Osan () is a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

Gyeonggi Gyeonggi-do (, ) is the most populous province in South Korea. Its name, ''Gyeonggi'', means "京 (the capital) and 畿 (the surrounding area)". Thus, ''Gyeonggi-do'' can be translated as "Seoul and the surrounding areas of Seoul". Seoul, the na ...

Province,

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

, approximately south of

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

. The population of the city is around 200,000. The local economy is supported by a mix of agricultural and industrial enterprises. It is famous for one of the largest markets in South Korea,

Osan Market Osan () is a city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea, approximately south of Seoul. The population of the city is around 200,000. The local economy is supported by a mix of agricultural and industrial enterprises. It is famous for one of the lar ...

, which has been in continuous operation since 1792. The city was the scene of the first battle between the US and North Korea during the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

in 1950; there is a statue and museum dedicated to UN forces on the outskirts of the city. The

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

base named after the city,

Osan Air Base Hanja:) , partof = , location = , nearest_town = Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province , country = South Korea , image = Osan Air Base 51 FW F-16 A-10 Flyby.jpg , alt = US Air Force F-16C Fighting Falcon and A-1 ...

, is not actually located in the city, but is instead south, in the

Songtan Songtan is an area in the northern end of Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggido, South Korea. Songtan achieved city status in its own right in 1981, five years earlier than Pyeongtaek, but merged, along with Pyeongtaek County, into Pyeongtaek City in May 199 ...

district (formerly a separate city) of

Pyeongtaek Pyeongtaek () is a city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. Located in the southwestern part of the province, Pyeongtaek was founded as a union of two districts in 940, during the Goryeo dynasty. It was elevated to city status in 1986 and is home to ...

. Osan Station is a large subway station located in the heart of Osan. It is part of the

Seoul Subway Line 1 Seoul Metropolitan Subway Line 1 of the Seoul Metropolitan Subway is a rapid transit and commuter rail line which links central Seoul, South Korea to Soyosan Station in the northeast, Incheon in the southwest, and Sinchang (Soonchunhyang Univ.) ...

and the

KTX Korea Train eXpress (), often known as KTX (), is South Korea's high-speed rail system, operated by Korail. Construction began on the high-speed line from Seoul to Busan in 1992. KTX services were launched on April 1, 2004. From Seoul Station the ...

. There is a bus terminal next to the subway station and many buses stop in front of the subway station.

Name

Osan came to be called by its current name in 1914, at the time of a general reorganization of local governments under Japanese rule. At that time it became Osan-myeon, part of

Suwon Suwon (, ) is the capital and largest city of Gyeonggi-do, South Korea's most populous province which surrounds Seoul, the national capital. Suwon lies about south of Seoul. It is traditionally known as "The City of Filial Piety". With a populati ...

. This name in turn was taken from that of a local stream, the Osancheon. However, prior to the Japanese occupation, the name had been rendered in

hanja Hanja (Hangul: ; Hanja: , ), alternatively known as Hancha, are Chinese characters () used in the writing of Korean. Hanja was used as early as the Gojoseon period, the first ever Korean kingdom. (, ) refers to Sino-Korean vocabulary, wh ...

as 鰲山, meaning "

soft-shelled turtle The Trionychidae are a taxonomic family of a number of turtle genera, commonly known as softshell turtles. The family was erected by Leopold Fitzinger in 1826. Softshells include some of the world's largest freshwater turtles, though many can ad ...

mountain." Because of the complexity of the 鰲 ("o") character, and because

crow A crow is a bird of the genus ''Corvus'', or more broadly a synonym for all of ''Corvus''. Crows are generally black in colour. The word "crow" is used as part of the common name of many species. The related term "raven" is not pinned scientifical ...

s were abundant in the area, the Japanese changed the name to 烏山, meaning "crow mountain school."

Statistics

* based on the data created in dec 2011

Administrative districts

The administrative districts of Osan City consists of six administrative districts and 24 legal districts. Osan City has a population of 228,111 and 97,348 households as of the end of June 2020.

Climate

Osan has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

: ''Dwa''), but can be considered a borderline

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

(

: ''Cwa'') using the isotherm.

Sister cities

* Hidaka, Saitama, Japan *

Ürümqi Ürümqi ( ; also spelled Ürümchi or without umlauts), formerly known as Dihua (also spelled Tihwa), is the capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the far northwest of the People's Republic of China. Ürümqi developed its ...

Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...

, China * Killeen,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, U.S. *

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, U.S. *

Qazvin Qazvin (; fa, قزوین, , also Romanized as ''Qazvīn'', ''Qazwin'', ''Kazvin'', ''Kasvin'', ''Caspin'', ''Casbin'', ''Casbeen'', or ''Ghazvin'') is the largest city and capital of the Province of Qazvin in Iran. Qazvin was a capital of the ...

, Iran

Economy

Kyochon Kyochon F&B Co., Ltd. () is a South Korean fried-chicken restaurant chain. Founded in 1991, Kyochon is one of the largest Korean fried-chicken restaurants in South Korea. Kyochon operates some restaurants in the United States as well. Kyochon h ...

, a fried chicken chain, has its head office in Osan.Contact
"

. Retrieved on November 3, 2009.

References

External links

City government website

City Council website
{{Authority control Cities in Gyeonggi Province