rocks didn't belong to Korea. This is another circumstantial evidence that Seokdo in the 1900 Korean Edict #41 could not have been Liancourt Rocks.
Thank you for posting those important maps, pacifist. It's a great find.
ReplyDeleteIt's really interesting to see that many of those western maps show not only Hornet Rocks(Liancourt Rocks), but also Matsushima(Daglet Island) to be Japanese territory with a natinal border clearly. Keep up good work.
Thanks, Kaneganese!
ReplyDeleteConsidering that Matsushima is included as part of Japan, which few would argue was ever true, how much can we trust this map as an authoritative source?
ReplyDeleteFinally, someone besides me on this forum who posts a common sense question.
ReplyDeletePacifist, this map is proof of a nothing more than some Western cartographers had incorrect territorial perceptions (both geographical and political) of the East Sea (Sea of Japan) in the 19th Century.
First, even thirty years before this map was made the Western nations had long since known fictitious Argonaut Island (shown on the East) did not exist. So this map was inaccurate even by industry standards in 1984.
Next, Dagelet Island (Matsushima~Ulleungdo) is shown on this map as part of Japan. Thus, we know it was not an accurate representation of the national boundaries of Japan and Korea. There is no doubt Dagelet (Matsushima) was considered Korean territory in the late 19th Century. In fact, one year later, Russia would acquire logging concessions on Ulleungdo from the Koreans.
Oppert was aware of these errors in 1870 in his book about Korea.
WesternMapErrors
Pacifist, stop insulting the intelligence of those who visit this forum by using verifiably inaccurate maps as proof of Japanese sovereignty over Dokdo. As usual it's garbage in, garbage out here.
I can't believe you slag the Koreans for posting inaccurate data and not even day later post such rubbish as the article above. Shameless nonsense.
anonymous and Steve,
ReplyDeleteThis is the truth in the 1890's. I observed various western maps in the 1890's to know what the world (besides Japan and Korea) thought about these islands and found that none of the western countries believed that Laincourt Rocks to be Korean territory at all. Not at all, Steve.
The maps I am showing on this site are only the original maps I myself could get or the maps from a site which I could get a permission to show. So there should be still many other maps remaining - Steve, you should examine them yourself, then you will understand the true circumstances around these islands in the 1890's - just before the 1900 Edict and the 1905 incorporation.
I would like to say repeatedly that every map 100 years ago had some errors including Japanese or Korean maps, but these western maps had fewer errors than others and they are relatively accurate.
The only error was that these maps made Matsushima (Dagelet island) to be Japanese territory but it was due to the same name confusion that occured also in Japan and Korea. You can't blame them - as Japan and Korea had the same problem.
And additionally, you should remember that Meiji government of Japan examined themselves very fairly about this name confusion and finally declared that Dagelet island was Korea's Ulleungdo, not Japan's island.
So I want you to pay attention to Liancourt Rocks (Hornet Rocks). None of western maps in the 1890's indicated that Liancourt Rocks to be Korean territory.
Under these circumstances, how could Korea declare that Liancourt Rocks to be theirs? Do you really think it was possible?
And if Seokdo in the Edict meant Liancourt Rocks, then why didn't other countries (including Japan) refute the Edict?
Don't you think it's reasonable to regard the Edict was not related to Liancourt Rocks?
It is very likely that Seokdo in the Edict was a small island or rocks around Ulleungdo, not Liancourt Rocks. (The fact that Korean eastern limit was Ulleungdo, according to various geographic books, supports this thought.)