[KS] Earliest European account of Korea?

[gkl1 at columbia.edu]

Hi Anthony,

Father Jean-Baptiste Re'gis, S.J. (1664-1738), was a well-known member  
of the cartography team that the Kangxi Emperor recruited to survey  
the frontier areas of China, particularly in the north and northeast,  
but also other of the various areas of China. He and his Jesuit  
colleagues Pierre Jartoux (1669-1720), and Ehrenberg Xavier Fridelli  
(1673-1743) were sent by Kangsi in 1709 and 1710 to establish the  
border between Korea and Manchuria. Kangxi ordered that the Europeans  
remain in Fenghuangcheng-- the reception town for emabssies going  
between Seoul and Beijng. But the European instruments and Chinese and  
Manchu technicians that the Jesuits had trained to use them took the  
first geographical measurements in Seoul in 1710, and established the  
latitude and longitude of the city. The results of their work were  
represented on the famous map of Korea created to acconmpany the  
fanmous map of Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville in 1737. The  
details of these fascinating activities are given in my article,  
"Cartography in Korea," in History of Carrtography, v. 2 bk. 2 (1994).  
That article will be published in Korean translation as a book  
sometime during this Spring.

Gari Ledyard

Quoting Brother Anthony <ansonjae at sogang.ac.kr>:

> I am wondering if the 30 pages (pp 529-560) devoted to Korea in   
> Volume 4 of  the "Description g?ographique, historique,   
> chronologique, politique, et physique de l'empire de la Chine et de   
> la Tartarie chinoise etc etc"   published in 1736 by Jean-Baptiste   
> Du Halde S.J., (1674-1743) consitute the earliest 'scholarly'   
> account of Korea published in Europe (as opposed to the vivid   
> anecdotes of Hamel) and whether everyone realizes that the book is   
> available online at the Internet Archive in various formats   
> (including PDG) ?  See  :   
> http://www.archive.org/details/descriptiongog04duha   Obviously   
> Chinese works are cited as the main source for the historical   
> account but who was "Pere Regis" whose Memoires are given as the   
> source of the geographical account pp529-537?
>
> I have added this and other books in French from the Internet   
> Archive to my list of old books about Korea   
> http://hompi.sogang.ac.kr/anthony/BooksKorea.htm
>
> Brother Anthony
> Sogang University, Dankook University, RASKB
> http://hompi.sogang.ac.kr/anthony
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