1800 Woodblock Map of the Korean Peninsula

A rare Korean woodblock map of the Korean Peninsula produced c. 1800, almost certainly as part of a Yeojido atlas.

A Closer Look

Coverage includes the Korean Peninsula from the Yalu River and Mt. Paektu southwards, along with surrounding islands (the island at right is Ulleungdo 鬱陵島, while the large island at bottom is Jeju 濟州島). The eight provinces of Joseon Korea referred to in the title are outlined in red boxes, or white in the case of P'yŏngan (平安道) and Hwanghae (黃海道) provinces, while Seoul (京都) is prominently marked near center. Next to each province name, the number of officials (官) present is recorded. Physical features, namely major rivers and mountains, are illustrated and named. Text in the margins provides basic geographic information, including the span of the peninsula from north to south and east to west measured in li or ri (里), the distance of various points on the peninsula from Seoul, and the number of administrative units at various levels of the kingdom (郡 and 縣).

Publication History and Census

The exact provenance of this map is unclear. The phrase Yeojido (or in Chinese Yu ditu, 輿地圖), which could be translated as 'atlas,' was common in the title of maps and map collections in East Asia at least since the Yuan Dynasty in the 13th-14th centuries. There are several works published in Korea bearing the title Yeojido (often under the title 大東輿地圖 or 天下輿地圖) dating from the 17th to the late 19th century, likely intended for government officials, that contain maps resembling this one. Revealingly, this map of the Korean peninsula was often (but not always) the third map in the collection, following a traditional Chinese-centered map of the known world (天下圖, not the 'Ricci Map' already well-known in East Asia) and a map of China along the borders of the long-defunct Ming Dynasty, not the much larger contemporary Qing Dynasty. The Library of Congress holds several atlases containing a map similar to, but not exactly matching, this one as part of its Korean Rare Book Collection. The National Library of Australia also holds a Yeojido collection containing a map with this title. However, the present map differs from these examples, dated to the early-mid 19th century, especially in the text that appears at left and right, which is rather cursory here. Therefore, on the presumption that the early-mid 19th-century examples are more elaborated versions of an earlier map, we would conservatively date this map to c. 1800. However, it may be earlier and perhaps considerably earlier.