Jeju Province (Jeju and Korean: 제주도), officially Jeju Special Self-Governing Province (Jeju: 제주특벨ᄌᆞ치도; Korean: 제주특별자치도), is the southernmost province of South Korea, consisting of eight inhabited and 55 uninhabited islands, including Marado, Udo, the Chuja Archipelago, and the country's largest island, Jeju Island. The province is located in the Korea Strait, with the Korean Peninsula to the northwest, Japan to the east, and China to the west.
The province has two cities: the capital Jeju City, on the northern half of the island, and Seogwipo, on the southern half of the island. The island is home to the shield volcano Hallasan, the highest point in South Korea. Jeju and Korean are the official languages of the province, and the vast majority of residents are bilingual.
Jeju Island was first settled by humans 8,000 to 10,000 years ago and the Tamna Kingdom is the earliest known civilization on the island. Beginning in the 5th century AD, the kingdom would become a tributary state of various Korean Kingdoms until being annexed into Goryeo in 1105. The island was invaded by the Mongol Empire in 1271 and later became part of Joseon in 1392. Joseon ruled the island brutally and multiple uprisings occurred. Jeju Island, with the rest of mainland Korea, was annexed by the Empire of Japan in 1910. Following Japan's surrender in World War II in 1945, the islands became part of South Jeolla Province in the United States Army Military Government in Korea, before becoming a separate province on 1 August 1946. On 1 July 2006, the islands were designated a Special Self-Governing Province; it is now one of three special self-governing provinces, the others being Gangwon State and Jeonbuk State.
The earliest known polity on the island was the kingdom of Tamna.
According to the legend, three demigods emerged from Samseong, which is said to have been on the northern slopes of Hallasan and became the progenitors of the Jeju people, who founded the Kingdom of Tamna.
It has also been claimed that three brothers, including Ko-hu, who were the 15th descendants of Koulla, one of the progenitors of the Jeju people, were received by the court of Silla, at which time the name Tamna was officially recognized, while the official government posts of Commander, Prince and Governor were conferred by the court upon the three. However, there is no concrete evidence of when the "Three Names" (Samseong-Ko, Yang and Pu) appeared nor the exact date of when Ko-hu and his brothers were received by Silla. The "Three Names" Founding Period may be assumed to have occurred during the Three Kingdoms (Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla) Period on the mainland of Korea.
Taejo, founder of Goryeo, attempted to establish the same relationship between Goryeo and Tamna as Tamna had had with Silla. Tamna refused to accept this position and the Goryeo court dispatched troops to force Tamna to submit. Ko ja-gyeon, chief of Tamna, submitted to Goryeo in 938 and sent his son, Prince Mallo, to Goryeo's court as a de facto hostage. In 1105, (King Sukjong's 10th year), the Goryeo court abolished the name Takna, which had been used up to this time and, from that year on, the island was known as "Tamna-gun" (district) and Goryeo officials were sent to handle the affairs of the island.
Tamna-country was changed to Tamna-county in 1153, during the reign of King Uijong and Choi Cheok-kyeong was posted as Tamna-Myeong or Chief of Tamna. During the reign of Gojong of Goryeo, Tamna was renamed "Jeju", which means "province across the sea".
In 1271, General Kim T'ong-jŏng escaped with what remained of his Sambyeolcho force from Jindo and built the Hangpadu Fortress at Kwiil-chon from where they continued their fight against the combined Korean government-Mongolian army, but within two years, faced by an enemy army of over 10,000 troops, the Sambyeolcho was annihilated.
After Mongol invasions of Korea, the Mongol Empire established a base on Jeju Island with its ally, the Goryeo army in (Tamna prefectures) and converted part of the island to a grazing area for the Korean and Mongol cavalry stationed there. After the Sambyeolcho Rebellion was crushed by the Yuan authorities, Tamna prefectures were established and were used to graze horses, until 1356.
In the beginning of the 15th century, Jeju Island was subjected to the highly centralized rule of the Joseon dynasty. During much of the Joseon period (1392–1910), Jeju islanders were treated as foreigners and Jeju was considered as a place for horse breeding and exile for political prisoners. In the 17th century, Injo of Joseon issued an edict prohibiting islanders from travelling to the Korean mainland. Consequently, Jeju islanders staged several major uprisings, including the Kang Je Geom Rebellion (1862), Bang Seong Chil Rebellion (1898), and the Lee Jae Su Rebellion (1901).
In 1910, Japan annexed Korea, including Jeju, inaugurating a period of hardship and deprivation for the islanders, many of whom were compelled to travel to the mainland or Japan for work. Residents of Jeju were active in the Korean independence movement during the period of Japanese rule. On Jeju, the peak of resistance came in 1931–32 when haenyeo ("sea women") from six eastern villages launched a protest against the Japanese-controlled Divers Association. Before it was brutally crushed, the protests spread and eventually 17,000 people participated, with over 100 arrested in Korea's largest protest movement ever led by women and fisheries workers.
The brutal and often indiscriminate suppression of the rebellion resulted in the deaths of thousands of civilians and insurgents, and the imprisonment of thousands more in internment camps. 14,000 to 30,000 people were killed in total during the 13 month uprising.
From 3 April 1948, to May 1949, the South Korean government conducted an anticommunist campaign to suppress an attempted uprising on the island. The main cause for the rebellion was the election scheduled for 10 May 1948, designed by the United Nations Temporary Commission on Korea (UNTCOK) to create a new government for all of Korea. The elections were only planned for the south of the country, the half of the peninsula under UNTCOK control. Fearing that the elections would further reinforce division, guerrilla fighters of the Workers' Party of South Korea (WPSK) reacted violently, attacking local police and rightist youth groups stationed on Jeju Island.
The Northwest Youth League, a far-right Korean government-sponsored group made up of refugees who had fled North Korea, actively repressed any and all "communist sympathizers" including a policy of shooting anyone entering or leaving the president's declared "enemy zone". This led to the deaths of hundreds of islanders. Many islanders were also raped and tortured. The isolation of Jeju and a cover up by the Korean government led to public ignorance of the Jeju uprising by mainland Koreans for many years. A 1988 documentary by Thames TV, Korea: The Unknown War and many activities and publications, including Sun-i Samch'on by Hyun Ki Young, by organizations and persons from within Jeju-do and around the world continue to attempt to shed the light on this event. The uprising has become a symbol of Jeju's independence from the Korean Peninsula.
The provincial administrative building was burned to the ground in September 1948 and a new building was completed in 1-do, 2-dong in December 1952.
In 2008, bodies of victims of a massacre were discovered in a mass grave near Jeju International Airport.
On 27 June 2007, Jeju Volcanic Island and Lava Tubes was unanimously made a UNESCO World Heritage site at the 31st World Heritage Committee.