Professional Documents
Culture Documents
on Korea:
The Birth of an Image*
Cheong Sung-hwa & Lee Kihan
I. Introduction
Abraham Orteliuss Theatrum orbis terrarum, one of the most definitive world maps of the sixteenth century, positioned the Far East at
the right uppermost corner, the most distant region from the Iberian
Peninsula.1 This was indicative of how little medieval Europe under-
* The original was published in the Korean Historical Review in June 1999. This is a
revised version of the original.
Cheong Sung-hwa (Chng, Sng-hwa) is Professor of History at Myongji University,
Seoul. He received a doctorate in History from University of Iowa in 1988. He has published many books and articles, including The Politics of Anti-Japanese Sentiment in
Korea: Japanese-South Korean Relations Under American Occupation , 1945-1992
(Greenwood Press, 1992) and William E. Griffis: the American Image Maker on
Korea. He is currently working on a book concerning Korean images appearing in
Western books published before 1950.
Lee Kihan (Yi, Ki-han) is currently Professor of English language & literature at
Myongji University. He earned his doctorate in Asian-American literature at the University of Connecticut in 1990.
1. Abraham Ortelius, Theatrum orbis terrarum, reprint of the 1570 Antwerp edition
(New York: American Elsevier, 1964), see TYPVS ORBIS TERRARVM between
pages 1-2 and ASIAE NOVA DESCRIPTIO between pages 3-4; in these maps
Japan is correctly drawn in as an island, but the Korean peninsula is not represented; compare with Pieter Planciuss 1594 world atlas, included in the first edition of Jan Huygen van Linschotens The voyage of John Huyghen van Linschoten
to the East Indies, from the old English translation of 1598 (1598); consult map of
the Far East that appears in Donald F. Lach, Asia in the Making of Europe (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1965-1993), vol. 2, bk. 3, plate no. 73; in this
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stood about the vast continent that lay to its east. Subsequent European maps of the late sixteenth century demonstrated considerably
more accuracy and detail in their treatment of the Far East, and to a
large measure this development was due to the efforts to discover the
Indias, the spread of Catholicism to the pagan world, and typological innovations. As new sources of information became available
under this backdrop, Europeans began to overcome the limitations of
medieval knowledge of the Far East, replacing it with a more modernistic understanding of the region.
The sixteenth century was not only the period during which Europeans steadily began to amass empirical knowledge about the Far
East, but also the first time since Marco Polos return from his historical travels to China that information on Korea began to disseminate
throughout Europe. Although Korea was mentioned in only a handful
of manuscripts and publications of the time, these efforts nevertheless
lay the foundation for Western literature on Korea up to the nineteenth century. Based on these accounts, the West was able to formulate an image of Korea, even before its ports were officially opened to
foreign trade in the centuries to come. The purpose of this study is to
introduce sixteenth-century European literature on Korea and to
examine how Korea is depicted in these documents. This examination
of sixteenth-century Western literature on Korea will yield valuable
insight into the birth of a national image, which has in recent years
emerged as an important facet of studies in international history. The
authors note that since the primary objective of this study is the introduction of newly discovered literature on Korea, materials will be discussed in the order of their respective dates of publication.
Scholarly research works on the process by which Korea was
introduced to Europe have been few and far-between, although passing references to Korea have been made in bibliographical studies as
well as numerous studies pertaining to maritime records and Jesuit
study the designation Asia refers to India, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East;
whereas, the Far East refers to China, Japan, and Korea.
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258
4. Charles Ralph Boxer, The Christian Century in Japan, 1549-1650 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1951), pp. 11-13; Jean Denuce, Magellan: La question des
Moluques et la premire circumnavigation du globe, par Jean Denuce (Bruxelles:
Hayez. impr. des Acadmies royales, 1911), p. 164; M. C. Haguenauer, Encore La
Question des Gores, Journal Asiatique (Janvier-Mars 1935): pp. 67-115; (JullietSeptembre 1936): pp. 392-395. Additional information provided in the following:
Boies Penrose, Travel and Discovery in the Renaissance, 1420-1620 (Cambridge:
Harvard University Press, 1955), chap. 4.
