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Incheon

City in South Korea

  • 16 min read
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Songdo Central Park and Posco Tower Songdo
Jaehyuk Lee · CC BY-SA 2.0

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The city's growth has been assured in modern times with the development of its port due to its natural advantages as a coastal city and its proximity to the South Korean capital. It is part of the Seoul Metropolitan Area, along with Seoul itself and Gyeonggi Province, forming the world's fourth-largest metropolitan area by population.

Incheon has since led the economic development of South Korea by opening its port to the outside world, ushering in the modernization of South Korea as a center of industrialization. In 2003, the city was designated as South Korea's first free economic zone. Since then, large local companies and global enterprises have increasingly invested in the Incheon Free Economic Zone, including Samsung which chose Songdo International City as its new investment destination for its bio industry.

As an international city, Incheon has held numerous large-scale international conferences, such as the Incheon Global Fair & Festival in 2009. The 17th Asian Games Incheon 2014 was also held in Incheon on 19 September 2014. Incheon is also a major transportation hub in northeast Asia, with Incheon International Airport and Incheon Port. The large volume of port traffic makes Incheon a Large-Port Metropolis using the Southampton System of Port-City classification.

History

The first historical record of the Incheon area dates back to 475 AD, during the reign of King Jangsu of Goguryeo, by the name of Michuhol, which is supposed to be located on modern Munhak Hill (문학산). The area underwent several name changes with successive kingdoms and dynasties. In Goryeo era, Incheon was called Gyeongwon (경원) or Inju (인주). The current name was turned to Incheon in 1413. Later, Incheon County became Incheon Metropolitan Prefecture (dohobu, 도호부). Old Incheon consisted of modern southern Incheon (i.e. Jung-gu, Dong-gu, Nam-gu, Yeonsu District, and Namdong District) and the northern part of Siheung. The city center was Gwangyo-dong, where the prefecture office (도호부청사) and the local academy (hyanggyo, 향교) were located. The "original" two remaining buildings of the Incheon prefecture office are located in Munhak Elementary School, while the newly built (in 2001) prefecture office buildings are right across from Munhak Baseball Stadium.

Modern history

Another historical name of the city, Jemulpo (alternatively Romanized as Chemulpo), was not widely used until the opening of the port in 1883. It was frequently used until the Japanese annexation. After the opening of the Incheon port, the city center moved from Gwangyo to Jemulpo. Today, either Jemulpo or Gwangyo-dong is considered "Original Incheon" (원인천). It was internationally known as Jinsen during Japanese rule, based on the Japanese pronunciation of Incheon's Sino-Korean name.

In 1914, the Japanese colonial government merged outer parts of old Incheon (including the former center of Gwangyo) with Bupyeong County, forming Bucheon County. Between 1936 and 1940, some part of Bucheon County was recombined into Incheon, by which some part of "old" Bupyeong was annexed into Incheon.

Incheon was originally part of Gyeonggi Province, but was granted Directly Governed (now Metropolitan) City status on 1 July 1981; the city officially separated from the province. In 1989, neighboring islands and Gyeyang township of Gimpo County were ceded to Incheon and in 1995 Geomdan township of Gimpo County and two counties of Ganghwa and Onjin were annexed to Incheon.

Incheon was known as Inchon prior to South Korea's adoption of a new Romanization system in 2000.

Major events

The city was the site of the Battle of Chemulpo Bay, where the first shots of the Russo-Japanese War were fired.

During the Korean War, Incheon was occupied by North Korean troops on 4 July 1950. Incheon was the site of the Battle of Inchon when UN troops landed to relieve pressure on the Pusan Perimeter and to launch a United Nations offensive northward. The result was a decisive UN victory and it was recaptured on 19 September 1950. USS Inchon was named after the tide-turning battle that ensued.

Prior to and during the June Democratic Movement in 1987, Incheon was the site of several pro-democracy protests.

Incheon has also hosted a series of major international events. The Global Fair & Festival 2009 Incheon was held in the Songdo District in August 2009. It was open from 7 August to 25 October for a period of 80 days. It was a comprehensive international event with global institutions and corporations as participants. Various musicians and artists performed during the event.

The city hosted a meeting of the G20 Finance Ministers in February 2010. Incheon was the site of the third Global Model United Nations Conference, held from 10 to 14 August 2011.

It first hosted the Incheon Women Artists' Biennale in 2004 which expanded into welcoming international artists in its subsequent 2007, 2009 and 2011.

Incheon hosted the Asian Games in 2014. It hosted the 6th OECD World Forum in 2018.

Incheon was designated as the World Book Capital for the year 2015 by UNESCO.

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