Jeolla Province

Jeolla Province (Hangul: 전라도; RR: Jeollado, [tɕʌlːado]) was a province in southwestern Korea, one of the historical Eight Provinces of Korea during the Joseon. It consisted of the modern South Korean provinces of North Jeolla Province, South Jeolla Province and the Special City of Gwangju as well as Jejudo. The provincial capital was Jeonju, the current capital of Northern Jeolla. The entire inland region was formerly called Honam ("South of the Lake").

History

Samhan and Samguk

During the Samhan era of Korean history, the area of Jeolla was controlled by the Mahan confederacy. Fifteen of the 45 Korean tribes had their bases in this region. When Baekje overtook Mahan by the 5th century, the Three Kingdoms era began and the region became part of southern Baekje. Jungbang was the center of the province during this period.

Unified Silla

When Silla conquered Baekje with the help of Tang China in 660, it became a territory of Later Silla during the 16th year of the reign of Munmu of Silla. Silla reorganized this territory into 9 "ju" (주) and 5 "gyeong" (경), 3 of the ju belonging to the former Baekje. The northern territory of former Baekje, Ung (Ungju; hanja: 熊州 ), corresponds to modern-day South Chungcheong Province.

Jeolla dialect

The Jeolla dialects of Korean (also known as Cholla; Hangul: 전라도 방언/사투리; Hanja: 全羅道方言), or Southwestern Korean, are spoken in the Jeolla (Honam) region of South Korea, including the city of Gwangju.

Along with Chungcheong dialects, they are considered non-standard. Perhaps the most obvious difference comes from common verb endings. In place of the usual -seumnida (습니다 [sɯmnida]) or -seyo (세요 [sɛjo]) endings, a southern Jeolla person will use -rau (라우 [ɾau]) or -jirau (지라우 [tɕiɾau]) appended to the verb. For a causative verb ending, expressed in standard language with a -nikka (니까 [nik͈a]) ending, Jeolla people use -ngkkei (능게 [ŋk͈ei]), so the past tense of the verb "did" ("because someone did it"), haesseunikka (했으니까 [hɛs͈ɯnik͈a]), becomes haesseungkke (했승게 [hɛs͈ɯŋk͈e]). A similar sound is used for the quotative ending, "somebody said...". The usual verb endings are -dago (다고 [tako]) and -rago (라고 [ɾako]). Jeolla dialect prefers -dangkke (당게 [taŋk͈e]).

Regarding pronunciation differences, there is often a tendency to pronounce only the second vowel in a diphthong. For example, the verb ending that indicates "since", -neundae, becomes -neundi (는디). The name of the large city Gwangju (광주) becomes Gangju (강주), and the verb 'to not have, to be absent', eopda 없다, becomes very close to upda (웂다). There are some words that are unique to the dialect as well: utjeseo (웆제서) for "why", sibang (시방) for "now", and dwitgan (뒷간) for "outhouse". Jeolla dialect speakers have a tendency to end their sentences with -ing, (잉) especially when asking a favor. This can be compared to the word "eh," as used by some Canadians.

Suncheon Bay

Located in Suncheon, Jeonnam in South Korea, Suncheon Bay is a coastal wetland, composed of a 3.5 km (2.2 mi) long stream, a 2,221 ha (5,490 acres) wide tideland and a 230 ha (570 acres) wide field of reeds. Due to its natural coast, it is the habitat of migratory birds and plants and animals. It is the first Korean coastal wetland, Suncheon Bay Ecological Park, to be registered on the list of The Ramsar Wetland on January 20, 2006.

Characteristics

Suncheon Bay's wide tideland, field of reeds, and salt swamp have their natural scenes undamaged. Salt swamp has a function in water pollution prevention and purification, keeping Suncheon Bay clean and undamaged. The shallow tideland at the river mouth has reasonable salt content, abundant organisms, and a healthy water quality. These characteristics make Suncheon Bay a spawning ground for fish, crab, shellfish, etc.

Organisms

Animals hypothetically present

Suncheon Bay National Garden

Suncheon Bay National Garden is located in Suncheon (Suncheon-si) in South Jelloa Province, South Korea. The area of the garden is 1.112 km² plus 28 km² of Suncheon Bay. There are about 860,000 trees and 650,000 autumn flowers such as roses, sunflowers, and cosmos flowers are planted in the garden. The city opened Suncheon Bay International Garden Expo 2013 from April 20 to October 20, attracting over 4.4 million visitors. One of the expo officials said that the main purpose of the expo was to preserve Suncheon Bay by building a garden.

Suncheon Bay Garden was designated as the No.1 National Garden in August and held a proclamation ceremony on September 5, 2015. According to the data collected from Suncheon on October 13, the total visitors of the garden is now at the 400 million mark.

The workshop on how to spread the garden culture and to activate the garden industry was held on November 5 at the Suncheon Bay International Wetland Center. This workshop was co-organized by Korea Forest Service and Korea Green Promotion Agency.

National Garden, Athens

The National Garden (formerly the Royal Garden) (Greek: Εθνικός Κήπος) is a public park of 15.5 hectares (38 acres) in the center of the Greek capital, Athens. It is located directly behind the Greek Parliament building (The Old Palace) and continues to the South to the area where the Zappeion is located, across from the Panathenaiko or Kalimarmaro Olympic Stadium of the 1896 Olympic Games. The Garden also encloses some ancient ruins, tambourines and Corinthian capitals of columns, mosaics, and other features. On the Southeast side are the busts of Ioannis Kapodistrias, the first governor of Greece, and of the Philhellene Jean-Gabriel Eynard. On the South side are the busts of the celebrated Greek poets Dionysios Solomos, author of the Greek National Hymn, and Aristotelis Valaoritis.

History

The Royal Garden was commissioned by Queen Amalia in 1838 and completed by 1840. It was designed by the German agronomist Friedrich Schmidt who imported over 500 species of plants and a variety of animals including peacocks, ducks, and turtles. Unfortunately for many of the plants, the dry Mediterranean climate proved too harsh and they did not survive. Other botanists planning and managing the garden include Karl Nikolas Fraas, Theodor von Heldreich and Spyridon Miliarakis.