Created by Ted Mitchell
 
Summer 2008 Study Tour sponsored by the Korea Foundation

Alan Shawn Feinstein Middle School of Coventry
www.asfms.net
www.mitchellteachers.org
 

Interactive Map of Seoul

"Seoul has a rich history which dates back to the BC 18. The 2000 years illustrious history of the city has witnessed many rulers and rules governing the city.The dynamic city of South Korea have been its capital of Korean Peninsula ever since it was established. History of Seoul is as illustrious as its present, lively and happening!

As history beckons traces of life in the place which is presently called Seoul was first found during the Paleolithic Age along the lower basin of the Han River. More archeological excavations have concluded that humans started to settle down in the adjoining areas of Seoul from the Neolithic age. The historic sites found at the Amsa -dong (village), Gangdong-gu (district) have shown traces of presence of lives which are believed to be about 3,000 to 7,000 years old. The population settlement started to move from the lower reaches to the inlands from BC 700 with the introduction of the bronze ware.

Seoul was first documented with the name of Wiryeseong as the capital of the Baekje dynasty in BC 18. The present day Seoul still bears some of the architectures of that period as various city walls. Pungnap Toseong, a wall of that age on the eastern front lying just outside Seoul, is believed to be the main site of Seoul or Wiryeseong.

After the Baekje dynasty the powers got shifted to the 'Three Kingdom Era' as the three kingdoms competed for the supremacy in the Korean Peninsula. The administrative control passed on to Goguryeo from Baekje in BC 392, thereafter to the Silla-Baekje alliance in BC 551.

It was in the late 19th century Seoul first opened its doors to the foreigners. That was the time Seoul was moving towards modernization after hundreds of years of isolation. Seoul developed as the first city in East Asia to have access to electricity, trolley cars, water, telephone, and telegraph systems simultaneously. The trade with United States of America helped in the development of the country to a great extent. The country once served as a colony to Japan during the years of (1910-1945). Seoul still remained the capital." (Asia Rooms)