Abstract

In this article I discussed the concept of Duman river, Tomun river, and Bunkye river in the understanding of the definition of the boundary in the late Joseon dynasty. In the early period of the dynasty, Duman(Tumen) and Tomun(Tumun) had been distinguished definitely. In the terms of the Manchurian(Yeojin) language, 'Tumen' had meant the Tuman River, and 'Tomon' had meant hole, spring, underflow, gorge. These separated two terms was integrated into the term 'tumen' by the limit of the Chinese pronunciation in Qing China. After the establishment of the Baekdusanjeonggyebi in the year 1712, the intellectuals of Joseon dynasty was seized with the territorial forfeiture. So they were led to the reinterpretation of the concept on the 'Tomon river' and the invention of 'Bunkye river'. However, there is no geographical reference in the reinterpretation and the invention of these concepts. These concepts are the products of imagination and the result of misunderstanding on the Manchurian(Yeojin) language. These concepts on the boundary definition was collapsed by the introduction of the geographical information on the Manchuria in the middle of 19th century. Today there are researchers and groups in Korea proposing the territorial right on the 'Gando' by the reference to the concepts of the 18th century. I think they do not distinguish between the geographical facts and the historical imagine. In these article I tried to justify my logic by settlement of some place-names.