Before the World War II, many of the maps of Korea and its cities were made by Japanese cartographers. Many private maps started being made, especially at around the time of the First Sino-Japanese War (1894), owing to Japan’s increased interest in the Korean Peninsula. However, scarcely any modern surveys were conducted in the Korean Peninsula before 1910, and owing to insufficient information, there were cases in which old maps of Korea from the Joseon period were used as a second-best policy. High-quality old maps were produced in the Korean Peninsula from the eighteenth century onward. Using maps of Korea and Seoul from around 1890 to 1910 as examples, the objective of this research report is to shed light on the influence of old maps. This research will lead to reveal the continuity between modern maps and old maps.

Among the modern maps of Korea drawn by Japanese cartographers, the first is the “Chosen-zenzu” (map of Korea), which was produced in 1875 by the Army General Staff. Private maps of Korea then started being produced during the 1890s. Because modern surveys had not been conducted, the cartographers referred to nautical charts drawn in Europe and America and maps of Asia made in Qing China, in addition to old maps of Korea. Dae-dong-yo-ji-do (map of Eastern Land,) which was the most well known of the old maps of Korea from the Joseon period, influenced a number of modern maps of Korea. In particular, the geographical information recorded in the old maps, such as topography, place names, and roads, was widely utilized by cartographers.

Maps of Seoul, on the other hand, started being drawn as sections of the modern maps of Korea. As they were large in scale, city maps were particularly difficult to make in a time when modern surveys had not yet been conducted. For this reason, simplistic old maps containing scarce information were initially used. Later, the “Han-yang-do” (map of Seoul), which appeared in the Dae-dong-yo-ji-do, became widely used. Until modern surveys started being conducted, most of the maps of Seoul made by Japanese cartographers were based on the Han-yang-do.