Jeollabuk-do (North Jeolla) is a province in the southwest of South Korea. The province was formed in 1896 from the northern half of the former Jeolla province, remained a province of Korea until the country's division in 1945, then became part of South Korea. The provincial capital is located at Jeonju, which was the capital of all of Jeolla before 1896.
[edit] Geography
The province is part of the Honam region, and is bounded on the west by the Yellow Sea, on the north by Chungcheongnam-do, on the south by Jeollanam-do, and on the east by Gyeongsangbuk-do and Gyeongsangnam-do. The Noryeong Mountains divide the province. The eastern half is a plateau, the western one a plain. Through the plain in the west flow four rivers: Somjin, Mankyong, Tongjin, and Geum.
- For pictures of some scenery of Jeollabuk-do, view the article Namwon.
[edit] Resources
The western plain in Jeollabuk-do is one of the largest granaries of South Korea. Apart from rice, important products include cotton, barley, hemp, and paper mulberry which is used for the paper in traditional sliding doors. Cattle breeding is important in the eastern plateau.
[edit] Transportation and industry
In the 1960s the Honam highway (which has since been upgraded to the Honam Expressway) was built. This created an industrial belt, connecting the cities of Iri (now called Iksan) and Gunsan (a port city) with the provincial capital of Jeonju.
[edit] Administrative divisions
Jeollabuk-do is divided into 6 cities ("Si" or "Shi") and 8 counties ("Gun"). The names below are given in English, Hangul, and Hanja.
[edit] Cities
[edit] Counties
[edit] Significance in History
The Donghak Rebellion of 1894 began in the former unfied Jeolla province, which was a peasant revolt fueled by religious fervor of a coming local "messiah" (the Donghak Movement centering around the religious figure of Gang Il-Sun) and protest over Seoul's high taxes on rice. It was this event which caused Seoul to ask China for military assistance, after which the Japanese invaded presumably out of fear of Chinese ownership of the peninsula, thus beginning the Japanese Occupation of Korea and giving birth to Japanese territorial aggrandizement of the rest of far east Asia which some historians say led to the later wars of the 20th century.
