The Historical Geography of Land-Use and Agriculture Along the Lower Nam-River Floodplains

남강 하류 범람원의 토지이용과 농업형태 변화에 관한 연구

This paper deals with the historical geography of land-use and agriculture along the Lower Nam-River floodplains. The reclamation process of the river floodplains, the cultivation methods on the reclaimed lands, and the land-use patterns and processes are investigated. The Nam River, one of the major tributaries of the Nakdong River, flows through the boundary between Ham-An and Eu-Ryong Guns. Larger floodplains are located in Ham-An Gun. The floodplains of Ham-An Gun have been surveyed intensively in this study. In South Korea, the alluvial plains, mostly located along the river valleys, have been reclaimed to provide fertile agricultural lands. Those along the upper river valleys were reclaimed before those along the lower river valleys. The flood-plains of Han-An Gun were reclaimed to be the largest agricultural lands of the Gun. The natural levees along the Lower Nam-River Valley were identified before the reclamation processes but now hardly identified. Relatively larger floodplains are located along the tributary streams of the Nam River. Often there are low-lying back swamps between the natural levees and the hills/mountains that rise above the floodplains. The back swamps, called 'natural bog lands' in this region, have been reduced in size and in number through reclamation for the purpose of agricultural and industrial land-uses. Now about ten 'natural bog lands' are found in the Ham-An floodplains, and some of them are being reclaimed for the industrial land-use. This study suggests the emergent need of conservation for the remaining 'natural bog lands' in terms of ecology. Seven agricultural fields of large size, originated from the Nam-River floodplains, are identified in this study: Kun(큰들), Chung-Am(정암들), Chang-chi(장지들), Baek-San(백산들), Ha-Ki(하기들), Gu-Hae(구혜들), and Chang-Po(장포들) fields. The Kun field was reclaimed during the Japanese control and the Gu-Hae, in the 1950s. All of those except the above two fields were reclaimed after the mid-1960s. The Nam-River Dam in Chinju, completed in 1969, contributed the reclamation processes along the Lower Nam-River floodplains. The rice acreage of the region has been reduced slowly since 1970 but the rice production of the region has been relatively stable (Table 4). Rice culture had been the most important agriculture on the reclaimed lands for decades before the greenhouse vegetable cultivation became more important in the 1980s. Among the vegetables cultivated in the greenhouse, the watermelon is the dominantly leading one. Watermelons are usually harvested two or three times in a year though it is possible to harvest four times in one year. The rotation of watermelons and rice is common in the region. It is known the physical conditions of the Nam-River floodplains in Ham-An Gun is the most suitable for watermelon cultivation in South Korea.

본 연구의 연구목적은 남강 하류 범람원의 토지이용 변화와 작물재배 체계를 분석함으로써 남강 하류 범람원 지역의 지역성을 구명하는 데 있다. 본 연구에서는 남강 하류 범람원 상에 발달한 큰들, 구해들, 장지들, 백산들, 하기들, 장포들 등 비교적 큰 평야들을 중점적인 조사지역으로 설정하였다. 대규모 제방이 축조되기 이전에 남강 하류 범람원의 대부분은 습지(새밭)로 방치되어 있었고, 자연제방과 구릉성 산지의 말단부만이 농경지로 이용되었다. 대규모의 경지정리와 더불어 남강 하류 범람원이 비옥한 농경지로 바뀌게 되는 것은 남강댐과 남강방수로가 각각 1969년과 1970년에 완공된 이후의 일이었다. 남강 하류 범람원 상에 조성된 농경지에서 여름부터 가을까지는 주로 벼농사를 하고 있고, 가을걷이가 끝난 이후인 늦가을부터 초여름까지는 주로 시설채소농업을 하고 있다. 근래 비닐하우스를 이용한 시설채소농업의 비중이 증대되었는데, 1980년대부터는 시설채소농업으로 수박 재배가 가장 중요시되었다. 그리하여 오늘날 남강 하류 범람원에서 벼농사는 오히려 부수적인 농업 활동이 되었다.