Outer old Seoul or ''Seongjeosimni'' (

Hangul The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The let ...

: 성저십리,

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 ...

: 城底十里) was the area 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 ...

located outside of the Fortress Wall but within the

city limits City limits or city boundaries refer to the defined boundary or border of a city. The area within the city limit can be called the city proper. Town limit/boundary and village limit/boundary apply to towns and villages. Similarly, corporate limi ...

during the

Joseon Joseon (; ; Middle Korean: 됴ᇢ〯션〮 Dyǒw syéon or 됴ᇢ〯션〯 Dyǒw syěon), officially the Great Joseon (; ), was the last dynastic kingdom of Korea, lasting just over 500 years. It was founded by Yi Seong-gye in July 1392 and re ...

period. Outer old Seoul corresponds to the island of

Yeouido Yeouido (Hangul: 여의도, en, Yoi Island or Yeoui Island) is a large island (or eyot) on the Han River (Korea), Han River in Seoul, South Korea. It is Seoul's main finance and investment banking district. Its 8.4 square kilometers are home to ...

and present-day Seoul city districts of Eunpyeong,

Mapo MAPO - the Moscow Aircraft Production Association (russian: Московское авиационное производственное объединение, Moskovskoye aviatsionnoye proizvodstvennoye obyedineniye) was a major Russian state-owne ...

Seodaemun Seodaemun District (, "Great West Gate") is one of the 25 districts of Seoul, South Korea. Seodaemun has a population of 313,814 (2010) and has a geographic area of 17.61 km2 (6.8 sq mi), and is divided into 14 '' dong'' (administrative neigh ...

Yongsan Yongsan District (, ) is one of the 25 districts of Seoul, South Korea. Yongsan has a population of 231,685 (2020) and has a geographic area of , and is divided into 19 '' dong'' (administrative neighborhoods). Yongsan is located in central Seoul ...

Dongdaemun Heunginjimun, literally "Gate of Rising Benevolence" or more commonly known as Dongdaemun, is one of The Eight Gates of Seoul in the Fortress Wall of Seoul, a prominent landmark in central Seoul, South Korea. The Korean name "Dongdaemun" means "Gr ...

, Seongbuk, Gangbuk, and Seongdong.

History

Outer old Seoul was official territory of ''Hanseong-bu'' (한성부), the capital city of Joseon, meaning it did not belong to the two surrounding counties around old Seoul -

Goyang Goyang (''Goyang-si''; ) is a city in Gyeonggi Province in the north of South Korea. It is part of the Seoul Capital Area, making Goyang one of Seoul's satellite cities. It is one of the largest cities in the Seoul Capital Area, with a populatio ...

and

Yangju Yangju () is a city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. Yangju is located south of Dongducheon and north of Uijeongbu, not far from Seoul. History * 1395 - Renamed to Yangju. * January 1, 1963 - Uijeongbu is separated and becomes a city. * Apr ...

- but surrounded the

urbanized ''Urbanized'' is a documentary film directed by Gary Hustwit and released on 26 October 2011. It is considered the third of a three-part series on design known as the Design Trilogy; the first being ''Helvetica'', about the typeface, and the seco ...

Inner old Seoul, often referred as "the inside area of the

Eight Gates of Seoul The Eight Gates of Seoul are eight historical gates that were located in the Fortress Wall of Seoul, South Korea, which surrounded the city in the Joseon Dynasty. Six of these gates exist today (2018). All eight gates were originally built betwee ...

" or ''Sadaemun-an'' (사대문안). Unlike Inner old Seoul, the number of residents was relatively smaller and predominantly

rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are describ ...

in character, with city authorities maintaining the region as a

green belt A green belt is a policy and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges, which hav ...

by making

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...

and funeral burials within the area highly regulated or prohibited. Outer old Seoul was divided into several districts or ''Bang''(방) - Yeonhui (연희방), Sangpyeong (상평방), Seogang (서강방), Yongsan (용산방), Sungsin (숭신방), Inchang (인창방), and Dumo (두모방) - at the time of late Joseon. Although the exact boundary is unknown, assumed natural borders are thought to be small rivers/streams of Hongje, Ui, and Jungnang, the Han River and

Bukhansan Bukhansan (, ), or Bukhan Mountain, is a mountain on the northern periphery of Seoul, South Korea. There are three major peaks, Baegundae , Insubong , Mangyeongdae . Because of its height and the fact that it borders a considerable portion of the ...

mountain. In 1914,

Japanese colonial government The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent forma ...

transferred most of Outer old Seoul to Goyang County, with the exceptions being the small neighbourhoods of Changsin and Sungin, some eastern parts of Mapo, and western Yongsan. The Japanese used the transfer as a political scheme to minimise the city, then known as

Keijō Keijō, or Gyeongseong, was an administrative district of Chōsen that corresponds to the present Seoul, the capital of South Korea. :ko:경성부, -(Seoul of Korea under Japanese rule) Honmachi The central district of Gyeongseong was Ho ...

or ''

Gyeongseong Seoul has been known in the past by successive names, including Wiryeseong () and Hanseong (Baekje era), Bukhansangun (Goguryo era), Hanyang (North and South states period), Namgyeong (, Goryeo era), Hanyangbu (Goryeo under Mongol rule), Hanseong ...

-bu'' (경성부), but most of this area was re-incorporated into Seoul from 1936 through to 1949 after Korean independence and the establishment of

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 ...

. Outer old Seoul was urbanized during Seoul's rapid growth during the mid-to-late 20th century, and through

urban sprawl Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city." Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted growt ...

the entirety of the territory now lies within the city's single

urban area An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, t ...

References

* 최완기, 1997, <<한양>>, 서울: 교학사. (in Korean) * 고양시사편찬위원회, 2005, <<高陽市史>>, 고양: 고양시사편찬위원회. (in Korean) * 네이버 지식백과 지명편 (http://terms.naver.com/list.nhn?categoryId=2281&mobile) (in Korean) History of Seoul {{korea-stub