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covery was Tome Piress Suma Oriental. And Book of Duarte Barbosa
soon followed. Both books were written in Portuguese. Suma Oriental is the first recorded European manuscript in book format that
mentions the Gores, whereas Book of Duarte Barbosa, written in
1518 by the brother-in-law of Magellan, makes a passing reference in
Chapter 126 on the tribute-based diplomatic relationship between
China and its immediate neighbors.5 However, both books were not
published for a long time, remaining in transcript form, and they
actually contributed little to the dissemination of new knowledge
about the Far East at the time. However, they would go on to serve
as a basis for numerous books on the Far East published in the late
sixteenth century. Contemporary Portuguese historians such as Fernao Lopes de Castanheda, Joao de Barros, Damiao de Gois, and
Jeronimo Osorio, used their influence in the royal court to gain
access to such classified materials as Suma Oriental and Book of
Duarte Barbosa, on the basis of which they were able to fomulate the
history of the Portuguese empire in East Asia. Their works on Asia,
which began in 1551 and took approximately 20 years in the making,
focused primarily on India, South East Asia, and the Molucca Islands,
with only intermittent references to China. In particular, Barross
Decades, published in 1552, conceding that the northern shores of
China had yet to be properly charted by the Portuguese navigators,
partitions the entire Asian continent into 9 territories, allocating the
Chinese coast, Ryukyu, and Japan to the ninth territory. Barros, however, makes no mention of Korea. In his third edition of Decades,
published in 1563, Barros provides a more detailed introduction of
5. Tome Pires, The Suma Oriental of Tome Pires, an account of the East, from the
Red Sea to Japan, written in Malacca and India in 1512-1515, and the book of
Francisco Rodrigues, rutter of a voyage in the Red Sea, nautical rules, almanack
and maps, written and drawn in the East before 1515, ed. and trans. Armado
Cortesao (Nendeln, Liechtenstein: Kraus Reprint, 1967), p. 128; Duarte Barbosa,
The book of Duarte Barbosa; and account of the countries bordering on the Indian
Ocean and their inhabitants, written by Duarte Barbosa and completed about the
year 1518 A.D., translated from the Portuguese text and edited and annotated by
Mansel Longworth Dames, no. 49 (Nendeln, Liechtenstein: Kraus Repring, 1967),
pp. 211-216.
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South East Asia, China, Burma, Sumatra, and the Molucca Islands. To
his credit, Barros included in this edition a comprehensive introduction of China, based on information provided by the Chinese, as well
as personal accounts from his Chinese servant. Barros writes at length
about Chinas culture and customs, the names and characteristics of
Chinas 15 main provinces, its main cities, units of measurement,
diplomatic relations with other countries, and also provides a detailed
historical account of the first Portuguese ambassador dispatched to
China, but says nothing about Korea. In contrast, Gois and Osorio
merely cited previously published materials by Castenheda and Barros, and thus failed to contribute any new information on Asia.
In the mid-sixteenth century Chirsitovao Vieyra, Vasco Calvo,
and others who had been incarcerated by the Chinese authorities for
smuggling, provided records on the diplomatic relationship between
China and its neighboring countries, Chinas justice system, and
details about Ryukyu and the 15 provinces.6 In particular, Galeote
Pereira, who was captured by the Chinese for smuggling in March of
1549, only to escape in 1552, provided valuable insight into China.7
His writing, which provided a lengthy explication of Chinas justice
system and its foreign relations, was frequently translated and widely
distributed throughout Europe. It was translated into Italian in
Venice, circa 1565, and into English by Richard Willes in 1577. It was
also subsequently included in the Principal Navigation of Richard
Hakluyt. Based on Pereiras accounts, Gaspat da Cruz published
Tractado in 1569. With nine-tenths of the book specifically devoted
to China, Cruzs book is considered to be the first book on China
published in Europe.8 However, since Cruz was primarily concerned
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9. Luis Frois, Die Geschichte Japans (1549-1578) von p. Luis Frois, s. j., nach der
Handschrift der Ajudabibliothek in Lissabon Ubersetzt und kommertiert von G.
Schurhammer und E. A. Voretzsch (Leipzig: Verlag der Asia major, 1926), p. 123;
Asia in the Making of Europe, vol. 1, bk. 2, p. 720.
