Incheon

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Coordinates: 37 ° 28 '  N , 126 ° 39'  E

Incheon City
Hangul : 인천 광역시
Hanja : 仁川 廣域 市
Revised Romanization : Incheon Gwangyeoksi
McCune-Reischauer : Inch'ŏn Kwangyŏksi
Basic data
Surface: 1,065 km²
Residents: 3,011,138 (as of April 30, 2017)
Population density : 2,827 inhabitants per km²
Structure : 8 districts ( Gu )
2 districts ( Gun )
Postal code : 400-004 (Jung-gu) -
417-933 (Ganghwa-gun)
Administrative headquarters : Incheon
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Incheon , pronunciation : [ intɕʰʌn ], in the official name "Big City Incheon" (인천 광역시, Incheon Gwangyeoksi ), is a port and industrial city on the northwest coast of South Korea . It lies within the area of Gyeonggi-do Province , but has been a politically independent entity since July 1, 1981 . Incheon is located 28 kilometers west of the capital Seoul . With nearly 2.9 million inhabitants, the city is the third largest in South Korea after Seoul and Busan .

Despite its size, Incheon has always been considered the capital's largest satellite city due to its short distance from Seoul , although the residents of Incheon never fully agreed with this view. In fact, as a “big city”, Incheon is administratively equal to a South Korean province and thus also to Seoul.

Since the development of the term Sudogwon and its expansion, Incheon has been seen as the development axis of the metropolitan area. The construction of the oversized Incheon Airport as the future hub of East Asia and the existing international port also added a major international function. The planning of the new Incheon Free Economic Zone (IFEZ) confirmed Incheon's new role for the economy of South Korea. The free economic zone consists of the three planned cities Songdo City , Yeongjong and Cheongna and in turn expands the economic trading area of ​​the Sudogwon metropolitan region.

Despite the political independence, Incheon has grown together almost seamlessly with Seoul. The metro networks in both cities are now also connected.

history

A map of Jinsen around 1930
Incheon Harbor (2006)

Archaeological finds in the Incheon region show that people have lived here since the Neolithic . Today Incheon is important because of the international port, which is well protected in a natural bay. When the port opened in 1883 , Incheon had a population of just 4,700.

On 8./9. February 1904, during the Russo-Japanese War off Incheon, the naval battle of Chemulpo took place, during which the Russian cruiser Varyag was sunk in the port by the crew themselves.

During the period when Korea was part of the Japanese Empire (1910 to 1945), Japanese was the national language . The city therefore had the Japanese name Jinsen , which is the Japanese pronunciation of the written city name 仁川 .

During the Korean War , the Battle of Incheon was fought here from September 15 to 28, 1950 . Allied troops, especially those of the United States , landed here in the rear of the North Koreans . This was one of the turning points of this war, at which time the North Korean People's Army had almost the entire Korean peninsula under its control, with the exception of Busan.

The port of Incheon played an important role in South Korea's economic boom since the 1970s.

Incheon University was opened on January 10, 1979, and since September 2009 has been on a new campus in the planned city of Songdo City .

The growth of Incheon has always been linked to the development of Seoul. Although Incheon was the fourth largest city in South Korea, it was considered the largest satellite city of Seoul due to its short distance to Seoul. In fact, Incheon was designated as a "big city" in 1981 and administratively resembled a South Korean province, including Seoul.

In the 1980s and 90s, the city limits expanded. With this expansion, the growth of the population, the establishment of the infrastructure ( Incheon Airport ) and the planning of the new Incheon Free Trade Zone, the city grew rapidly to become the third largest city.

If Incheon used to be in the shadow of Seoul and only as part of the Sudogwon metropolitan area , Incheon has been seen as the development axis of the region since the turn of the millennium at the latest and is redefining itself in contrast to the congested capital Seoul.

During the 2002 World Cup , three games took place in the Incheon Munhak Stadium, which was only completed in 2001 .

geography

The highest peaks are the Manisan (469 meters) and Gyeyangsan (395 meters), all other mountains are no higher than 300 meters. Nevertheless, the coast to the Yellow Sea is also very mountainous and leaves only a few flat beaches open. Incheon also has 152 islands, 113 of which are uninhabited. The rivers Gulpocheon , Cheongcheoncheon and Gyesancheon flow into the Hangang , the others, including Sicheoncheon , Seunggicheon , Mansucheon , Jangsucheon and Unyeoncheon into the Yellow Sea. None of these rivers is longer than 12 km.

climate

Incheon has a relatively dry climate compared to the south of the country. Here, on average, only 1152 mm of rain fall per year. There are an average of 101 rainy days per year, snow falls on 22 additional days and fog prevails on around 49 days a year. July is especially known for it. The average temperature is 11.9 ° C, with January being the coldest month at −3.1 ° C and August being the warmest month at 24.9 ° C. The region is also regularly hit by typhoons and their weaker foothills.

Administrative division

Incheon International Airport opened in 2001
The subway between Seoul and Incheon International Airport

The official Korean name is "Incheon City" (인천 광역시, Incheon Gwangyeoksi ). The city is thus on an equal footing with the administrative level of the province.

Nevertheless, it follows the subdivision of all other normal cities - into districts ( 구 , 區 , Gu ) and districts ( 동 , 洞 , Dong ). Incheon is divided into eight boroughs and two counties ( Gun ):

Local sports clubs

Soccer

  • Men
level league society Home stadium
Top division K League Classic Incheon United Incheon Football Stadium , East Incheon
  • Women
level league society Home stadium
Top division WK League Incheon Hyundai Steel Red Angels Incheon Namdong Asiad Rugby Field

baseball

  • Men
level league society Home stadium
Top division KBO League SK Wyverns Incheon SK Happy Dream Park, Incheon

ice Hockey

The Daemyung Killer Whales have been playing in the Asia League Ice Hockey , the professional ice hockey league in East Asia, since 2016 . They play their home games at the Incheon Seonhak International Ice Rink .

Twin cities

Personalities

Sons and daughters:

See also

Web links

Commons : Incheon  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ministry of Administration and Interior (MOGAHA, 행정 자치부): Census 2015 ( Memento of the original from March 3, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / rcps.egov.go.kr
  2. ↑ The Chosun Ilbo & Digital Chosun Ilbo: Newly Liberated Korea as Seen From the Air ( Memento of March 13, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ club profile on the side of Asia League Ice Hockey, accessed on 14 March 2018th
  4. ^ Chongqing Municipal Government