10 ATLASES
History of South Korea in maps
South Korea as it appears in 10 interactive history atlases, from 1206 to 2000: Goryeo, Korea, South Korea, Chōsen — Japanese Korea, Chosen — Japanese Korea. Each era below lists who ruled the land and when control changed, linked to the dated map that shows it.
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What was South Korea before it was South Korea? The sections below follow this land through every era covered by the Maps of History atlases: who ruled it, what it was called, and when control changed. Each line links to the dated map. Modern borders serve as an approximation, as each atlas says on the map itself.
Goryeo (mod. South Korea) · Mongol Empire
The southern half of the peninsula belonged to the same vassal kingdom of Goryeo as the north. Its royal house survived through marriage into the khan’s family, while the kingdom retained autonomy in exchange for tribute, troops and ships. These terms show how Goryeo used diplomacy to seek survival as a small state between empires.
| Other settled powers (Jin China, Christendom, Delhi) — the opening position | |
| Tributaries & vassals |
MONGOL EMPIRE: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Korea (Japanese from 1910) · Industrial Revolution
Japanese gunboats opened Korea in 1876 through a treaty modeled on those the West had forced on Japan. Japan made Korea a protectorate in 1905 and annexed it in 1910. Railways and a colonial land survey turned Korean farms toward feeding Japan, and many Koreans lost their land. Korean resistance continued throughout the colonial period.
| Opened by force or treaty — the opening position | |
| Opened by force or treaty | |
| Colony or dependency |
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Korea (Joseon, then Japanese Chōsen; mod. South Korea) · Meiji Japan and post-Soviet Russia
The Joseon dynasty had ruled Korea since 1392 when Japanese gunboats opened the country in 1876. China and Japan fought over Korea in 1894, followed by Russia and Japan in 1904. Japan made it a protectorate in 1905 and annexed it in 1910, but righteous armies continued to resist for years. Memories of colonization still shape relations with Japan. On the Eurasia map South Korea appears as an American ally, divided from the North since 1945.
| Independent neighbours — the opening position | |
| Domains, vassals, protectorates | |
| Meiji Japan and its empire |
MEIJI JAPAN AND POST-SOVIET RUSSIA: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
South Korea · WWI
| Entente-aligned & imperial territories — the opening position | |
| Entente-aligned & imperial territories |
Chōsen — Japanese Korea (mod. South Korea) · Chinese Revolution
Under Japanese rule, Chōsen offered China a view of a possible colonial future. The March First movement of 1919, two months before May Fourth, inspired the latter movement; its suppression caused hundreds of deaths. Korean guerrillas, including Kim Il-sung, fought Japan alongside Chinese Communists in Manchuria, while Korean conscripts and laborers served across the empire’s wars. Liberation in 1945 brought division at the 38th parallel. Within a year of the atlas’s last frame, the new Chinese state was fighting a war on the peninsula.
| The Empire of Japan & its puppets — the opening position | |
| Foreign empires — British, French, Russian, American |
CHINESE REVOLUTION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Korea (south) · Stalin’s Soviet Union
| Rivals & the Western bloc — the opening position |
STALIN’S SOVIET UNION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Chosen — Japanese Korea · Road to WW2
| The aggressors (Japan, Germany, Italy) — the opening position |
ROAD TO WW2: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
South Korea · WW2
Korea had been a Japanese colony since 1910. Its people were conscripted as laborers and soldiers, and women were forced into military brothels. Liberation in 1945 brought a new division: Soviet and American zones met at the 38th parallel (Ch. 14), leaving a wound that remains unhealed.
| Axis powers — the opening position | |
| Western Allies |
South Korea · Cold War
Liberation in 1945 left Korea partitioned, although nobody had planned to keep the division. The South was invaded in 1950 and saved at Pusan and Inchon; since 1953 the division has been frozen behind the DMZ (Ch. 4). Postwar South Korea was poor, authoritarian, and garrisoned by the United States. It nevertheless built an industrial democracy, giving the Western column its strongest late argument.
| NATO & core Western allies — the opening position | |
| US-aligned states |
COLD WAR: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
South Korea (the Republic of Korea) · Mao’s China
American protection helped South Korea, the Republic of Korea, survive the war of 1950–53, and an American army remained stationed on its soil. Beijing regarded South Korea as a client of the United States and had no relations with it throughout the Mao years. From the 1960s rapid industrial growth under the military ruler Park Chung-hee offered a contrasting model of authoritarian development on China’s doorstep.
| Beijing’s adversaries — the opening position |
MAO’S CHINA: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
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