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bring silver and marten skins . . . they bring back cotton fabrics.10
Father Juan Ruiz de Medina, who researches Jesuit documents in
Rome, conjectures that Father Nicolao Lancillotto of Italy, dutifully
reported these encounters in his letter to Rome from Goa, and thus
the first Jesuit news of Korea would have reached Lisbon by July of
1594 and would have certainly found its way to Rome by September
of the same year. It is also feasible that in 1549, Xavier, Torres, and
Fernandez might have heard about Korea from a Chinese captain en
route to Japan. It is also certain that Xaviers party of Jesuit missionaries had access to intermittent news about Korea once they arrived
in Japan in July 1549. Furthermore, Xavier crossed paths with Korean
envoys dispatched to Japan during his sojourn in Hirado in the spring
of 1550, and in Yamaguchi between November of 1550 and September of 1551. If this is true, then the first modern contact on record
between Europeans and Koreans, with the exception of the Gores,
can be attributed to Xavier and his party in 1550.11
What had compelled Jesuit missionaries to make frequent references to Korea in their letters to Rome was, of course, their aspirations to bring the Gospel to the Korean Peninsula. The first attempt
by the Society of Jesus to initiate missionary labours in Korea was in
1566. That year, Torres, then in charge of the mission in Japan with
the departure of Xavier, dispatched Father Gaper Vilela to Korea, and
Father Vilela did indeed initiate attempts to reach Korea. However, in
his letter to Lisbon from Cochin, dated 4 February 1571, Vilela reported that due to the civil war in Japan, he was regretfully unable to
make his trip to Korea at that time.12 Subsequently the Jesuit missionaries in Japan made continuous references to Korea in their official
reports to Rome. Significant among these was Vilelas November 3
10. Juan G. Ruiz de Medina, The Catholic Church in Korea: Its Origins 1566-1784,
trans. John Bridges (Roma: Istituto Storico S.I., 1991), p. 58, ft. 1; Thomas Pirez,
O Japan no seculo XVI, in O Instituto, vols. 53-54 (1906), p. 767.
11. The Catholic Church in Korea, p. 34.
12. G. M. Gompertz, Some Notes on the Earliest Western Contact with Korea, in
Transactions of the Korea Branch Royal Asiatic Society, p. 44; Asia in the Making
of Europe, vol. 1, bk. 2, p. 720.
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264
14. C. R. Boxer, Fidalgos in the Far East: 1550-1770 (New York: Oxford University
Press, 1968), p. 39.
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accounts of visitations to Korea were indicative of the prevailing biases about Korea and its people harbored by the Europeans at the time.
The first recorded European sighting of Korea occurred in October
1578. Domingo Monteiro, captain major of a ship owned by Francisco Lobo, had already visited Japan on two previous occasions starting in 1576. He sailed from Macao toward Japan in July of 1578.
Although the exact number of crew and passengers is unknown,
there were at least 14 on board including Father Alfonso Lucena of
Portugual and Father Antonio Prenestino of Italy. Monteiro and his
party left Macao 11 days behind schedule, and the cruise was uneventful for the next 20 days. However, 40 to 50 leagues short of
their destination in Japan, weather began to change for the worse,
and an unexpected typhoon drove the ship off course. Having lost its
rudder, the ship drifted aimlessly on the open waters until it
approached a point on the Korean coast a musket shot away. Monteiro, who had considered Koreans to be barbarous, convened an
emergency meeting, and ultimately determined to die at sea rather
than risk landing on Korean shores. Fortunately for them, they
arrived in Japan without further incident. Three months after this
incident, Prenestino provided the following account in his letter composed in Portuguese and sent to Lisbon on 8 November 578:15
Korea, a barbaric and inhospitable people, desires to have dealings
with no other people. And they say that in the past a Portuguese
junk wished to stop here, but these wicked people took their boat
and all who were in it, and they were lucky to get away without
being burned alive.
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16. Die Geschichte Japans (1549-1578) von p. Luis Frois, s. j., pp. 504-511.
17. The Catholic Church in Korea, p. 41.
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18. The Christian Century in Japan, p. 140; and Otis Cary, A History of Christianity in
Japan (New York: F. H. Revell, 1970), pp. 100-101.
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his wish to subdue the civil strife plaguing Japan, also adding that
Hideyoshi might, in the end, prove to be Gods instrument in the evangelism of China and Korea.19 However, it must also be noted that
although the Jesuits did not openly censure Hideyoshi for his war,
they did not trust him either and were uncomfortable with the idea of
reaping the fruits of human violence, albeit for the Catholic cause.
They were merely making the best of a bad situation, so to speak.
