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Geography : City Symbols : History
Location

The City of Daegu is located inland, southeast of the Korean Peninsula, appearing between 35 degrees 36 minutes and 36 degrees 1 minute latitude north and between 128 degrees 21 minutes and 46 minutes longitude east. Daegu is at an elevation of 40.69 meters above sea level.

(Unit: km)
Distances to Daegu from Other Korean Major Cities

Cities Local Road Expressway Railroad Air
1 Seoul 302.0 295.5 327.1 278.0
2 Busan 150.6 122.7 117.2 93.0
3 Incheon 349.5 334.7 354.1 -
4 Gwangju 235.0 195.1 358.0 -
5 Daejeon 157.9 161.8 160.3 -
6 Ulsan 114.0 83.7 116.9 -
7 Jeonju 151.3 287.1 267.9 -
8 Masan 88.6 83.3 102.5 -
9 Pohang 88.6 - 109.4 -
10 Gyeongju 78.2 54.0 77.2 -
11 Jeju - - - 396.0

Topography
Daegu has Mt. Palgongsan in the north, Mt. Daedeoksan and Biseulsan in the south and other low mounds in the west and east. The Sincheon River runs through the central areas of the City. In the northern area of Daegu, the Geumhogang River flows east to west joining the Nakdonggang River, the longest river in South Korea, toward the southern cities of the Korean Peninsula.

Climate
The Daegu region has four distinct seasons like all other regions in Korea. Daegu, surrounded by high mountains in the northeast and south, is often very cold in the winter and hot and sticky in the summer. Daegu has long been notorious for its hot summer in Korea. However, its average temperature of summertime lowers due to municipal tree-planting projects in the downtown area. The heavy rain season is between the summer months of June and September. The hottest period is July through August, while January is the coldest month.

Daegu's average annual temperature is 13.7 degrees Celsius and its average rainfall is 1,027.7mm annually. The hottest temperature was 39.5 on July 31, 1977, while the coldest day was on the 26th of January in 1974 with a temperature of -14.1. These are the numbers for Daegu's climate for the last 30 years (1971 to 2000).

  Annual Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Average Rainfall
(Unit: mm)
 878.3
 31.1
 61.9 5.6
 19.5
 61.1 282.9
 120.9
 73.6
 126.2
 64.9
 8.0
 22.6
Average Temperature
(Unit: )
 14.8 0.7 4.2 9.1 15.8 20.5 23.9 27.7 27.2 22.0 16.6 8.3 1.9



   
Emblem
(since Oct 10, 1996)		   Bird: Eagle
(since Jul 1, 1983)		   Flower: Magnolia
(since Jul 18, 1972)



 

 

Tree: Fir
(since Jul 18, 1972)		   Mascot: Fashiony
(since Mar 3, 2000)		   Logo
(since Oct 10, 1996)
The emblem of the City of Daegu has been used since October 1996. The triangles
in the city emblem symbolize Mt. Palgongsan surrounding Daegu and the arch expresses the Nakdonggang River flowing through the city. The emblem was designed in order to present the future-oriented spirit and international mind of the City of Daegu.

Designated on July 1, 1983, the city bird Eagle represents the active and progressive spirit of Daegu citizens. Designated on July 18, 1972, the city tree Fir represents strength, eternity, and integrity, while Magnolia as the city flower manifests simplicity, purity, and sacrifice.

The city logo has been used to complement the city emblem since October 10, 1996. Fashiony, as the city mascot, has helped to enhance the city image as an international textile and fashion city since March 3, 2000. The traditional Korean flying figure was conceptualized into the appearance of Fashiony.

Ancient Times
During the prehistoric era, people gathered to Daegu because of its plentiful natural environment. The Geumhogang River and one of its branches, the Sincheon River surrounded Daegu. The two rivers had formed wide fields with fertile soil in the area. The ancient pots and stone knives of the Bronze Age discovered in the Daegu area prove that some ancient locals resided during the prehistoric period. Lots of remains of the Bronze Age have been found in Sincheon-dong, Manchon-dong, Seobyeon-dong and other districts throughout the city.

Especially, the bronze knife found in Bisan-dong, designated as National Treasure No.137. These excellent bronze items signify that the Daegu area had ancient communities more developed than other areas in the Korean Peninsula. Prior to 1945, a number of dolmens of the Bronze Age had been seen in Bongsan-dong, Daebong-dong and Suseong-dong, including near Daegu Train Station and Dalseong Park. These stone tombs represent the strength of the ancient communities. However, most of these dolmens disappeared as Daegu enlarged its terrritory.

The Era of the Three Kingdoms - Goguryeo, Baekje, Sill
The Daegu area had already become an old country even before the Three Kingdoms Age according to the academic world of Korea. Dalbeolseong Castle (Dalseong Park at present) was constructed in 261 according to "Samguksagi," Korea's valid history book on ancient Korean history. The castle signifies that Daegu was one of the major towns that belonged to the Silla Kingdom. Daegu's status at that time is assumed quite high, judging from two records in history.

One is the record that Silla had a plan to move its capital to Dalgubeol (Daegu's old name) from Gyeongju in 689. The other record is that Mt. Palgongsan was worshiped as the most magnificent mountain among Silla's best five mountains. Under Silla's administrative system, the Daegu area was divided into 2 units, Wihwa-gun and Dalguhwa-hyeon and in 757 the two administrative units were renamed into Suseong-gun and Daegu-hyeon. Thus the name of Daegu appeared on the stage of Korean history as a new designation.
The Goryeo Dynasty
In the era of the post Three Kingdoms, the Daegu area experienced a historically famous battle "Dongsudaejeon" as the region was recognized as an important strategic point for each of the three kingdoms, Goryeo, Hubaekje and Silla. In 927 Silla's famous General Shin Sung-gyeom saved the life of Goryeo's King "Wang-geon" when Wang-geon came to help Silla against Hubakje's attack.


