서남해 연해 도서지역의 촌락발달과 경지확대과정－지도․압해도․장산도를 중심으로－

Abstract

The littoral islands in the Southwestern Sea are a part of the so-called Korean Archipelago that belongs to the administrative area of Shinan-gun, Jeonnam Province. They are not only characterized by a particular insular environment but also a unique historical and cultural background. The littoral islands in the Southwestern Sea were totally depopulated in the late Goryeo Dynasty and the early Joseon Dynasty. The depopulation of these islands was mainly due to the evacuation policy on the islands. Only after the Japanese invasion in 1592, new settlements started to form and develop on the littoral islands, with the residential area called Ӧkumene rapidly extending As compared with the adjacent and pelagic islands,the littoral islands demonstrated a dramatic increase in the population, which was directly associated with the expansion of arable land. On the littoral islands the most adequate settlement site was usually the valley which could be protected effectively from the northwestern seasonal wind during the wintertime. Once a rural settlement was located in the valley, the first stage of residential expansion occurred toward the lower altitude where people could secure the water. Then, followed the second stage of residential extension that occurred toward the locations near the arable lands. The growing number of incoming residents and their descendants, with the influx of later residents, contributed to the increase of workforce, which enabled people to build up dykes and dams for the reclamation of coastal lands. The construction of dykes and dams was accompanied by the reclamation along the coast, which in turn resolved the population pressure on the land. The villages that could overcome the population pressure have maintained a steady phase of residential expansion. Those which could not overcome the population pressure have entered a phase of stagnation and even extinction. In the Joseon Dynasty, the arable lands on the littoral islands were expanded in area within the limitation from the landform condition. During the Japanese occupation, along with the introduction of civil engineering at an advanced level, a medium-scale reclamation project was launched, connecting the subsidiary islands with the main island. After the liberation (1945), a large-scale reclamation project was actively carried out with the support from the government, companies and private school foundations