Seoul, March 30 : The most exact variation known to date of “Daedongyeojido”, a famous large-scale map of the Korean Peninsula created in the 19th century, has returned from Japan.
The Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA) unveiled the map to the media on Thursday as the newly found edition draws public attention as its composition and content is different from earlier known versions, reports Yonhap News Agency.
Daedongyeojido, meaning “territorial map of the Great East”, was first produced and published in 1861 by by Korean cartographer Kim Jeong-ho in the form of an accordion-style album, and was republished three years later.
The map is considered a masterpiece of Korean cartography and is renowned for its accuracy and level of detail.
The CHA said the version retrieved from Japan is based on a woodblock-printed edition produced in 1864.
It is not known exactly how many copies of the first and second editions were published, but there are reportedly about 30 editions inside and out of South Korea.
While the first edition typically consists of 22 booklets, the newly discovered version has a total of 23 booklets, including a catalogue book.
The accordion-style booklets are each 20 cm wide and 30 cm long.
When combined together, they make a full-size map of the peninsula, which is 4 meters wide and 6.7 m long.
The map also features colourings from the original wood-block printed map and additions from “Dongyeodo”, another map presumed to be from the 19th-century Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910).
Dongyeodo is a handwritten copy of the original map that contains geographical information about transportation routes, military facilities and over 18,000 place names from the Joseon era.
Scholars speculate that the map may have also been produced by Kim since the outline of the peninsula, road networks and other features on it are similar to those on Daedongyeojido.
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