Korea
or Corea, ko-re'a, an ancient kingdom of Asia. It lies on the Pacific, northeast of China. It consists chiefly of a bit of coast and a peninsula extending southward from Manchuria. It is separated from Japan by the Japan Sea, and from China on the southwest by the Yellow Sea. It has an area a little less than that of Florida and South Carolina combined. In point of latitude it stretches from that of South Carolina to that of Central New York. The peninsula is traversed by mountains, the highest rising to an altitude of 8,000 feet. The eastern side of the ridge is covered with forests to the summit. The coast rises sheer from the water's edge for 300 or 400 miles. The western slopes are treeless and broaden out into wide, fertile plains extending down to the Yellow Sea. The capital is Seoul, on the chief river thirty miles inland. Chemulpo, at the river's mouth, is the chief port. The southern end of the peninsula is said to have a climate much like that of the Carolinas. The mountains and northern portion are more like New England. At Seoul, during three winter months, the river is frozen over sufficiently to allow the passage of carts. The average rainfall is thirty-six inches.
The country is rich in minerals. Iron, copper, gold, and silver ores abound, but the mineral output is not large. The forests contain an immense quantity of hardwood and evergreen timber suitable for lumber. The country is of great interest to the botanist. Hunters find deer and various furbearing animals, as the beaver, badger, otter, and marten. In the summer season the woods are full of birds. The forests still shelter foxes, wolves, and leopards. In the southern part of the country, longhaired tigers are still a scourge. An old tiger that has learned to eat human beings--a man-eater as he is called--does not hesitate to enter a village and even to tear off the thatched roof of the wretched mud huts of the natives in search of his prey.
Half a million dollars' worth of ginseng is collected annually in the mountains for the Chinese market. The principal crops are rice, wheat, millet, Indian corn, beans, cotton, and hemp. Cattle are the chief domestic animals. Oxen are the usual beasts of burden. There are a few small, hardy ponies. Like China, Korea is famous for poultry. A few hogs are raised.
The population is estimated variously at from 15,000,000 to 20,000,000. The people are a mixed race, allied in blood and language, however, to the Japanese and to the Chinese. Korea has been overrun repeatedly by the Chinese and by the Japanese, but managed to maintain a sort of independence. Until of late Korea was known as the "Hermit Kingdom." Foreigners were not allowed to enter. The Chinese language held much the same relation to Korean literature and to official life that French had in Germany during the reign of Frederick the Great. Missionaries who forced their way in were persecuted, even massacred. Japan was the first nation to secure the opening of a Korean port for trade. This occurred in 1876. Later, other nations were granted trading privileges. A commercial treaty was formed with the United States in 1882, with Great Britain and Germany in the following year, and with other nations soon after. In 1894 the Chinese endeavored to revive an ancient claim of protectorship over Korea. Under Japanese influence the Koreans proclaimed entire independence. In a war which followed the Japanese and Koreans defeated the Chinese utterly. The Japanese expected to absorb Korea, but Russia stepped in and, like an unjust judge deciding between two litigants, took Korea for herself. In 1905 after ten years of diligent preparation, Japan summoned Russia to evacuate. Failing to obtain a favorable response the Japanese attacked the Russians, and, after one of the pluckiest and most decisive wars in history, drove the Russians out of Korea and practically annexed the "Hermit Kingdom" to the Japanese empire. The war cost Japan $675,908,185--a large sum when we reflect that the United States bought Louisiana for $15,000,000 and Alaska for $7,200,000.