George Stimpson

Korea was the name given to the country in northeastern Asia by foreigners, particularly Europeans. The Koreans and other Orientals have always preferred to call the country Chosyon (generally Chosen in English), because that is the ancient native name. Chosyon is derived from Chinese Ch'ao Hsien, "Land of the Morning Calm." In 1910 the Japanese annexed Korea, which they called "the dagger pointing at the heart of Nippon," and dethroned the emperor, whom they reduced to the rank of "Prince Yi." During their occupation of the country the Japanese called it Chosyon, which they formally changed in 1938 to the Japanese form Tyosen. The Korean name of the capital is Seoul, but during the Japanese occupation it was known by the Japanese name Keijo. In 1882 the United States made a treaty [page 67] with Korea and introduced "the hermit kingdom" to the Western world. Koreans differ racially from both Chinese and Japanese. Some authorities suppose that the Korean race was formed thousands of years ago by the mixture of Chinese, Mongols from the north and Caucasians from India. They speak an agglutinative tongue that ap­pears to stand as an isolated unit outside any of the grand families of languages.