• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.255-267
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• 1996

The so-called Cultural and Historical Geography, sometimes called even as the Historical and Cultural Geography, has been defined as an interdiscipline that encompasses several disciplines in Korea. Scholars with various academic background have participated in the academic activity of the Association of Korean Cultural and Historical Geographers that was organized in the late 1980s. The academic majors of these participants are cultural geography, historical geography, history of geography, urban geography rural geography, economic geography, social and economic history anthropology, landscape architecture, and so on. It was in the 1960s that articles about the Cultural and Historical Geography appeared for the first time in the major academic journals in Korea. The pioneers of publishing these articles in the 1960s continued to conduct their research, while training students majoring in the Cultural and Historical Geography in the 1970s. All of these pioneers and their students were very active in the formation of identity vrith the Cultural and Historical Geography In the 1980s. Cultural and Historical Geography in Korea took a great leap forward both in quantity and in quality. The number of articles in the journal increased substantially, and the range of research theme and methodology extended in a great deal. It was also in the late 1980s that the Association of Korean Cultural and Historical Geographers was organized in Seoul, Korea, and this association began to publish a professional journal named Cultural and Historical Geography once a year. In the 1990s, single-authored books dealing with Korean Cultural and Historcial Geography began to appear in public as textbooks or research monographs. These books are expected to speed up the spread of Cultural and Historical Geography in Korea. If it continues to grow further both in quantity and in quality as it has been, Cultural and Historical Geography in Korea will be able to stand as an independent academic field in the future. Until then, however, it cannot but avoid its mission to contribute to an integrated development of human geography in Korea. It has already gained not only its own merit in the humanistic perspective but also its own strength in its synthetic understanding.