Eight Provinces of Korea

Eight Provinces
Korean Name
Revised Romanization	Paldo
McCune-Reischauer	P'aldo
Hangul	팔도
Hanja	八道

During most of the Joseon Dynasty, Korea was divided into eight provinces. The eight provinces' boundaries remained unchanged for almost five centuries until 1896, and formed a geographic paradigm that is still reflected today in the Korean Peninsula's administrative divisions, dialects, and regional distinctions.

History

The eight provinces were first formed in 1413 (the 13th year of the reign of King Taejong) and lasted until 1896 (the 33rd year of the reign of King Gojong). In the latter year, after a brief experiment with an alternative system, five of the eight provinces (Chungcheong, Jeolla, Gyeongsang, P'yŏngan, and Hamgyŏng) were divided into north and south halves.

The resulting 13 provinces—the eight traditional provinces, of which five had simply been divided in half—remained unchanged through the entire lifetime of the Korean Empire (1897-1910) and the Japanese Colonial Period (1910-1945). Since the end of World War II and the division of Korea in 1945, special cities and administrative regions and a handful of new provinces have been added in both the South and North.

(See Provinces of Korea and Special cities of Korea for more historical information. For modern-day administrative divisions, see Administrative divisions of South Korea and Administrative divisions of North Korea.)

Cultural significance

The boundaries between the eight provinces for the most part followed rivers, mountain chains, and other natural boundaries, and consequently corresponded closely to dialect and cultural divisions. Because of this natural fit between the provincial boundaries and the "real world," most of the provincial boundaries and names survive have survived in one form or another down to today, and most Koreans are keenly aware of the regional and dialect distinctions that still exist. (For example, a famous regional rivalry exists between Gyeongsang and Jeolla residents, due to historic social, economic, and political differences.) Most of the traditional provinces also had alternative regional names which are still used today (especially Honam, Yeongdong, and Yeongnam).

Modern-day usage

The term Paldo ("Eight Provinces") is itself often used as a shorthand to describe the traditional folk culture of Korea's regions. Thus, one sometimes finds such expressions as:

Paldo kimchi in reference to the many varieties of kimchi unique to particular regions of Korea;
Paldo Arirang to denote the hundreds of regional versions of the popular folk song Arirang; and
Paldo sori to broadly refer to the diversity of folk music (sori; "sounds") across Korea.

Names

With the exception of Gyeonggi (2), each province took its name from the initial Hanja (Sino-Korean characters) of two of its cities. The origin of each province's name is detailed in the table below.

Table of provinces

The table below lists the eight provinces in romanized spelling, Hangul and Hanja; the origin of their names; their capitals, dialects, and regional names; and the 13 provinces that replaced them in 1896. (The capitals and regional names are as of the mid 19th century. Since they were not official, other regional names were also used, but the ones in the table are the most widely used or representative.)

Province	Hangul	Hanja	Name Origin	Capital	Regional Name	Dialect	Post-1896 Provinces
Chungcheong	충청도	忠靑道	Chungju, Cheongju	Gongju	Hoseo (1)	Chungcheong Dialect	North Chungcheong, South Chungcheong
Gangwon	강원도	江原道	Gangneung, Wonju	Wonju	Gwandong (Yeongdong (2))	Gangwon Dialect	Gangwon
Gyeonggi	경기도	京畿道	(See note)	Hanseong (Seoul)	Gijeon (3)	Seoul Dialect	Gyeonggi
Gyeongsang	경상도	慶尙道	Gyeongju, Sangju	Daegu	Yeongnam	Gyeongsang Dialect	North Gyeongsang, South Gyeongsang
Hamgyŏng	함경도	咸鏡道	Hamhŭng, Gyeongseong	Hamhŭng	Kwanbuk (4)	Hamgyŏng Dialect	North Hamgyŏng, South Hamgyŏng
Hwanghae	황해도	黃海道	Hwangju, Haeju	Haeju	Haesŏ	Hwanghae Dialect	Hwanghae
Jeolla	전라도	全羅道	Jeonju, Naju	Jeonju	Honam	Jeolla Dialect (5)	North Jeolla, South Jeolla
P'yŏngan	평안도	平安道	P'yŏngyang, Anju	P'yŏngyang	Kwansŏ	P'yŏngan Dialect	North P'yŏngan, South P'yŏngan

Notes

<id="1">1. Pronounced "Ho-soh," not "Ho-zay-oh," as the spelling might suggest.

2

"Yeongdong" is often used to refer to the region as a whole, but strictly applies to the eastern half of the province, "Yeongseo" being the name for the western half.

3

The province's name literally means "area" (gi; 畿) around the "capital" (Gyeong; 京), referring to the royal capital Hanseong (modern-day Seoul). The regional name "Gijeon" is obsolete. The 20th-century term "Sudogwon" ("Capital Region") is used today to denote the Seoul-Incheon conurbation and that part of Gyeonggi Province that forms part of the same built-up, urban area.

4

The south half of the province was sometimes referred to as "Kwannam," in which case "Kwanbuk" denoted the north half of the province.

5

The distinctive Jeju Dialect is used on Jeju Island, which became a separate province in 1946.