Which Cities Do Province Names Like Gyeongsang and Jeolla Come From?

The short answer: a name built from the first characters of two cities

The name Gyeongsang-do (慶尙道) comes from Gyeongju (慶州) and Sangju (尙州). The name Jeolla-do (全羅道) combines the first characters of Jeonju (全州) and Naju (羅州). Introductory materials from the National Museum of Korea and the Gyeongju National Museum say Gyeongsang-do was 'taken from Gyeongju (慶州) and Sangju (尙州).' The Jeollanam-do provincial government explains that in 1018 Gangnam-do and Haeyang-do were merged and the first characters of Jeonju and Naju were taken. The name Gyeongsang-do was first used in 1314, a year the Gyeongsangbuk-do provincial government records as the first year of King Chungsuk of Goryeo.

Gangwon-do (江原道) is explained the same way. The Gangwon State government writes that in 1395 the 'Gang' of Gangneung (江陵) and the 'Won' of Wonju (原州) were taken. Chungcheong-do (忠淸道) is a slightly different case. The explanation that it combines the first characters of Chungju (忠州) and Cheongju (淸州) does not appear in the provincial materials consulted for this article. The Chungcheongbuk-do chronology notes only that the Chungju-mok and Cheongju-mok districts were established in the first year of King Myeongjong.

Gyeongsang-do and the year 1314 in National Museum of Korea materials and the Gyeongsangbuk-do chronology

The origin of the name Gyeongsang-do is set out briefly in museum materials. The National Museum of Korea and the Gyeongju National Museum jointly provide an introduction to Gyeongsang-do. That text explains the name as 'taken from Gyeongju (慶州) and Sangju (尙州).' Both cities were administrative seats bearing the suffix 'ju (州).' The name was formed by taking one character from the front of each.

The date the name was settled appears in the Gyeongsangbuk-do chronology. The chronology notes that during the Goryeo period the region was variously called Yeongnam, Yeongdong and other names. It then came to be called Gyeongsang-do in 1314, the first year of King Chungsuk. In 1896, the 33rd year of King Gojong of Joseon, a reorganization into 13 provinces created Gyeongsangbuk-do. The same chronology states that cities, counties and townships were rearranged in 1914, forming today's administrative districts.

The sequence in the chronology shows that the name was not settled in one step. Several names alternated first, and then in 1314 one name stuck. That process can be read as a sign that province names were attached alongside decisions about administrative boundaries. This reading, however, is the author's interpretation. The chronology itself records only years and names.

Jeolla-do and the year 1018 in the Goryeosa geography section and Jeollanam-do materials

The first character of Jeolla comes from Jeonju. The geography section of the Goryeosa, available through the Korean History Database of the National Institute of Korean History, records the administrative history of Jeonju-mok. It states that Wansan-ju was reestablished in the fourth year of King Sinmun (684) and that the name reverted to Jeonju in the 15th year of King Gyeongdeok (756). Gyeon Hwon later made Jeonju his capital, but Taejo destroyed his kingdom and renamed the area the Annam Protectorate. The same record states that the name returned to Jeonju in the 23rd year of Taejo (940). It was elevated to the Annam Grand Protectorate in the ninth year of King Hyeonjong (1018) and named Jeonju again in the 13th year of King Hyeonjong (1022).

The province-level name was settled afterwards. Jeollanam-do materials state that, following the Goryeosa, in 995 the area of present-day Jeonbuk was called 'Gangnam-do' and the area of Jeonnam and Gwangju 'Haeyang-do.' The same materials describe the 1018 reorganization this way: 'In 1018, the ninth year of King Hyeonjong of Goryeo, an administrative reorganization merged the two provinces of Gangnam-do and Haeyang-do, and the first characters of Jeonju and Naju, which were large cities at the time, were taken to name it Jeolla-do.' That sentence appears in the material on the origin of the province name published by the Jeollanam-do provincial government.

The Jeonbuk State chronology describes the same sequence. It records that when the country was divided into ten provinces in the 14th year of King Seongjong, the region was called Gangnam-do and four ju were established. Then in 1018, when the country was divided into five provinces and two frontier districts, Gangnam-do and Haeyang-do were merged into Jeolla-do and an anchalsa inspector was stationed at Jeonju. In 1413, the 13th year of King Taejong, the eight-province system was put in place and Jeolla-do had its provincial governor at Jeonju. Taking 1018 as the starting point, Jeollanam-do notes that 2018 marked the thousandth year since Jeolla-do came into being.

