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Jeju do (Cheju do) - History |
Cheju
is a volcanic island formed 2 million years ago. It's assumed that Cheju of
today was formed by the repeated change of state, being a part of continent and
an island brought by volcanic activities, sea level changes from glaciation and
crustal activity.
It's assumed that people have lived in Cheju island since the palaeolithic age,
seen on the basis of the remains and assets found in various locations starting
from the old stone age's cave remains in Ville pond of Ouum-ri through neolithic
age's remains of Gosan-ri to earthenware age's remains of Sangmo-ri.
The
age of the country's foundation is not known, although there is a
founding legend of the island's people.
According to this legend, three demigods Ulna, Yang Ulna and Boo Ulna emerged
from a spot called Mohunghyol (today's Samsonghyol) dressed in the skins of
animals and lived a life of hunting. These three demigods married three
princesses, who came in a wooden box from the country of Pyongnang. They brought
seeds of five grains and domesticated animals with them with which they started
farming and pasturing.
In
the ancient times, there were tribal countries called Juho, Supra, Tammora and
Tamra but they were not any big kingdoms or highly developed civilizations.
Later, three brothers, Hu, Chong and Kye were received
by the ancient kingdom of Shilla (57 B.C. 935 A.D.) during which time the
name 'Tamna' came into use. Tamna, in fact, became a tribute nation to Silla.
According to records, during the period of the three Kingdoms--'Koguryo', 'Paekje'
and 'Shilla' -- the 'Tamna' Nation -- whether it was independent or belonged to one
of the three kingdoms -- maintained diplomatic relations with those countries
and maintained its separate culture and history until the Koryo Dynasty. In
1105, Tamna was incorporated into Koryo as Tamna-gun although the ruling title
of Wangja continued to be maintained and continued to control the island. In
that time, the name of 'Cheju' first appeared. After that, Koryo was attacked by
Won of China and the Sambeulcho (Name of army) resisted in Cheju. Therefore,
Cheju has had a hard time of being ruled by Mongolia's general management
department for 100 years in Wonjong (1273 A.D.).
During
the Koryo period (935-1392) and the Yi dynasty (1392-1910), it was used
as a place of political exile and for grazing horses. The Dutch seaman Hendrik
Hamel, the first Westerner known to have visited Korea, drifted to the island in
1653 and introduced it to the West by the name of Quelpart.
Cheju was promoted to Do (Province), separated from South Cholla-Do today after
going through the Japanese colonial period.
