“The Map of Russia (Aguk Yeojido)” — the first Korean description of Primorsky region

Abstract

This paper surveys a unique manuscript — “The Map of Russia”. The Map and accompanied description assumed to be one of the fi rst important and rare documents written by Koreans about Russia. It is of considerable interest to those who study the XIX century history of interactions between Russia, Korea and China, the history of Korean community in the Primorsky region of Russia. The Map provides description of the disposition of military fortifi cations, it describes also the border line, the Korean settlements in Primorsky Russia, quantity of Koreans living within the territory. The author discusses the problem of the document’s authorship, the probable time of its writing, and evaluates the signifi cance of the manuscript.

Keywords:

XIX century Russia — China — Korea relations, the Map of Russia, Korean migration to Russia Far East