What happens when you're Dutch and spend three years in Korea in the 17th century?

Sunday, May 23, 2010

I'm glad you asked, because once again Gutenberg has just the book on this. All in Dutch, it's about a crew that spent three years unwillingly on Korea's largest island Jeju-do, which was then known as Quelpart. I haven't read it, but have known about it for a few years and it's high time I shared it here. Keep in mind though that Jeju-do is the least Korea-like part of the whole country, as it used to be its own kingdom (Tamna) with its own language, and also spent a century or so under Mongolian dominion and even now has a number of Mongolian loanwords that aren't present in the standard language.

Also, Jeju is rainy. Just last week when Seoul received 40 mm of rain, Jeju got 400+. Rainy, rocky (the island is centered around a volcano), yet much warmer than the rest of Korea in the winter.

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