Russian Exploration in Korean Peninsula since 19th Century: Focusing on ｢KOPEИ｣

Abstract

One of the areas of interest that Russian Empire had in Korea was its value as a stable source of food especially beef, as seen in Garin’s travel journal and KOPEИ. Russia named about 200 marine and coastal features of the East Sea via exploration. Most of place names have disappeared, but some remain as marine names near Primorsky state, so toponym users can find those names such as Bukhta Reid Pallada and Zaliv Posiet (Posiet Bay) through Google Earth service. The survey of inland areas seemed to be as an important part as the survey of coastal areas. It is believed that the KOPEИ expresses the direction of the Russian government's interest in Korea. Besides the contents of history, language, administration, and political systems, the contents of the KOPEИ will be sufficiently important enough for geographical research on Korean physical geography, Korea territory, as well as economy and trade until the 19th century.