Gapgotdon Outpost, Ganghwa

A dondae is a small fortification built to mount cannons for coastal defence. Gapgotdon was an important fortress guarding the Ganghwa Strait during the war with the Mongols, when Goryeo moved its capital to Ganghwado Island from 1232 to 1270; it is a gun battery equipped with eight cannons. Some trace the name Gapgot to Gapbigocha, the name used for Ganghwa during the Three Kingdoms period, while another legend holds that it comes from the lament of Mongol soldiers who, unable to cross the strait, said that they could get across even if their troops had to fill the sea with nothing but their discarded armour. In 1644, when Joseon set up garrisons at every strategic point in Ganghwa, Gapgotdon was built as an outpost under Jemuljin garrison and was completed in 1679. In September of the third year of Emperor Gojong's reign (1866), during Byeongin yangyo, the French Disturbance, a French Far East fleet landed here with more than 600 troops and occupied Ganghwa Fortress and Munsusanseong Fortress; in October, however, the French forces were defeated by the troops of General Yang Heon-su at Jeongjoksanseong Fortress and fled. The site was repaired and restored to its original appearance in 1977. The cannon now displayed inside the outpost dates from the Joseon period and was used to fire on invading Japanese pirate ships approaching by sea.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Ganghwa, Incheon

Designation

Historic Site · 사적