The 1592 War between Japan and Korea provided Westerners
with their first opportunity to visit Korea. Under orders of Gomaz, the
Jesuit Vice-Provincial, Cespedes arrived in Korea with a Japanese
monk for the purposes of administering to the Japanese troops. He
stayed there for approximately 18 months, until April or May of 1595,
thus being on record as the first Westerner to visit the Korean peninsula.20 In addition, Cespedes made a brief stopover on the island of
Tsushima, thus becoming the first European to introduce the existence of the island to the West. However, Cespedes failed to make
any significant strides in the introduction of Korea to the West. His
two letters written during his sojourn in Korea were filled with his
personal impressions of the battles and of Koreas severe winter
weather, and he made absolutely no mention of the culture, political
system, and geography of Korea.21
In addition to their periodic letters, the Jesuits also left a variety
of materials on the Far East. Most of these materials were compiled
by Jesuits such as Valignano and Frois, during their missionary
labours in Japan. Based on his visits to Japan on three occasions,
Valignano completed the three volumes of Sumario de las cosas de
Japon in 1577, 1580 and 1583, which later served as the basis for his
Historia; however, the manuscript was not published during the six-
19. Joseph Francis Moran, The Japanese and the Jesuits: Alessandro Valignano in Sixteenth-Century Japan (London: Routledge, 1993), p. 59.
20. Asia in the Making of Europe, vol. 1, bk. 2, p. 721. Guzman erroneously dates Cespedess arrival in Korea as being on 1594.
21. Ralph M. Cory, Some Notes on Father Gregorio de Cespedes, Koreas First European Visitor, in Transactions of the Korea Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society,
vol. 27 (Seoul, 1937), pp. 1-55.
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teenth century and was not made available except to a selective few
in the Jesuit brotherhood.22 Neither Sumario de las cosas de Japon
nor Historia makes any mention of Korea. Besides this, Giovanni
Pietro Maffei was commissioned by the Pope to write Historiarum
Indicarum in 1588, based on his close study of Valignanos Historia
and on his own encounter with Japanese boys who arrived in Rome
in 1582. Along with Mendozas Historia, Maffeis work is considered
one of the most authoritative studies on the Far East in the sixteenth
century, and it was translated into several languages and widely read
in major cities throughout Europe at the time. Maffeis Historia mainly deals with the Portuguese conquest of Asia and the West Indies
and the accomplishments of the Jesuits in India, and does not offer
much on Japan and China. While Books 6 and 12 are devoted to
China and Japan respectively, there is no mention of Korea anywhere
in the book. This is more than likely due to the fact that one-third of
Historiarum Indicarum is comprised of earlier letters, written
between 1549 and 1574, which make no reference to Korea.23 It is
also worth noting that Maffei relied heavily on Valignanos Historia
and Pintos Travels, neither of which make any reference to Korea.
Other than the Jesuit letters from Japan, the only material that mentions Korea is Froiss Die Geschichte Japans. As previously examined,
Froiss book, written between 1549 and 1578, does make some passing references to Korea; however, it was not until 1926 that it was
finally translated into German and published, and consequently it
made little contribution to the introduction of Korea to Europe in the
sixteenth century.
22. Alessandro Valignano, Sumario de las cosas de Japon (1583), Adiciones del
Sumario de Japon (1592), edited by Jose Luis Alvarez-Taladriz (Tokyo: Sophia
University, 1954); Allesandro Valignano, Historia del principio y progresso de la
Compania de Jesus en las Indias orientales (1542-64), ed. Josef Wicki (Roma: Institutum historicum, S. I., 1944).
23. Giovanni Pietro Maffei, Historiarum indicarum libri XVI (1950). Book 12 begins on
page 520 and ends on page 579. Reference to Nobunaga can be found on pages
558 to 569.
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24. To learn more about the history of the Jesuit letters, consult John Correia-Afonso,
Jesuit Letters and Indian History, 1542-1773 (New York: Oxford University Press,
1969).
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272
25. For the original title of this collection of letters consult Gompertz, Bibliography of
Western Literature on Korea, pp. 7-9, nn. 1-7.
26. Luis de Guzman, Historia de las missiones que han hecho los religiosos de la Compania de Jesus: para predicar el sancto Evangelio en la India oriental y en los
reynos de la China y Japon (Alcala: Gracian, 1601); for information on later editions, consult M. Gompertz, Bibliography of Western Literature on Korea, pp.
10-11, n. 8. The Central Library of Tenri University also published an English edition in 1976.
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Radas Relation was not published for a long time and remained
in transcribed form; consequently, only a handful of Europeans at the
time had access to its contents. In particular, Bernardino de Escalantes
An Account of the Empire of China (Serville, 1577), the first Spanish
book on China, relied heavily on the published Portuguese works of
Cruz and Barros, and none of the materials related to Korea in Radas
Relation is included in this particular work. Although Rada and
Escalante were both Spaniards who shared a common goal of opening up the Far East for trade and Christianity, they were nevertheless
reluctant to share what they knew with others. Radas manuscripts,
however, played a significant role in the publication of another work
entitled Historia, written by Gonzalez de Mendoza. In 1583, Mendoza
was commissioned by Pope Gregory XIII to write a book on China.
