The Hyeongsan River is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

in southeastern

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 ...

. It flows from Baeyanggol Valley (배양골), Wolpyeong-ri (월평리/), Dudong-myeon (두동면/),

Ulju County Ulju County ( ko, 울주군; Hanja: 蔚州郡; ''Ulju-gun'') is a county occupying much of western Ulsan, South Korea. Administrative divisions * Beomseo-eup * Eonyang-eup * Onsan-eup *Onyang-eup * Cheongnyang-eup * Dudong-myeon * Duseo-myeon * ...

Ulsan Ulsan (), officially the Ulsan Metropolitan City is South Korea's seventh-largest metropolitan city and the eighth-largest city overall, with a population of over 1.1 million inhabitants. It is located in the south-east of the country, neighboring ...

to the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it h ...

, covering a distance of about 62 km. The Hyeongsan watershed covers roughly 1,167 km² (Jo 1987:35). The Hyeongsan flows north from near the northern border of Greater

into Gyeongju city, where it enters the

Gyeongju Basin The Gyeongju Basin is a landform in Gyeongju city, North Gyeongsang province, South Korea. It forms part of the watershed of the Hyeongsan River, which flows north through the basin where it is joined by the Bukcheon, Namcheon, Daecheon, and Sogy ...

and is joined by the Bukcheon stream (북천/), a major tributary. It continues north into

Pohang Pohang () is a city in the province of North Gyeongsang, South Korea, and a main seaport in the Daegu-Gyeongbuk region. The built-up area of Pohang is located on the alluvium of the mouth of the Hyeongsan River. The city is divided into two wa ...

city, and in Angang-eup of Pohang it is joined by the Gigyecheon flowing from the north and turns abruptly eastward. From there runs east and slightly north until it meets the Sea of Japan at Pohang Harbor. The

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...

of the Hyeongsan has been covered by the massive

industrial Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...

development around the port of Pohang, including the

POSCO POSCO (formerly Pohang Iron and Steel Company) is a South Korean steel-making company headquartered in Pohang, South Korea. It had an output of of crude steel in 2015, making it the world's fourth-largest steelmaker by this measure. In 2010, i ...

steel mill A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-finish ...

History

The Hyeongsan is primarily notable for the

Silla Silla or Shilla (57 BCE – 935 CE) ( , Old Korean: Syera, Old Japanese: Siraki2) was a Korean kingdom located on the southern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula. Silla, along with Baekje and Goguryeo, formed the Three Kingdoms of K ...

civilization which arose within its valley, centered at Gyeongju. Middle

Jeulmun Pottery Period The Jeulmun pottery period is an archaeological era in Korean prehistory broadly spanning the period of 8000–1500 BC. This period subsumes the Mesolithic and Neolithic cultural stages in Korea,Choe and Bale 2002 lasting ca. 8000–35 ...

potsherds have been unearthed in the Hyeongsan Basin. Several significant

Mumun The Mumun pottery period is an archaeological era in Korean prehistory that dates to approximately 1500-300 BC. This period is named after the Korean name for undecorated or plain cooking and storage vessels that form a large part of the potter ...

settlements arose along the river after 1100 BC, notably Wolsan-ri and Hwangseong-dong (FPCP 2005; GNRICH 2003).

Economy

Today the Hyeongsan continues to play a role in local

transport Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, an ...

, as it has for thousands of years. Although very little boat traffic is found on the river, the river valley still provides an important transportation corridor. Highways connecting Ulsan, Gyeongju and Pohang follow the river's course, as does the

Donghae Nambu Line The Donghae Nambu Line is a railway line connecting Busan to Pohang in South Korea. The line runs along South Korea's east coast. On December 30, 2016, it was merged into Donghae Line. History On October 31, 1918, an extension of the Daegu Line ...

passenger railway from Gyeongju to Pohang. The sprawling industrial facilities of Pohang Iron and Steel (POSCO) and INI Steel are located in Pohang just south of the mouth of the Hyeongsan. The eastern bank of the river in the suburbs north of the old city of Gyeongju are the home to many industrial facilities.

Gallery

File:Korea-Gyeongju-Namcheon Stream near Gyeongju National Museum-01.jpg, Namcheon Stream in Gyeongju, a tributary steam of Hyeongsan River File:Korea-Gyeongju-Bukcheon Stream-01.jpg, Bukcheon Stream in Gyeongju, a tributary steam of Hyeongsan River File:Korea-Gyeongju-Bukcheon Stream-1.jpg, Bukcheon Stream from Subukjamsugyo Bridge.

References

*FPCP (Foundation for the Preservation of Cultural Properties) 2005. ''Gyeongju Hwangseong-dong Yujeok II~IV''. Report of the Research of Antiquities Vol. 171. FPCP, Gyeongju. *GNRICH (Gyeongju National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage) 2003. ''Gyeongju Wolseong-ri Yujeok''. GNRICH, Gyeongju. *Jo, Hwa-ryeong 1987. ''Hanguk-eui Chungjeok Pyeongya'' lluvial Plains of Korea Gyohak Yeongusa, Seoul. {{coord missing, South Korea Rivers of North Gyeongsang Province Rivers of Ulsan Gyeongju Pohang Ulju County Rivers of South Korea

History

Economy

Gallery

See also

References