Jangheung

Jangheung lay in southern Jeolla, where coastal defence repeatedly shaped local government. Japanese raiding in the late Goryeo period drove residents away and prompted the construction of mountain fortifications. In 1392 an official established the administrative seat in a fortress on Jungnyeong Mountain. Jangheung became a dohobu, a civil and military prefecture, in 1413; the following year the seat moved again because the mountain enclosure was too cramped. The Japanese raid of 1555 killed magistrate Han On and inflicted heavy losses on the population. During the invasions beginning in 1592, local men served with Yi Sun-sin or joined volunteer forces fighting inland. Military headquarters moved from Gangjin to Jangheung in 1599, then returned in 1604. A later command established in 1666 was likewise transferred to Suncheon in 1683. Beyond these military changes, the district supported a scholarly tradition represented by the poet and calligrapher Baek Gwang-hun and the eighteenth-century practical-learning scholar Wi Baek-gyu.