Cheonggudo (Map of Korea) (2008-2)

This is a coloured manuscript map of the whole of Joseon, produced by Kim Jeong-ho in 1834 and held in the Yeongnam University Museum. The Cheonggudo divides the whole country into 29 horizontal tiers running north-south and 22 vertical sheets running east-west. Each page of the atlas depicts an area 100 ri from north to south and 70 ri from east to west, at a scale of about 1:160,000, the same as the Daedong yeojido (1861). Kim Jeong-ho shared the efforts, under way since the late eighteenth century, to overcome the shortcomings of existing maps, and went a step further by incorporating his own original ideas in making the Cheonggudo. He sought to increase the map's practical value by presenting information that had previously been recorded only in geographical gazetteers. For every town he recorded the number of households, the area of cultivated land, the total number of soldiers, the total amount of grain collected as tax, and the distance to Hanseong (Seoul), and at sites of important historical events he recorded their details. Through this, the Cheonggudo became a map that recorded, in relatively fine detail, important historical and geographical information on top of an existing national map. Several sets of the Cheonggudo survive; some comprise two books and others four, and there are partial differences in the way the maps are depicted. The copy held at Yeongnam University consists of two books. Although its title is given as Yeojido (Map of the Territory), its composition is identical to the Cheonggudo held at the National Museum of Korea. It is regarded as an atlas in good condition and of outstanding composition.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Gyeongsan, Gyeongbuk

Designation

Treasure · 보물