Introduction

Intro

History

Vernacular Architecture

High-Style Architecture

Bibliography

Links

 

The Korean peninsula is located in the northern portion of Asia, east of the Chinese provinces of Jilin and Liaoning (also known as Manchuria), and just north of Japan.  The Korean peninsula is about 300 km wide, and about 1000 km long, with a land-locked border with China and a fifteen mile stretch of Russia that is formed by the Amnokkang and Tuman-Gang Rivers, and bounded on the east by the East Sea, the north by the Korea Bay, and the south by the Yellow Sea.  As a result, there are significant climatic differences along the north-south axis, with the southern portion generally being warmer.  Eastern China and the Japanese islands of Honshu and Kyushu are less than 200 miles from Korea, giving Korea a geographical position as the transmitter of Chinese culture to the Japanese.  As a result of communication through Korea, Japan has received both Confuscianism and Buddhism.

At present, the Korean peninsula is divided between the Democratic Republic of Korea in the South (capital: Seoul) and the People's Republic of Korea in the North (capital:  Pyongyang).