• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.535-561
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• 2003

The Kyodong Island on the Yellow Sea has experienced dramatic transformations in the process of massive reclamations of tidal flats. Consisting originally of detached several islets, Kyodong became an integrated island country with the establishment of sea dikes across the salt marshes. The coastal plaines passed through four distinct stages of development. During the nascent period from the Early States to the Koryo Dynasty, strategic considerations led up to the establishment of causeways and garrison farms as well as private land plots. The relocation of regional headquarters of the navy into the island made the reclamation of tidal flats a systematic project during the period of Chosun Korea. The implantation of a large-scale estate by Japanese capitalists was the most characteristic feature of this region's geography during the colonial period. Present-day Kyodong displays various agrarian landscapes of standardized land plots, reinforced sea dikes, and automated agricultural machinery. Throughout the periods irrigation systems have sustained the panoramic transformation of the agricultural geographies of the Kyodong Island. The local people afflicted by a chronic deficiency of water came up with ingenuous irrigation systems such as springs, paddy reservoirs, reservoirs, tanks, artesian wells, and pump stations.