• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.51 no.5
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• pp.651-665
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• 2016

This paper tried to delimitate the location and scope of Nokdundo located in the Dumangang estuary. In 18th century, Nokdundo was an alluvial island formed by several tributaries divided from the mainstream of Dumangang. In the mid-19th century, Nokdundo was connected to the Russian territory because some tributaries were blocked by sediment flows. In many maps published in the Joseon Dynasty, the location and size of Nokdundo had not been depicted consistently with each other nor been described correctly. Because of the recurrent extinction-generating phenomena of waterways of the Dumangang due to sedimentation process, the location and scope of Nokdundo can be delimitated differently according to the era. According to the distance information of the records published in the 19th and 20th century, the scope of Nokdundo can be extended widely to the Maritime Province of Siberia. So, the author have set the Sodumangang(Karasik River) as the northern boundary of Nokdundo. The Karasik River is called Sodumangang by the Koreans living in the Maritime Province. As a tributary of the Dumangang, Sodumangang flows into the Posyet Bay. Nokdundo was an island separated from the Korean peninsula and the Maritime Province by the Dumangang and the Sodumangang respectively. Tributaries of the Dumangang have formed many alluvial islands at the mouth of Dumangang where the Dumangang meets with the East Sea. So, the possibility that Nokdundo was consisted of several islands can not be excluded.