1910년대 경부선 개통과 도시성격의 변화 - 경상북도 金泉을 중심으로 -

Abstract

This study is purposed to examine the change of Kimcheon area due to the laying of the Seoul-Busan railway. In other word, I intend to search how the construction of Kyeongbu rail line and the establishment of new commodity circulation network led to a change of the local commodities in North Kyeongsang, and according to that, Kincheon city changed its urban function. Kimcheon region located on the border of North Kyeongsang, North Cheolla and North Chungcheong provinces was active in the circulation of wares from the late Choseon dynasty. Kimcheon had one of the five big markets in the then Korea. The city, however, was a little distant from the Nakdong River as the existing line of transportation in North Kyeongsang province. At that time, most of the goods were carried by the help of cattle, horses and porters to Kimcheon through Waekwan and Nakdong towns of the Nakdong River basin. After the opening of the Kyeongbu railroad, Kimcheon was the largest entrepot second only to Taegu in North Kyeongsang province. With the new rail line built, Japanese immigrants in particular promoted the local commerce positively. They at first set up their own shops and the Busan-based branch offices in Kimcheon and then began to acquire the commercial supremacy. They strove to make Kimcheon city into a trading center of Japanese colony through civic improvement, market relocation and so forth. Because of economic cause and a high rate of Japanese residents, Kimcheon was a specific sub-county in 1917. Rice and soybean were mainly shipped by rail from Kimcheon, table salt and marine products being introduced into the city. Being carried from the neighboring cities of Yeongdong, Chupongnyeong, Sangju and Keochang, the former was again exported to the big cities of Busan, Kyeongseong and Taegu. The latter was shipped from Kimcheon to Yeongdong, Hwangdong, Chupongnyeong and Yakmok. The volume of commodities increased rapidly in Kimcheon after 1918 when a light railway was built between Taegu and Pohang. And from this time, Japanese immigrants were main agents of commercial activities there in the Korean's place. Therefore, Kimcheon was a produce distributing center of Japanese colony, various local products from the northern area of North Kyeongsang being imported and exported through the Seoul-Busan and Taegu-Pohang lines, and a network of improved roads.