Although he had himself never set foot in Asia, he completed Historia
in 1585, relying on information provided in works previously published, such as Cruzs Tractato, Radas Relation, Ramusios Navigationi et Viaggi, the Jesuit letters, and Escalantes An Account of the
Empire of China. Mandozas Historia was frequently translated up to
the late sixteenth century and reached its 30th edition, thus becoming
the most well-known work on China in Europe at the time. However,
since the book focused mainly on southern China, it did little to promote new insight into Korea at the time.
In sixteenth-century Italy, most of the literature on Asia was
being written in Latin and Italian in cities such as Rome and Venice.
Francanzano da Montalboddo edited Columbus and Vespuccis ship
logs made during their voyages to the American continent and published an Italian translation in Venice in 1507. Furthermore, Ludovico
di Varthema recorded his travel experiences to Southeast Asia and
published The Itinerary of Ludovico di Varthema of Bologna from
1502 to 1508 in Italian in Rome in 1510, and again in 1511 in Latin.
The first Italian book to mention Korea was Navigationi et Viaggi,
edited by Ramusio, considered Europes first modern collection of
maritime travel accounts. Borrowing data from his contemporary
explorers, Ramusio collected and edited various maritime records
available at the time to formulate in Italian a three-volume folio enti-
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tled Navigationi et Viaggi in 1550, 1559 and 1556. Since the latter
two volumes were already completed in 1553, it is safe to assume
that at least the drafts of all three volumes were completed by 1556.29
Navigationi et Viaggi is regarded as the first systematic effort to compile and edit the navigational records of the age of discovery. Ramusio placed particular significance on Spanish and Portuguese efforts
to establish colonies in India and in the New World. Consequently,
volumes 1 and 2 cover materials on Asia and Africa, and volume 3 is
devoted to materials related to the New World. Ramusio also translated the original Latin edition of Polos Travels into Italian and
includes it in volume 2, thus publishing Italys first book to mention
Korea. In addition, Ramusio also compiled, edited and translated
materials from the works of Empoli, da Gama, Tome Pires, Barros,
and Duarte Barbosa, including them in volume 1. However, as
observed earlier, since the publication of Portuguese sources was
under strict supervision of the Portuguese crown, Ramusio was
unable to include any other works that mention Korea, other than
Polos Travels.
In the late sixteenth century, Portugal was the only European
nation to actively trade with the Far East. With the support of the
Vatican, Portugal monopolized the East Asian sea route, in essence
controling all maritime trade with the Far East in key locations such
as Goa, Malacca, Macao, and Nagasaki. However, from the late sixteenth century, with the dramatic shifts in the political landscape of
Europe, more and more countries began to show an interest in Asia.
In 1580, Spains Phillip II annexed Portugal, thus constructing a vast
sea empire stretching as far as Asia and the American continent. The
Portuguese had no recourse but to share with Spain their materials
on the Far East, which they had so jealousy guarded for so long. Furthermore, both Britain and the Netherlands, having belatedly realized
Asias potential as a viable market, expanded their trade with Asia,
and with it information on the Far East, which had previously been
29. George B. Parks, Ramusios Literary History, in Studies in Philology, LII (1955),
p. 148.
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limited to Catholic Europe, was steadily being disseminated throughout Protestant Europe as well.
The individual largely responsible for the success of Dutch trade
in East Asia was Jan Huygen van Linschoten. He was born in 1563 in
the Dutch region of Utrecht. When he was 16, Linschoten left home
to team up with his brothers, who were merchants in Spain. It was
not long afterwards that Linschoten began to harbor dreams of sailing the high seas. When in 1580 the union between Portugal and
Spain made it possible for the Dutch to participate in Portuguese and
Spanish trade in India, Linschoten set off to seek his fortune and
adventure in Asia, arriving in India on 21 September 1583. Linschotens official title was assistant to Vincente de Fonseca, recently
appointed archbishop of Goa. Based on his 5-year experience in Goa,
Linschoten published his Travel Notes in 1595 upon his return to
the Netherlands. The short segment on Korea in Travel Notes is as
follows:30
. . . so stretches the coast from Japan again to the north, recedes
after that inward, northwest ward, to which Coast those from Japan
trade with the Nation which is called Cooray, from which I have
good, comprehensive and true information, as well as from the
navigation to this Country, from the navigators (he calls them
pilots) who investigated the situation there and sailed there.
