Osan
Encyclopedia
Osan is a city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

, approximately 35 km south of Seoul
Seoul
Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...

. The population of the city is around 120,000. The local economy is supported by a mix of agricultural and industrial enterprises.

It is famous for one of the largest markets in South Korea, Osan Market, which has been in continuous operation since 1792. The city was the scene of brutal battles with communist forces during the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...

 in 1950 (see Battle of Osan
Battle of Osan
The Battle of Osan was the first engagement between United States and North Korean forces during the Korean War, on July 5, 1950. A U.S. task force of 400 infantry supported by an artillery battery was moved to Osan, south of the South Korean capital Seoul, and ordered to fight as a rearguard to...

), before being liberated by American forces soon afterwards; there is a statue dedicated to UN forces on the outskirts of the city.

The United States Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...

 base named after the city, Osan AB
Osan Air Base
Osan Air Base , is a United States Air Force facility located in the Songtan section of Pyeongtaek City, South Korea, south of Seoul. Despite its name, Osan AB is not within Osan City, which is to the north. The base is the home of the Pacific Air Forces' 51st Fighter Wing, and a number of tenant...

, is not actually located in the city, but is instead 8 km (5 mi) south, in the Songtan
Songtan
Songtan is an area in the northern end of Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggido, South Korea. Songtan achieved city status in its own right in 1981, five years earlier than Pyeongtaek, but merged, along with Pyeongtaek County, into Pyeongtaek City in May 1995. Most residents still consider it to have an identity...

 section (formerly a separate city) of Pyeongtaek
Pyeongtaek
Pyeongtaek is a city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. Located in the southwestern part of the province, Pyeongtaek was founded as a union of two districts in 940 AD, during the Goryeo dynasty. It was elevated to city status in 1986, and is home to a South Korean naval base and a large...

.

Name

Osan came to be called by its current name in 1914, at the time of a general reorganization of local governments under Japanese rule
Korea under Japanese rule
Korea was under Japanese rule as part of Japan's 35-year imperialist expansion . Japanese rule ended in 1945 shortly after the Japanese defeat in World War II....

. At that time it became Osan-myeon, part of Suwon
Suwon
Suwon is the provincial capital of Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. A major city of over a million inhabitants, Suwon lies approximately south of Seoul. It is traditionally known as "The City of Filial Piety"....

. This name in turn was taken from that of a local stream, the Osancheon. However, prior to the Japanese occupation, the name had been rendered in hanja
Hanja
Hanja is the Korean name for the Chinese characters hanzi. More specifically, it refers to those Chinese characters borrowed from Chinese and incorporated into the Korean language with Korean pronunciation...

 as 鰲山, meaning "soft-shelled turtle
Trionychidae
Trionychidae is a taxonomic family which comprises a number of turtle genera commonly known as softshells. They are also sometimes called pancake turtles. Softshells consist of some of the world's largest fresh water turtles, though many can adapt to living in highly brackish areas. Members of this...

 mountain." Because of the complexity of the 鰲 ("o") character, and because crow
Crow
Crows form the genus Corvus in the family Corvidae. Ranging in size from the relatively small pigeon-size jackdaws to the Common Raven of the Holarctic region and Thick-billed Raven of the highlands of Ethiopia, the 40 or so members of this genus occur on all temperate continents and several...

s were abundant in the area, the Japanese changed the name to 烏山, meaning "bird mountain." This name has been retained to this day even as a surname in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

.

Statistics

  • based on the data created in dec 2006
    Population: 138,456
    Daily Deaths: 1.1
    Daily Marriage: 3.7
    Daily Divorce: 0.9
    Fires a Day: 0.3
    Students per Teacher: 29
    Number of Cars: 46,534

Sister cities

Hidaka
Hidaka, Saitama
is a city in Saitama Prefecture, Japan.As of April 1, 2011, the city has an estimated population of 57,865, with 22,588 households, and a population density of 1,218.21 persons per km²...

, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 Ürümqi
Ürümqi
Ürümqi , formerly Tihwa , is the capital of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, in the northwest of the country....

, People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

 Killeen
Killeen
-Places:* Killeen, County Armagh - a village in County Armagh, Northern Ireland* Killeen, County Cork - a village in County Cork, Ireland* Killeen, County Down - a townland in County Down, Northern Ireland...

, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, U.S.

See also

  • List of Korea-related topics
  • List of cities in South Korea
  • Geography of South Korea
    Geography of South Korea
    South Korea is located in East Asia, on the southern half of the Korean Peninsula jutting out from the far east of the Asian land mass. The only country with a land border to South Korea is North Korea, lying to the north with of border running along the DMZ. South Korea is mostly surrounded by...


External links

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