At the moment when Wang-geon faced a fatal crisis on the Dongsu battlefield (near Donghwasa Temple at present), General Shin pretended to run away in Wang-geon's helmet and armor to attract Hubaekje's soldiers to follow him. Finally, Hubaekje's army chased the man who they thought was Wang-geon in order to kill him, while the real Wang-geon disguised in a soldier's uniform returned to his kingdom safely. After a while, Wang-geon achieved great work by unifying the post Three Kingdoms to a new era in Korean history, the Goryeo Dynasty. Because of Dongsudaejeon Battle, many geographical names, still in use in Daegu, were linked to Wang-geon. "Pagunjae" means a mountain pass where Wang-geon's army had a big defeat to Hubakje. "Banyawol" represents a spot where the moon helped Wang-geon to escape by shining the road strongly at dawn.

Dokjwaam (a rock on which Wang-geon sat down to rest alone), Eunjeokam(a hermitage to be reached on foot secretly) and Wangjeong (King's wall) are all well-known places regarding battle and Wang-geon. In 1143, the position of Daegu-hyeon's governor was promoted to a higher position, which shows that Daegu was acknowledged for its importance. In the late 12th century, Daegu grew to a military hub in the southern area of the Korean Peninsula, in order for the Goryeo Dynasty to control Cheongdo, Miryang and Gyeongju more effectively. During the Mongolian Invasion in the 13th century, the Buinsa Temple in Mt. Palgongsan burned down as well as the wooden writings of Buddhism inside.
The Joseon Dynasty

After the Joseon Dynasty was erected in 1392, Daegu's population continued to increase as Daegu grew into an agricultural capital in the Gyeongsang province. Also, two other hyeons near Daegu-hyeon were assigned into Daegu's administrative area in 1394. Consequently, Daegu-hyeon was elevated to a larger administrative unit, Daegu-gun in 1419. At the time, Daegu strengthened its educational policies, initially introducing Chinese Confucianism to the region.

In addition, in 1448 "Sachang" System was put into operation as a model in Daegu, which gained a creditable result and eventually spread nationwide. In 1466 Daegu-gun was promoted to a higher status "Daegu-dohobu" as a transportational base in the Yeongnam area, the southeastern area of the Korean Peninsula. Consequently, in 1601 the Gyeongsang government moved to Daegu-bu, governing the Gyeongsang area that included Daegu. Furthermore, Daegu-bu added Gyeongsan-hyeon, Hayang-hyeon and Hwawon-hyeon to its list of administrative areas in order to make Daegu a metropolis. Since then, Daegu has played a great role as a capital of the Yeongnam region in administrative, judicial and military sections.
Modern Times
In the late 1800s, the Japanese Empire started to gradually make inroads to the Joseon Dynasty. During the rule of the Japanese, Daegu was organized as a base camp supporting anti-imperialist movement and modern education against the Japanese Empire. In 1907, Seo Sangdon and Kim Gwangje set up the Gukchaebosang movement in order to redeem Korean national debt, which eventually appealed throughout the country.

During the Gukchaebosang movement, people presumed that Joseon would restore its full sovereignty from Japan after redeeming its national debt to Japan. So people donated their jewelry, grains or anything valuable as well as quit smoking and drinking to make money for redemption of the national debt. It was a very peaceful volunteering movement to stand against the invaders. There is Gukchaebosang Memorial Pak in downtown to commemorate the holy deed done by the Daegu people. In 1915, Seo Sang-il and other Korean independence fighters organized an underground headquarters for national prestige recovery. After awhile, the organization led the Samil-undong Movement, which took place throughout the country, in the Daegu region. In 1927, a Daegu branch of "Singanhoe" Organization was established to continue anti-Japanese resistance. After the 1930s, Daegu represented the national struggle against Japan, developing diverse secret societies by local students.

The Present Times

After returning from abroad, many Korean people settled in Daegu and moved from the north to the south. Daegu's population began to increase at a considerable speed making it the third largest city in Korea. In 1949, Daegu's administrative designation was changed from Daegu-bu to Daegu-si. During the Korean War, which broke out in 1950 and lasted to 1953, Daegu became one of the few surviving cities along with Busan because of the Nakdong-gang River that flows along the western boundary.

During the wartime, many artists from all regions of Korea gathered in Daegu, creating a springboard for Korean contemporary art. On February 28th 1960, Daegu high school students started an anti-dictatorship movement to fight against the Lee Seung-man Regime. Presently the 2.28 Memorial Tower stands high in Duryu Park. This movement was the initiation of the 4.19 Movement, a large nationwide protest by Korean students to achieve political democracy in Korea. In 1981, Daegu-si was raised to Daegu-jikhalsi, taking many bordering regions into its territory. In 1988, a new district Dalseo-gu was made to have a total of 7 gu offices throughout the city. In January 1995, Daegu was renamed again to Daegu-gwangyeoksi, a self-governing city. Lastly, in March 1955, Daegu received 8 administrative districts as the present, 7 gus and 1 gun (Dalseong-gun).

Geography : City Symbols : History