1530 - "Paldo Chongdo" (八道總圖) - "Map of the Eight Provinces"

The map below is called the "Paldo Chongdo" ((八道總圖 - 팔도총도) and comes from the "Sinjeung Dongguk Yeoji Seungram" (新增東國輿地勝覽 - 신증동국여지승람), which was a 55-volume set of Joseon government geography books published in 1530. The books were an updated version of a 50-volume set of books that were first compiled in 1481, revised to a 55-volume set in 1486, and published in 1487.

This 1530 map was the first Korean map, still in existence, to show the Korean island of Ulleungdo (鬱陵島 - 울릉도) with a neighboring island off its west shore labeled as "Usando" (于山島 - 우산도), which Koreans claim was the old Korean name for Dokdo (Liancourt Rocks).

Click twice on the map to enlarge.


The problem with using the above map to claim that Usando (于山島) was the old name for Dokdo is that is shows Usando to the west of Ulleungdo, but Dokdo is ninety-two kilometers southeast of Ulleungdo. Look at the following cutout of the section of the map showing Ulleungdo (鬱陵島) and Usando (于山島).



There is no neighboring island to the west of Ulleungdo, so how can the above map be explained?

It can be explained because Ulleungdo has a small neighboring island 2.2 kilometers off its east shore that caused the two islands to be confused. The confusion started in 1412, when a group of twelve people sailed into the habor at Koseong (高城 - 고성) and said they came from an island called "Yusanguk-do (流山國島 - 유산국도), which was a misspelling of the island of Usanguk (于山國 - 우산국). In other words, they were saying they came from Ulleungdo.

So how does this explain why Usando was drawn off the west coast of Ulleungdo on the above map?

In their testimony to Korean officials, the islanders said that sixty of them had lived on an island named "Muleungdo" (武陵島 - 무릉도), but later moved to the "main island" (本島 - 본도). This tells us that Muleungdo was the smaller of the two islands and that Yusanguk-do (Usando) was the main island. Muleungdo (武陵島) was the spelling of Ulleungdo (鬱陵島) during most of the 1400s.

This was the first time that Ulleungdo (Usanguk) had been described as having a neighboring island, and it caused Korean officials to start thinking of Usando as the main island and Ulleungdo (Muleungdo) as its smaller neighboring island. This explains why Usando was drawn to the west of Ulleungdo on almost all of Korea's maps of Ulleungdo before the An Yong-bok (安龍福 - 안용복) incident in the 1690s.

We know that the neigboring island described by the people in the 1412 record was not Dokdo (Liancourt Rocks) because they said that sixty of them had lived on it, but Dokdo is just barren rocks that could not support sixty people. Therefore, the neighboring island described in the record had to be Ulleungdo's neighboring island of Jukdo, which is 2.2 kilometers off Ulleungdo's east shore. Jukdo does not have any water, so they would have had to live by gathering rainwater, but Jukdo would have been much easier to defend than Ulleungdo.

Here is a picture of Ulleungdo's neighboring island of Jukdo from the Ohmynews Web site:



The following is the 1412 record from the "Annals of King Taejong" (太宗實錄 - 태종실록), a Korean translation from the Northeast Asian History Foundation Web site, and my English translation:

命議政府議處流山國島人 江原道觀察使報云 流山國島人 白加勿等十二名 求泊高城 於羅津言曰 予等生長武陵 其島內人戶十一 男女共六十餘 今移居本島 是島自東至西自南至北 皆二息 周 回八息 無牛馬水田 唯種豆一斗出二十石 或三十石 麥一石出五十餘石 竹如大椽 海錯果木皆在焉 竊慮此人等逃還 姑分置于通州高城扞[杆]城

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의정부(議政府)에 명하여 유산국도(流山國島) 사람을 처리하는 방법을 의논하였다. 강원도 관찰사가 보고하였다. “유산국도(流山國島) 사람 백가물(百加勿) 등 12명이 고성(高城) 어라진(於羅津)에 와서 정박하여 말하기를, ‘우리들은 무릉도(武陵島)에서 생장하였는데, 그 섬 안의 인호(人戶)가 11호이고, 남녀가 모두 60여 명인데, 지금은 본도(本島)로 옮겨 와 살고 있습니다. 이 섬이 동에서 서까지 남에서 북까지가 모두 2식(息) 거리이고, 둘레가 8식(息) 거리입니다. 우마(牛馬)와 논이 없으나, 오직 콩 한 말만 심으면 20석 혹은 30석이 나고, 보리 1석을 심으면 50여 석이 납니다. 대[竹]가 큰 서까래 같고, 해착(海錯)과 과목(果木)이 모두 있습니다.’고 하였습니다. 이 사람들이 도망하여 갈까 염려하여, 아직 통주(通州)·고성(高城)·간성(扞城)에 나누어 두었습니다.”

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In accordance with Uijongbu orders, methods for dealing with the people of Yusanguk-do were discussed. The governor of Kangwon Province reported, "Twelve people from Yusanguk-do, including Baek Ga-mul, came and anchored at Eorajin in Koseong and said the following:

"Twelve families of us lived on Mu-leungdo with a total of more than sixty men and women, but now we have moved to the main island and are living there. The island's distances from east to west and north to south are each two shik (60 ri), and its circumference is eight shik (240 ri). There are no cows or horses or rice paddies on the island, but if we plant just one mal of beans, we harvest twenty to thirty seok. If we plant one seok of barley, we harvest more than fifty seok. The bamboo are as big as rafters, and there are all kinds of sea products and fruit trees."

Fearing that they may try to run away, they were divided up and put at Tongju, Koseong, and Ganseong, where they are still.