Here the mountains are surrounded by water, there are North Han Mountain, Buak Mountain in the north, Naksan Mountain and Yongma Mountain in the east, Inwang Mountain in the west, Namsan Mountain and Gwanak Mountain south of the Han River in the south, and the Han River surrounds the south of the city from east to west, presenting the good feng shui pattern of Longsha ** "mountain and water placket".

In the city, a large number of construction projects were built, including palaces, temples, shrines, two classes of government offices, and roads.

In 1394, Yi Sung-gye moved the capital from Kaegyong to Hanyang (한양), and officially named it Hanseong (한성). During the Joseon Dynasty, Seoul was also known as "Capital" and "Gyeong".

In 1592, Japan invaded Korea. The Great Patriotic War broke out.

On May 2, Jin Mingyuan, the general of Liudu, and Shen Ke, the deputy marshal, led more than 1,000 troops to Tunjichuan Pavilion, seeing the great momentum of the Japanese army, they did not dare to refuse, and they sank the weapons in the river, and fled with horses, and all the armies were defeated.

Kiyomasa Kato led the Japanese army across the Han River and captured Seoul.

Before and after the Japanese army entered the city, Seoul was greatly damaged.

On the eve of the king's escape, the palace, the shrine, the government office, the city gate, the treasures in the palace, the classics of the past dynasties, and the cultural relics and ritual vessels were all burned down by the Joseon side, and the temple remained alone.

The Japanese general Pingxiu's parents were in it after entering the city.

Later, Changsheng burned the temple, moved to the South Palace, and commanded the widows of Zhulu to pursue to the north.

In April 1593, the Japanese army withdrew southward and slaughtered the people of the city before leaving. In November of the same year, when the king of the Korean Xuanzu returned to Beijing, the palace was full of embers, the city was full of thorns, and the hundred officials sat according to the wall, and had to take the old palace of the Great King of Yueshan, the monarch's family in Guilin as the inner palace, and Shen Yiqian's family as the East Palace.

During the reign of Gwanghae-kun, the temple and palace were restored.

After the Imjin Rebellion, Seoul experienced two invasions by the Later Jin Army (renamed the Great Qing Dynasty in 1636), namely the Dingmao Rebellion and the Bingzi Rebellion.

In the chaos of Bingzi, Injo took Shen Qiyuan as the general of the capital and fled to the mountain fortress of Namhan. After the Qing soldiers arrived in Seoul, they were stationed in the area from Muhuaguan to Nanmiao, and then stayed in Xingrenmen.

Huang Taiji strictly ordered not to plunder the people in the city, but when the Houjin army withdrew, they plundered a large number of people, gold, silver, and livestock.

The Later Jin general Amin (one of the four great Baylors) envied the magnificence of the Korean palace city, and was once reluctant to return to the bitter cold land of Manchuria, and was suspected of having different intentions by the emperor Taiji.

With the Qing Dynasty's extermination of the Southern Ming Dynasty and the issuance of the National Closure Decree by the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, the political situation in East Asia was calmed down, and Hanyang was able to return to its former prosperity.

During the reign of Yeongjo and Jeongjo, the population of Seoul had grown to more than 300,000. Yi Chao Zhengjo had planned to move the capital to Suwon City, which was newly built in the south, but in the end, due to constraints, the plan was not realized.

Modern period

After the 1896 First Sino-Japanese Change, Joseon drew up a plan to revitalize the imperial capital.

The Ying'en Gate was demolished, and a Western-style independent gate was built on the original site in imitation of the French Triumphal Arch.

Roads, transportation, lighting and new government offices were built in the city. In 1882 the General Post Office was built.

In 1899, Myeongdong Church was built. In 1900, the first Western-style building in Korea, the Stone Hall, was built in Deoksugung Palace.

In 1907, the walls of the southern and western parts of Seoul were demolished.

During the Japanese occupation, the name of Seoul was changed to Gyeongseong (경성; Keijō, けいじょう), whose status was also reduced from the central government of Korea to a county in Gyeonggi Province.

After the annexation of Korea by Japan in 1910, the municipal construction of the capital was drastically changed.

First of all, the Japanese carried out large-scale destruction of the original historical buildings of the Yi Dynasty, demolished a large number of ancient buildings such as Hongryemun Gate and Ziseondo in Gyeongbokgung Palace, moved the main gate of Gyeongbokgung Palace to the east, built the Joseon Governor's Palace and its annex complex on its original site, and also converted Kyungheeung Palace into a school.

In February 1911, it was announced that the Wonqiu Altar was under the jurisdiction of the Joseon Governor-General's Office, and in 1913 it was demolished to establish the Korean Governor-General's Railway Hotel (now the Chosun Hotel) on the site.

Japan has built a number of buildings in the city, such as the Gyeongseong City Hall, the Bank of Korea, the Seodaemun Prison, the Gyeongseong Imperial University, and the Honmachi Business District.

