Recent Development of P'yongyang, Korea

rT HE city of P'yongyang (or Heizyo) has dominated northwestern Korea for over three thousand years. At a place where river and hills offered protection in olden times, modern industry and other urban functions find suitable conditions for expansion. The immediate hinterland of the hills and plains of the Taedong (Daido) river basin have played a large role in the development of the city, but in these days the city is serving an ever enlarging sphere of influence in the Far East. P'yongyang is favored by an advantageous physical base upon which to develop. The city is located at the confluence of the Taedong River with a small tributary. Outcrops of metamorphic and hard sedimentary rocks have provided solid foundations for the old walls and gates; on alluvial plains along the rivers, modern factories require extensive piling. The climate is modified humid continental. Location at 39 degrees N. Latitude and nearness to Asiatic monsoon pressure centers result in marked seasonality. Average monthly temperatures range from 18 degrees F. in January to 75.8 degrees F. in August. Yearly precipitation of 36.3 inches is controlled largely by cyclonic storms which pass over the area from the west throughout the year, and convectional storms of the hot summer months. These disturbances of the monsoon -air drifts cause more rainfall in summer when the air is moist and warm. Maximum precipitation comes in July, 9.6 inches, minimum in February, 0.6 inches. P'yongyang has a history of settlement which reaches far back into legendary times. A mythical character, Tangoon, tentative 2333 B.C., is supposed to have had a capital among the hills to the east of the city. Kija, a Chinese sage, brought 5000 settlers and established himself on the level lands near the junction of the rivers in 1122 B.C. and according to legend was the real founder of the city. Chinese influence remained strong through the following centuries. Two thousand years ago a thriving colony, with a population estimated by grave mounds to have been 1,000,000, was centered across the river to the south. From 918 to 1392 A.D., P'yongyang was the capital of a kingdom which embraced much of northern Korea and southern Manchuria. The

Geography · Political science · Ecology and Conservation Studies

• P’yŏngyang — ancient and modern —the capital of North Koreangyang — ancient and modern —the capital of North Korea

  Open Access•Albert Schinz, Eckart Dege•GeoJournal•1990

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• Shannon McCune 1913–1993

  Norton Ginsburg•Annals of the Association of…•1994

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