태평양의 발견: 그 바다 이름의 생성.전파와 조선에의 정착

Abstract

It is a hard and demanding job to trace the origin and spread of a certain word, which at times is even impossible. This paper consists of three chapters. The first chapter examines geographical discoveries led by Europeans from the 15th to 18th centuries and the resulting creation and evolution of the word Pacific Ocean. The second chapter deals with the way geographical appellations regarding the Pacific Ocean were translated and circulated while the world maps made by Europeans since the 16th century were remade in Chinese once they were introduced into China. The third chapter discusses how Western-style world mapsmade in China and Japan were introduced into Chosun and the word Pacific Ocean was accepted and used. The last chapter focuses on the influence of Meiji Japan on Chosun’s intellectuals since Chosun opened a port to Japan in 1876 and the result of the Sino-Japanese War in 1894. In summary, as Japan that had been actively accepting the Western culture through the Pacific Ocean defeated the Qing Dynasty in a war, thousands of years of Chinese world order collapsed, and consequently Chosun’s ruling class and intellectuals began to have growing interest in adopting the Western culture by way of sea, instead of land. At the same time, the word Pacific Ocean, the name of a sea, took root in Chosun society.