Ch’Ŏnhado, A Traditional Korean Map Of The World: A Debate On Whether It Is A Product Of Western Cultural Influence

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper attempts to understand the origin of the traditional Korean Ch’ŏnhado map by comparing and critiquing previous scholarship on the map’s origins and by explaining the map’s origins through a geomentality lens. Scholars have argued whether Ch’ŏnhado was to embrace the geographical information from Western nations, a Korean interpretation of this information, or an expression of anti-Western sentiment. This paper argues that: (1) Ch’ŏnhado’s design is evidence that it was likely designed by an educated Korean intellectual in Confucian classics (sŏnbi); (2) it is not a Korean-style interpretation of a Western map and was not designed to embrace new geographical information gained from Western nations; and (3) although the oldest remaining copy of Ch’ŏnhado only dates back to the seventeenth century, the map may have originated much earlier. This research provides evidence to support the argument that Ch’ŏnhado was independently developed by Koreans to reflect traditional Korean ways of understanding of the world.