Haedong jido (Atlas of Korea)

This is an atlas of pictorial-style maps of the counties and prefectures of the whole country, made in the late Joseon period. Besides the county maps, it also includes a map of the whole of Joseon, maps of the individual provinces, a map of China, a map of the imperial city, a map of the Beijing palace, a map of Japan, and maps of major military and defence posts. It originally comprised eight volumes (cheop) but now survives as six books. Book 1 covers Gyeonggi-do; Book 2, the whole of Haeseo (Hwanghae-do) and Gwanseo (Pyeongan-do); Book 3, the whole of Gwandong (Gangwon-do) and Bukgwan (Hamgyeong-do); Book 4, the boundary area between Korea and its neighbouring territories in the northwest; Book 5, the whole of Yeongnam (Gyeongsang-do); Book 6, the whole of Hoseo (Chungcheong-do); Book 7, the whole of Honam (Jeolla-do); and Book 8, a comprehensive map of the eight provinces. The border map in Book 4 and the comprehensive map in Book 8 are large-format maps. Judging by statistics such as the household counts of the counties and prefectures recorded on the maps, the content reflects the years 1748 to 1750 (the twenty-fourth to twenty-sixth years of King Yeongjo), showing that the atlas was produced in the mid-eighteenth century. Based on the geographical information it contains, it is presumed to have been made with reference to maps previously produced by the Bibyeonsa (Border Defence Council). In the atlas every county and prefecture is depicted in a consistent pictorial style. The margins of each map carry notes recording such items as the number of households, cultivated land, grain output, the history of the town's founding, mountains and rivers, former place names, historic sites, post stations, Confucian academies (seowon), Buddhist temples, and local products, together with directional notes indicating the orientation of neighbouring areas. This shows that the atlas was made for the governance of local towns, and that it was produced by the Hongmun-gwan (Office of Special Advisers), which at the time led map production together with the Bibyeonsa. This atlas depicts the geography of every town across the country in the late eighteenth century according to a unified system, and is also related to the compilation of geographical gazetteers (jiriji) of the period. Atlases of counties and prefectures of a similar type are held by several institutions, but the Haedong jido is the most accomplished among them. It is an extremely valuable source for understanding not only the development of cartography at the time but also the historical and geographical content of individual towns.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Gwanak-gu, Seoul

Designation

Treasure · 보물