History of Daegu

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Throughout and before

Joseon dynasty, the city was the administrative, economic and cultural centre of the entire Gyeongsang region, a role largely taken over now by Busan in South Gyeongsang Province
.

Prehistory and early history

Main article:
Prehistory of Korea

Archaeological investigations in the Greater Daegu area have revealed a large number of settlements and burials of the

Megalithic
burials (dolmens) have also been found in large numbers in Daegu (YICP 2002).

Daegu was absorbed into the kingdom of Silla no later than the 5th century.

Shilla

Main article: Silla

Shilla defeated the other

Samguk Sagi, but it is presumed that it indicates the entrenched resistance of the Gyeongju political elites to such a move.[2]

In the late 1990s

archaeologists
excavated a large-scale fortified Shilla site in Dongcheon-dong, Buk-gu (FPCP 2000). The site at Locality 2 consists of the remains of 39 raised-floor buildings enclosed by a formidable ditch-and-palisade system. The excavators hypothesize that the fortified site was a permanent military encampment or barracks. Archaeologists also uncovered a large Shilla village dating to the 6th to 7th centuries at Siji-dong (YUM 1999b).

The city was given its current name in 757.

Most relics of the Shilla period are found on Palgongsan around Donghwasa temple in northern Daegu. Donghwasa itself dates from the Shilla period, as does the pagoda of King Minae.

Later Three Kingdoms

Main article:
Later Three Kingdoms of Korea

During the

Wang Kŏn and those of Later Baekje under Kyŏn Hwŏn. In this battle, the forces of Goryeo were crushed and Wang Kŏn himself was saved only by the heroism of his general Sin Sung-gyŏm
. However, it appears that the conduct of the Later Baekje forces at this time changed local sympathies to favor Wang Geon.

Numerous place-names and local legends around Daegu still bear witness to the historic battle of 927. Among these are "

Ansim," which literally means "peace of mind," said to be the first place where Wang Kŏn dared to stop after escaping the battle, and "Banwol
," or half-moon, where he is said to have stopped and admired the moon before returning to Goryeo. A statue commemorating the battle now stands in northern Daegu, as does a memorial to Sin Sung-gyŏm.

Goryeo

Main article: Goryeo

The first edition of the Tripitaka Koreana was stored in Daegu, at the temple of Buinsa.[3] However, this edition was destroyed when the temple was sacked in 1254, during the Mongol invasions of Korea.[4]

Joseon

Main article:
Joseon dynasty

Always an important transportation center, in the Joseon dynasty Daegu lay on the Great Yeongnam Road which ran between Seoul and Busan. It lay at the junction of this arterial road and the roads to Gyeongju and Jinju.

In 1601, Daegu became the administrative capital of

Gyeongsang
province, and the city has been the capital of North Gyeongsang province since that province's formation in 1896.

Daegu's first regular markets were established during the late Joseon period. The most famous of these, and the only one to still be operating, is the

Yangnyeongsi herbal medicine market. This became a center of herbal trade in Joseon, and even attracted buyers from neighboring countries. Traders from Japan, who were not permitted to leave the Nakdong River
valley, hired messengers to visit the market on their behalf.

Korean Empire

Main article: Korean Empire

Korea began to open to the world in the late 19th century. In 1895, Daegu became the site of one of the country's first modern

Queen Min.[5]

Beginning in the late 1890s, many Japanese merchants and workers came to Daegu, which lay on the newly constructed Gyeongbu Line railroad connecting Seoul and Busan.

In 1905, the old

fortress wall was surreptitiously destroyed. Only one portion of this, the First Yeongnam Gate, remains, standing now in Dalseong Park. The rest of the fortress wall is remembered only through the names of the streets Dongseongno and Bukseongno
, "east fortress street" and "north fortress street," which now run where the wall once stood.

Japanese rule

Main article: Korea under Japanese rule

The

March 1st movement of 1919. At that time, four major demonstrations took place in Daegu, involving an estimated 23,000 people.[7]

The women of Daegu were active in the independence struggle, as they were elsewhere in the country. The Patriotic Women's Educational Society, or aeguk buin gyoyukhoe (애국부인교육회), was based in the city.[8] Women also took a leading role in the National Debt Repayment Movement, including the kisaeng Aengmu.

Many schools and colleges were established in Daegu, both by private organizations and by the

Japanese government. These included the government-run Daegu Normal School, later Daegu Teachers' College, which became the Teachers' College of Kyungpook National University
after 1945.

South Korea

Main article: History of South Korea

The end of Japanese rule in 1945 brought years of turbulent change to Daegu. Under the

counter-attack killing 38 policemen.[2] It was also the site of major demonstrations on February 28, 1960, prior to the fraudulent presidential election of that year.[3]

Daegu and all of North Gyeongsang saw heavy

Jeolla.[9] In November 1948, a unit in Daegu joined the mutiny which had begun in Yeosu the previous month.[10]

During the

political killings of dissenters
were widespread.

In the second half of the 20th century, the city underwent explosive growth, and the population has increased more than tenfold since the end of the Korean War. The city was heavily politically favored during the long military dictatorship of Park Chung Hee, when it and the surrounding area served as his political base. Conservative political movements remain powerful in Daegu today.

In the 1980s, Daegu became a separately administered provincial-level

Metropolitan City
(Gwangyeoksi) in 1995.

The 1995 Daegu gas explosions killed 101 people, including middle school students, become one of the worst mass casualty incidents in Korean history.

In 2003, a mentally ill man

Daegu Metropolitan Subway stopped at Jungangno station. The resulting blaze killed nearly 200 persons, making the Daegu subway fire
one of the worst disasters in South Korea since the end of the Korean War.

In 2022, an arsonist

and himself
in an office building.

On July 1, 2023, the Gunwi County of the North Gyeongsang Province integrated into Daegu. [4]

Today, Daegu is the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Korea with respect to both population and commerce.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Lee (1984), p. 76 and Shin (1999).
  2. ^ Lee (1984) and Shin (1999) both make this assumption.
  3. ^ Lee (1984), p. 131.
  4. ^ Lee (1984), p. 149.
  5. ^ Lee (1984), p. 294.
  6. ^ Lee (1984), p. 302.
  7. ^ Lee (1984), p. 343.
  8. ^ Kim (1976), p. 255
  9. ^ Lee (1984), p. 377.
  10. ^ Lee (1984), p. 384.
  11. ^ Cumings (1997), pp. 243–244.
  12. ^ Nahm (1996), p. 379.

References

  1. ^ Lee (1984), p. 377.
  2. Green Left Weekly. Archived from the original
    on 2009-08-28.
  3. ^ Lee (1984), p. 384.
  4. Yonhap news
    (in Korean). 2023-07-01. Retrieved 2023-07-01.

External links
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