Eight provinces

Borders of the eight historical provinces of Korea

Korean spelling
Korean alphabet :	팔도
Hanja :	八道
Revised Romanization :	paldo
McCune-Reischauer :	palto

Eight provinces (Kor. 팔도 paldo ; 팔 pal means 'eight', 도 do means 'province') is a name for the administrative division of the Kingdom of Joseon , today's Korea, into eight provinces, which was valid for 480 years from 1413 to 1895 . The borders of the provinces largely followed natural conditions such as mountain ranges or rivers and thus also corresponded to cultural and linguistic borders. The Korean term paldo for the eight provinces is also a metaphor for Korea as a whole.

history

The division took place under Taejong , the 3rd king of the Joseon dynasty . With the exception of Gyeonggi, each province derives its name from the initial syllables of its two main cities.

Hendrik Hamel writes about this in his description of the Kingdom of Korea from 1668:

"The kingdom we know by the name of Korea, which the locals call Tiozencouk and sometimes Caoli, stretches from 34 to 44 degrees north latitude, and measures north to south about 380 and in latitude, east to west, about 190 miles. Therefore, the Koreans represent it in the shape of a long square, like a playing card. Nevertheless, it has a number of headlands that protrude far into the sea. It is divided into eight provinces. counts 360 cities and municipalities, not including the castles and fortresses that are all on the mountains. This kingdom is very dangerous and arduous for strangers. "

In 1896, five of the existing provinces were further subdivided, creating the division into thirteen provinces that existed until 1945. These provinces continue to exist, but after 1945 special cities and regions were spun off from the existing provinces. A province was divided by the new border between North Korea and South Korea. In North Korea, three more provinces were created by subdividing existing provinces, in South Korea one. So there are now 18 provinces in Korea, 9 each in South Korea and 9 in North Korea.

table

For the transcription of the provinces that are now in South Korea, the Revised Romanization is used in the table, as is common practice in Wikipedia, and McCune-Reischauer is used for the provinces that are now in North Korea.

location	province	Hangeul	Hanja	Origin of name	Provinces 1896-1945	today's provinces
	Chungcheong	충청도	忠 清道	Chungju , Cheongju	• Chungcheongbuk-do • Chungcheongnam-do	• Chungcheongbuk-do • Chungcheongnam-do
	Gangwon	강원도	江原道	Gangneung , Wonju	• Gangwon-do	• Gangwon-do (South Korea) • Kangwŏn-do (North Korea)
	Gyeonggi	경기도	京畿 道 =	gyeong = capital, gi = 500 miles around the palace	• Gyeonggi-do	• Gyeonggi-do
	Gyeongsang	경상도	慶 尙 道	Gyeongju , Sangju	• Gyeongsangbuk-do • Gyeongsangnam-do	• Gyeongsangbuk-do • Gyeongsangnam-do
	Hamgyŏng	함경도	咸 鏡 道	Hamhŭng , Kyŏngsŏng	• Hamgyŏng-pukto • Hamgyŏng-namdo	• Hamgyŏng-pukto • Hamgyŏng-namdo • Ryanggang-do
	Hwanghae	황해도	黃海 道	Hwangju , Haeju	• Hwanghae-do	• Hwanghae-pukto • Hwanghae-namdo
	Jeolla	전라도	全 羅 道	Jeonju , Naju	• Jeollabuk-do • Jeollanam-do	• Jeollabuk-do • Jeollanam-do • Jeju-do
	P'yŏngan	평안도	平安 道	Pyongyang , Anju	• P'yŏngan-pukto • P'yŏngan-namdo	• P'yŏngan-pukto • P'yŏngan-namdo • Chagang-do

Web links

• The eight historical provinces of Korea ( Youtube )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ quoted from Simon Winchester: KOREA. Walking through the land of wonders. btb, Munich 2006, ISBN 978-3-442-73472-6 , p. 21 ( docplayer.org - English: Korea. A Walk through the Land of Miracles . New York 1988. Translated by Harald Stadler).