Jeju Island, Korea's biggest volcanic island, jutting out of the sea across from the southernmost part of the peninsula, is known for being rich in history and tradition, as well as for its magnificent natural sights.

That’s why many tourists, not just from home, but from abroad, too, are constantly coming across the sea to see the beauty of the island firsthand.

However, how did ancient Westerners view the island?

Some Westerners left behind written records of their expeditions to the island between the late 18th and early 20th centuries.

Recently, a collection of seven narratives among those records so far discovered was published under the title of, “Seven Accounts of Jeju-do Published in Western Countries.”



The volume features a total of 330 pages, both in English and French, and shows the way in which the ancient travelers looked at and felt about the island, as well as what they saw during their trip.

The seven accounts cover expeditions to Jeju that took place between 1787 and 1936, with one written in French and the rest in English.

Among the narratives, there’s “Voyage from Quelpart Island [Jeju Island] up to Dagelet Island [Ulleungdo Island]” by Laperouse, a French adventurer and naval officer who encountered the island on his voyage around the world on May 21, 1787. Laperouse recorded his trip, navigating around the southernmost tip of the peninsula for five days.



“In the middle of the island, a two kilometer-high mountain towers high. The land advances toward the coast and houses here are formed in a terraced manner across the region,” the French traveler said.

“Looking through a telescope, I can see fields divided in an orderly manner and farm produce of various colors adding more vitality and colors to the island,” he recorded.

“This place prohibits any entry of non-Korean travelers at all,” he said, “And there’s a story that a group of Dutch survivors, who were shipwrecked off the island, managed to escape after being detained here for 18 years,” quoting part of the famous journal of Hendrick Hamel, the first Westerner to land on Korean soil after being cast away during his expedition.”



British sailor and painter Frank Marryat wrote first-hand about his trip to the island in “Account of the Visit to Quelpart.” In his story, he recorded what he saw and how he felt during his adventure into the unknown world, as he joined a voyage to explore the world led by Admiral Edward Belcher of the British Royal Navy from 1843 to 1846.

“This island is home to numerous hills in many forms, whether they be conical ones or saddle-shaped ones,” he wrote, describing the series of oreum, small volcanic cones, that are found around the eastern part of the island.

“There are fortresses on top of such hills, where someone makes a fire every night. It’s amazing how fast the people here signal and respond with fire at night. I could see the whole area along the coastline lighting up in just five minutes. It looked like a small volcano erupting all of a sudden,” he said.

Along with the two stories, there’re also British surgeon Arthur Adams’ observations of the island in “The Natural History of Quelpart,” and U.S. missionary Lura Mc Lane Smith’s accounts of climbing Hallasan Mountain in her “Quelpart, Korea.”

A Shanghai-based British correspondent, pen-named Mr. McD, also wrote a story of an expedition that travelled to rescue a group of French sailors shipwrecked off the island in 1851.




By Sohn JiAe
Korea.net Staff Writer
Photos: Jeju City Woodang Library
jiae5853@korea.kr