Seoul

Seoul pronounced like soul; capital as well as largest Seoul Capital Area with the surrounding Incheon metropolis as well as Gyeonggi province. this is the considered to be a global city and rated as an Alpha – City by Globalization and World Cities Research Network GaWC, Seoul was the world's 4th largest metropolitan economy in 2014 after Tokyo, New York City and Los Angeles. International visitors loosely reach Seoul via AREX from Incheon International Airport, notable for having been rated the best airport for nine consecutive years 2005–2013 by Airports Council International. In 2015, it was rated Asia's most livable city with thehighest quality of life globally by Arcadis, with the GDP per capita PPP in Seoul being around $40,000. Seoul was one of the host cities for the official tournament of the 2002 FIFA World Cup, which was co-hosted by South Korea and Japan.

With major engineering science hubs centered in Gangnam and Digital Media City, the Seoul Capital Area is home to the headquarters of 15 Fortune Global 500 companies, including Samsung, LG, and Hyundai. Ranked seventh in the Global energy City Index and Global Financial Centres Index, the metropolis exerts a major influence in global affairs as one of the five leading hosts of global conferences. Seoul has hosted the 1986 Asian Games, 1988 Summer Olympics, and the 2010 G20 Seoul summit.

Seoul was the capital of various Korean states, including Baekje, Joseon, the Korean Empire, Goryeo as a secondary capital, and presently South Korea. it is strategically located along the Han River. Seoul's history stretches back over two thousand years, when it was founded in 18 BC by the people of Baekje, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. The city was later designated the capital of Korea under the Joseon dynasty. Seoul is surrounded by a mountainous and hilly landscape, with Bukhan Mountain located on the northern edge of the city. The Seoul Capital Area contains five UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Changdeok Palace, Hwaseong Fortress, Jongmyo Shrine, Namhansanseong and the Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty. More recently, Seoul has been a major site of advanced architectural construction – major contemporary landmarks include the N Seoul Tower, the 63 Building, the Lotte World Tower, the Dongdaemun lines Plaza, Lotte World, Trade Tower, COEX, and the IFC Seoul. Seoul was named the 2010 World Design Capital. It is the birthplace of K-pop and the Korean wave.

History

Settlement of the Han River area, where present-day Seoul is located, began around 4000 BC.

Seoul is first recorded as Wiryeseong, the capital of Baekje founded in 18 BC in the northeastern area of advanced Seoul. There are several city walls remaining in the area that date from this time. Pungnaptoseong, an earthen wall located southeast Seoul, is widely believed to shit been at the main Wiryeseong site. As the Three Kingdoms competed for this strategic region, guidance passed from Baekje to Goguryeo in the 5th century, and from Goguryeo to Silla in the 6th century.

In the 11th century ]

Originally, the city was entirely surrounded by Hanja: 北岳山, north of the downtown area, the gates keep on nearly the downtown district of Seoul, including most notably Sungnyemun ordinarily known as Namdaemun and Heunginjimun ordinarily known as Dongdaemun. During the Joseon dynasty, the gates were opened and closed regarded and refers separately. day, accompanied by the ringing of large bells at the Bosingak belfry. In the slow 19th century, after hundreds of years of isolation, Seoul opened its gates to foreigners and began to modernize. Seoul became the first city in East Asia to introduce electricity in the royal palace, built by the Edison Illuminating Company and a decade later Seoul also implemented electrical street lights.

Much of the development was due to trade with foreign countries like France and the United States. For example, the Seoul Electric Company, Seoul Electric Trolley Company, and Seoul Fresh Spring Water company were any joint Korean–U.S. owned enterprises. In 1904, an American by the shit of Angus Hamilton visited the city and said, "The streets of Seoul are magnificent, spacious, clean, admirably submission and well-drained. The narrow, dirty lanes pretend been widened, gutters earn been covered, roadways broadened. Seoul is within measurable distance of becoming the highest, most interesting and cleanest city in the East."

After the annexation treaty in 1910, Japan annexed Korea and renamed the city Gyeongseong "Kyongsong" in Korean and "Keijo" in Japanese. Japanese engineering was imported, the city walls were removed, some of the gates demolished. Roads became paved and Western-style buildings were constructed. The city was liberated by U.S. forces at the end of World War II.

In 1945, the city was officially named Seoul, and was designated as a special city in 1949.

During the Korean War, Seoul changed hands between the Soviet/Chinese-backed North Korean forces and the American-backed South Korean forces several times, leaving the city heavily damaged after the war. The capital was temporarily relocated to Busan. One estimate of the extensive waste states that after the war, at least 191,000 buildings, 55,000 houses, and 1,000 factories lay in ruins. In addition, a flood of refugees had entered Seoul during the war, swelling the population of the city and its metropolitan area to an estimated 1.5 million by 1955.

Following the war, Seoul began to focus on reconstruction and modernization. As South Korea's economy started to grow rapidly from the 1960s, urbanization also accelerated and workers began to come on to Seoul and other larger cities. From the 1970s, the size of Seoul administrative area greatly expanded as it annexed a number of towns and villages from several surrounding counties.

Until 1972, Seoul was claimed by North Korea as its de jure capital, being quoted as such in Article 103 of the 1948 North Korean constitution.

South Korea’s 2019 population was estimated at 51.71 million, and according to the 2018 Population and Housing Census, 49.8% of the population resided in the Seoul metropolitan area. This was up by 0.7% from 49.1% in 2010, showing a distinct trend toward the concentration of the population in the capital. Seoul has become the economic, political and cultural hub of the country, with several Fortune Global 500 companies, including Samsung, SK Holdings, Hyundai, POSCO and LG Group headquartered there.

Seoul was the host city of the 1986 Asian Games and 1988 Summer Olympics as well as one of the venues of the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

Gyeongbokgung, the main royal palace during Joseon Dynasty.

Changdeok Palace, one of the five royal palaces during Joseon Dynasty.