Triangulating Chōsen: Maps, Mapmaking, and the Land Survey in Colonial Korea

Abstract

History records many foolish notions regarding the shape of the earth. Although it is stated that Pythagoras and Thales taught that the earth is spherical, their teaching was without avail, as for nine centuries the shape of the earth was the subject of all kinds of theories.… The triangulation and the astronomic observations.… made by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey furnish the most valuable data for the determination of the figure of the earth that have been contributed by any one nation. Each civilized nation maintains an organization for similar purposes.

Imperial Practice and the Making of Modern Japan's Territory: Towards a Reconsideration of Empire’s Boundaries

“…In terms of land itself, of mapping territories into the Japanese Empire, the cartographic production undertaken by the kaitakushi was of obvious significance in other areas of the Empire. While areas of Japan already under cultivation underwent a Land Tax Reform during the years 1873-1881, the surveying of these newly opened lands of Hokkaido provided not only the techniques, but also the pattern of institutional arrangements that would subsequently be utilized in the cadastral surveys that were later undertaken in Okinawa (1898-1903), Taiwan (1898-1905, Korea (1910Korea ( -1918 and Kwantung (1914Kwantung ( -1924 (Fedman 2012;Kobayashi 2012). While those undertaken within Japan proper relied on local officials and the inhabitants themselves, the latter surveys were all carried out by specialized staff as part of the local administration.…”

Mapping the Elephant

“…30 David Fedman has surveyed the role of cartography in extending Japanese colonial power into Korea. 31 Tessa Morris-Suzuki, likewise, has recently provided us with a "view from the forests" to show how Japanese imperial forest ecology impacted the colonial countryside as well as the lives of people outside the realm of colonial modernity in the city. 32 Fortunately, a much larger base of research on Japanese colonial architecture, urban planning, and railways in the formal colonies of Taiwan and Korea exists in Japanese, Chinese, and Korean.…”

Imperial Cartography in East Asia from the Late 18^th Century to the Early 20^th Century: An Overview

“…The Japanese Land Survey conducted a survey employing first-order : 456 457 also exhibited similar features to the initial survey conducted during the 1910s. Therefore, it seems erroneous to describe the application of triangulation in cadastral survey in Korea as a symbol of "scientific" imperial innovation Fedman 2012 . It was adopted from a practical point of view to advance land administration and tax collection.…”