In 1922, the Joseon Governor-General's Office converted the shrine into a park, and in 1925, the "Gyeongseong Station" (present-day Seoul Station) was built, and the Japanese-style shrine "Joseon Jingu" was built on the Namsan Mountain in Seoul.

Some scholars in South Korea believe that the planes of the Seoul City Hall, the Joseon Governor's Palace, and the Joseon Shrine are respectively written as "Dae", "Ri", and "Ben", which destroys the feng shui of Seoul.

After the split

Soon after the liberation of the Korean Peninsula, the North and South were divided, and Syngman Rhee established the Republic of Korea in the capital and renamed the capital "서울" (no kanji name, the kanji name of the city officially named in South Korea in 2005, "Seoul").

After Korea's independence, the name of the capital was changed to Seo-ul (서울) in 1945. It should be noted that the word 서울 means "capital" in Korean.

For example, 서울 in Goguryeo is Pyongyang, 서울 in Silla is Gyeongju, 서울 in Goryeo is Kaegyong (Kaesong), and 서울 in Lee Joseon is Hanyang.

It was not until after the liberation of Korea that 서울 was used as a fixed proper noun to refer specifically to the capital of the Republic of Korea.

After the outbreak of the Korean War, on June 28, 1950, the Korean People's Army occupied Seoul.

After the landing of the United Nations forces at Incheon, the Battle of Seoul was launched from September 20 to September 27, and Seoul was recaptured on September 27.

On January 8, 1951, Seoul was again captured by the Korean People's Army and the Chinese People's Volunteers. On 14 March, Seoul was recaptured by UN forces.

Seoul changed hands four times between the Korean People's Army, the Chinese People's Volunteers, and the United Nations Army, and was devastatingly destroyed by both warring sides, leaving the once prosperous city in ruins. Gwanghwamun and government buildings (the former Joseon Governor's Palace) were completely destroyed, and municipal facilities were all destroyed.

North Korea launched a campaign of rebellion in Seoul and executed a large number of "class enemies" such as central and local government officials, military officers, policemen, capitalists, missionaries, professors, and journalists.

After the South Korean army occupied Seoul with the United Nations forces, it also executed a large number of communists and pro-communists.

Before the war, Seoul had a population of 1.8 million, but due to the large number of refugees fleeing south, the North Korean side brought the remaining people to the north when they retreated, and only about 60,000 remained after the war.

Miracle of the Han River

After the Korean War, South Korea began to industrialize, and people went to Seoul (then known as Seoul) to survive.

Seoul's population began to explode at this time, and in order to cater to the housing needs of more people, the Korean government at that time decided to develop a highway connecting Seoul and the surrounding areas.

Since the 1960s, high-rise buildings have sprung up in Gangbuk, Seoul, changing the face of Seoul.

In 1974, the Seoul subway was opened, which strengthened the connection between Seoul and the surrounding areas.

At the same time, the South Korean government is also building new communities in the surrounding areas.

In the 80s, the Seoul Metropolitan Government also decided to develop the Gangnam area, which was originally a desolate place, and relocated some government offices to Gangnam, and the Gangnam area was transformed from a barren land into a new town in Seoul in a short period of time.

In 1981, Seoul was awarded the right to host the 1988 Summer Olympics, and in preparation for the Olympics, the Seoul Metropolitan Government built a series of infrastructures, such as Seoul Subway Lines 3 and 4 and the 88 Olympic Expressway, to solve the problem of traffic congestion that was very serious at the time.

The Seoul (then known as Seoul) Olympic Games, which had been preparing for many years, opened on September 17, 1988, and after this Olympics, South Korea's national power was accelerated, and Seoul began to become one of the most important cities in Asia.

After the Olympics, the Seoul government continued to actively develop the city's construction and expand the subway and road network, which continued during the Asian financial crisis.

21st century

In the 2000s, the newly appointed mayor Lee Myung-bak implemented his "bulldozer" policy, and the cityscape of Seoul underwent significant changes under his policy:

The Cheonggyecheon River, which was originally a traffic bridge, was restored to its original appearance, and the abandoned racecourse was renovated into the Seoul Forest.

Seoul's construction boom has attracted workers from Uzbekistan, Mongolia, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

In addition to Cheonggyecheon, greening projects can be seen everywhere in Seoul, such as Yangjae Citizen Forest, Seoul Forest, and Hangang Citizen Park.

Seoul Tower

In 2002, Seoul became one of the cities to host the 2002 FIFA World Cup, the first match of the tournament, France-Senegal, at the World Cup Arena in Sangam-dong.

On January 19, 2005, Mayor Lee Myung-bak decided to name Seoul as the Chinese character name Seoul, which means "the capital of the first goodness" in Chinese.

Today, Seoul is a large city with a population of 10.2 million, and in 2010 Seoul became the "International Design Capital" (WorldDesign Capital).