Chungcheongbuk-do and Gangwon records: where the two accounts differ

The name Chungcheong-do is documented along a different path. The Chungcheongbuk-do chronology records that when the country was laid out as ten provinces in the 14th year of King Seongjong, the region was called Jungwon-do and administered 13 gun and 42 hyeon. In the first year of King Yejong, Hanam-do was absorbed and the area was called Chungcheong-do. In the first year of King Myeongjong it was divided again, with most of the territory assigned to Yanggwang-do and the Chungju-mok and Cheongju-mok districts established. The English-language Chungbuk chronology published by the Association of North East Asia Regional Governments (NEAR) states that Hanam-do was incorporated into Chungcheong-do in 1106.

The origin of Gangwon-do is documented more clearly. Gangwon State materials explain that in 1395 the 'Gang' of Gangneung and the 'Won' of Wonju were taken to form the name Gangwon-do. The same materials record that on 13 June in the fourth year of Taejo (1395), Gangneung-do and Gyoju-do were merged into Gangwon-do and Wonju was designated the provincial seat. The year before, on 23 June in the third year of Taejo (1394), the Dopyeonguisasa, the state deliberative council, had proposed renaming Yanggwang-do as Chungcheong-do and merging Gangneung-do and Gyoju-do under the name Gangwon-do. The Chungcheongbuk-do chronology records that in the fourth year of Taejo of Joseon the counties and districts belonging to Chungju, Cheongju, Gongju and Hongju were combined to create Chungcheong-do, with the provincial governor stationed at Chungju.

Lining up the four provinces under the same headings makes the differences visible. The two cities behind each name are Gyeongju and Sangju for Gyeongsang-do, Jeonju and Naju for Jeolla-do, and Gangneung and Wonju for Gangwon-do. The two cities for Chungcheong-do cannot be confirmed in the materials consulted for this article. The years the names came into use are 1018 for Jeolla-do, 1314 for Gyeongsang-do and 1395 for Gangwon-do. Jeollanam-do materials separately give the dates when each of Joseon's eight provinces was born: Chungcheong-do in 1356, Pyeongan-do in 1413, Gyeonggi-do in 1414, Hwanghae-do in 1417 and Hamgyeong-do in 1509.

Provincial seats kept moving: from 1408 to 1986

Where a name came from and where the administrative centre sat are two different questions. Materials from the National Museum of Korea and the Gyeongju National Museum trace the movements of the Gyeongsang-do provincial office. In the early years of Joseon it stood in Gyeongju. It then moved to Sangju in 1408, the eighth year of King Taejong. The Sangju office lasted until 1593, the year after the Imjin War broke out. The office then moved from place to place: Palgeo in Seongju in 1593, Dalseong in Daegu in 1596 and Andong in 1597.

Provincial boundaries and names changed repeatedly as well. The Gyeongsangbuk-do chronology records that in 1520 Gyeongsang-do was split into two provinces, left and right, along the Nakdong River. Gangwon State materials record that in the seventh year of King Hyeonjong (1666) Gangneung-bu was demoted to Gangneung-gun. At that point the 'Gang' was dropped from Gangneung and the 'Yang' of Yangyang (襄陽) was taken, making the province name Wonyang-do. Royal Decree No. 36, promulgated on 4 August 1896, introduced the 13-province system. That is when the name Gyeongsangbuk-do appeared, with a provincial governor at Daegu administering 41 counties.

The same 1896 reorganization split Jeolla-do into Jeollanam-do and Jeollabuk-do. Jeollabuk-do consisted of 26 counties, according to the Jeonbuk State chronology. The name Chungcheongbuk-do also appeared for the first time in 1896, with the provincial office placed in Chungju. The NEAR English chronology records that in 1914 Chungcheongbuk-do was reorganized into 10 counties and 114 townships. The English-language Jeollanam-do chronology records that Gwangju was elevated to a metropolitan city on 1 November 1986 and separated from Jeollanam-do. If you would rather look past provincial boundaries at the size of the land as a whole, read this piece on where South and North Korea rank in the world by land area alongside this one.

In summary

The names Gyeongsang-do and Jeolla-do each combine the first characters of two cities: Gyeongsang comes from Gyeongju and Sangju, and Jeolla from Jeonju and Naju. The first account appears in materials from the National Museum of Korea and the Gyeongju National Museum, the second in materials from the Jeollanam-do provincial government. The names were settled in 1018 for Jeolla-do and 1314 for Gyeongsang-do. For Gangwon-do, the Gangwon State government explains that one character each was taken from Gangneung and Wonju in 1395.

Pinning the origin of Chungcheong-do on two cities is harder. The provincial materials consulted for this article contain no such explanation. The Chungcheongbuk-do chronology records only items such as Jungwon-do, the absorption of Hanam-do, and the establishment of the Chungju-mok and Cheongju-mok districts. The NEAR English chronology notes that Chungcheongbuk-do is Korea's only landlocked province. To check the primary source yourself, look up the geography section of the Goryeosa in the Korean History Database of the National Institute of Korean History.