Volta
Person1863 – 1949

Homer B. Hulbert

American teacher at Yugyeong Gongwon who wrote the Hangeul geography "Samin pilji" and, as Gojong’s secret envoy, protested the Eulsa Treaty and aided the Hague emissaries

Arriving in 1886 to teach at Yugyeong Gongwon, he taught modern subjects in English and published Samin pilji, a world geography written in Hangeul. He promoted Hangeul in the West and transcribed Arirang in Western notation. Around the time of the 1905 Eulsa Treaty he carried a letter from Gojong to Washington to seek help, and in 1907 he assisted the emissaries at The Hague. After leaving Korea that year he kept pleading for Korean independence in America. Invited for the Liberation Day ceremonies in 1949, he died in Seoul and was buried at Yanghwajin.

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3 related events

  1. 1
    1886 – 1894Founding of Yugyeong Gongwonparticipant

    The government invited the American teachers Hulbert, Gilmore and Bunker and founded Yugyeong Gongwon, the first modern state school.

  2. 2
    1905Eulsa Treatydiplomat

    On 17 November 1905, with troops surrounding Gyeongungung, Itō Hirobumi forced a treaty stripping the Korean Empire of its diplomatic rights; a Japanese Residency-General was set up and soon meddled in domestic affairs too.

  3. 3
    1907Secret Emissaries to The Haguerelated figure

    Gojong sent Yi Sang-seol, Yi Jun and Yi Wi-jong to the Second Hague Peace Conference to declare the 1905 treaty void; Japanese obstruction and the indifference of the powers kept them out of the hall.

People who appear alongside

  • Gojong1852 – 1919

    Twenty-sixth king of Joseon and first emperor of the Korean Empire

  • Itō Hirobumi1841 – 1909

    First prime minister of Japan who forced the 1905 protectorate treaty and became the first Resident-General; shot by Ahn Jung-geun at Harbin

  • Hayashi Gonsuke1860 – 1939

    Japanese minister in Seoul who signed the 1904 protocol and agreements and the 1905 treaty

  • Park Je-sun1858 – 1916

    Foreign minister who signed the 1905 treaty, one of the Five Eulsa Traitors

  • Lee Wan-yong1858 – 1926

    One of the Five Eulsa Traitors; as prime minister he signed the 1907 treaty, the 1909 memorandum and the annexation treaty

  • Na Cheol1863 – 1916

    Plotted with O Gi-ho to kill the five ministers who signed the Eulsa Treaty, and in 1909 founded Daejonggyo, a religion honouring Dangun

  • Yi Sang-seol1870 – 1917

    Chief envoy to The Hague who founded the Seojeon Seosuk school in Jiandao and led independence groups in the Russian Far East

  • Yi Jun1859 – 1907

    Envoy to The Hague who died there after being refused a seat at the conference

Themes this person appears in

  • Educational Institutions Through the AgesAD 372 – 1943

    From the Taehak and Gukhak to the Gukjagam and Seonggyungwan, modern schools and the colonial education ordinances — state schools that trained officials and the private schools that filled the gaps

  • Seoul18 BC – 1988

    From Hanseong Baekje to the June Democratic Struggle — the Han River land every kingdom fought for, and Joseon’s capital for five centuries