Although Linschotens above claim is doubtful, Travel Notes is significant in that it was the first book written in Dutch to properly refer to
Korea as Chosun. Linschotens Voyages followed in 1596. The first
edition of Voyages, published in Dutch, details the sea route from
Europe to East Asian India, the Strait of Malacca, the Malay Islands,
and the Chinese Coast. Linschoten himself had never traveled to the
Far East, and the segments on China and Japan were based on materials compiled by Dirck Gerritsz, a fellow countryman who had the
30. Reisgheschrift van de Navigatien der Portugaloysers in Orienten (1595) (Travel
Document of the Navigations of the Portuguese to the Orient). see In the Wake of
the Portuguese of http://www.henny-savenije.demon.nl/holland3.htm.
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31. Jan Huygen van Linschoten edited the 1st volume by Arthur Coke Burnell and the
2nd volume by P. A Tiele, The voyage of John Huyghen van Linschoten to the
East Indies, from the old English translation of 1598 (New York: B. Fanklin, n.d.),
p. 164.
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280
set the stage for Englands maturity into a formidable seafaring world
power. In early 1580, Hakluyt realized that the Far East market could
open up new opportunities for the exportation of Englands wool
products, and he determined that if he were to convince the English
public, he had to educate them first. In the following years, Hakluyt
devoted much of his time and effort to overseeing the translation and
publication of scores of Portuguese and Spanish books on the Far
East. In 1589, Hakluyt sponsored Richard Parks translation and publication of Mendozas Historia. Subsequently in 1595, Hakluyt first
introduced Linschotens Voyages to English publishers and supported
William Phillips English translation of the work from the Dutch original. This particular work provided the English public with the first
detailed geographical information on Korea. In 1601, Hakluyt himself
translated Antonio Galvaos The Discoveries of the World.
In 1598, Hakluyt published the first volume of the second edition
of Principal Navigations. Volume 2 followed in 1599, and volume 3
in 1600. In terms of content, there was such a disparity between the
first and the second edition of Principal Navigations, that for all
means and purposes they are separate books. Despite the disparity in
content, this second edition was the fruit of Hakluyts exceptional
editorial skills and basically copied the format of the first. This edition provided the foundations on which England was to eventually
forge a maritime empire during the succeeding Elizabethan era. Volume 1 deals with materials related to the northeast sea route; volume
2, the southeast route; volume 3, the American continent. In providing a comprehensive overview of the maritime history of Europe during the age of discovery, the second edition of Principal Navigations
was a working geographical dictionary.
The second edition makes two significant references to Korea.
Hakluyt managed to discover the Latin transcript of William of
Rubrucks report to French King Louis IX, which had been lost for
almost three centuries, and he included English translated segments
in volume 1 of the second edition. In reality, Hakluyt had provided
conclusive evidence for future historians that the existence of Korea
was known to Europe even before Marco Polo. Furthermore, Hakluyt
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32. Richard Hakluyt, The principal navigations, voyages, traffiques and the discoveries of the English nation, made by sea or ouer-land, to the remote and farthest distant quarters of the earth, at any time within the compasse of these 1600 years
(London: Imprinted by George Bishop, Ralph Newberie, and Robert Barker, 15991600), 3 vols; (Glasgow: J. MacLehose and Sons, 1903-05), 12 vols, reprint of the
2nd edition, 1598-1600, vol. 11, p. 423.
33. Ibid., vol. 11, p. 430.
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VII. Conclusion
At the turn of the sixteenth century, what little Europeans knew
about Korea could arguably be summed up in the single sentence on
Korea featured in Polos Travels. By the end of the century, however,
interest in Korea grew, as exemplified in Guzmans Historia de las
Missiones, which allotted some 80 pages on the Hermit Kingdom.
Sixteenth-century Europeans had access to a considerably larger
amount of information and knowledge about Korea than did their
immediate predecessors; however, this information was nevertheless
limited in scope and marred by prevalent biases. One explanation is
that in the sixteenth century, Europeans necessarily saw Korea via
the windows of China and Japan. Most of the Portuguese and Spanish documents on China dealt with Korea in reference to the tributary
relationship between China and its neighboring countries, and this is
the premise on which Europeans of the time understood Korea and
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