Spatial changes in Mok-p'o City and the neighboring district in Korean Peninsula under Japanese Rule: Analyzing the cadasters and cadastral maps

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to show the basic structures of land use and land tenure on the old foreign settlement district and the neighboring district (former villages) in Korean open port city under Japanese rule, and to consider how and why they have changed during this period. This study on Mok-p'o City in South Cheol-la Province especially investigates how the state of land tenure had influenced on the changes of land use by analyzing the cadasters and cadastral maps. This study also intends to examine the relation between the spatial changes of the study area and the town planning under Japanese rule. The results are summarized as follows: 1. In the study area, the forests and farmlands had spread on the slopes of mountains in the neighboring district, and the residential land had developed on the lowland of the neighboring district and in the whole old foreign settlement district. From the point of view of land tenure, in the beginning of 1910s, many land lots in the neighboring district were owned by Korean, and the residential land lots in the old foreign settlement district were clearly occupied by some of Japanese. However in neighboring district, the forests and farmland near the old foreign settlement district tended to be owned by a few Japanese who lived in the old foreign settlement district. 2. In the study area under Japanese rule, the ratio of land owned by each race had almost not changed both in the neighboring district and in old foreign settlement district. But, in the neighboring district, some of land ownership had gradually come into the people who had not lived in the neighborhood, and the land owners often had got not to be agree with the inhabitants consequently. On the other hands, in the old foreign settlement district, the land owners had got to be in agreement with the inhabitants, because the land ownerships had been gradually subdivided into many Japanese and the other who lived in these lands. 3. Under Japanese rule, the changes of land use were generally limited in the neighboring district. In this district, the forests and farmland owned by few Japanese near the old foreign settlement district had become residential land. And the infrastructure such as irrigation canals and new roads had been constructed in a short time while replacing the lands owned by Korean who not lived in the neighborhood. However, in the lands owned by the people who lived there, whether by Japanese or not, the construction of infrastructure by town planning had not gone on well. As a result, the land lots which had come to be owned by absentee landowners, who had easily changed their land use in the study area under Japanese rule. © 2003, The Human Geographical Society of Japan. All rights reserved.