Seoul (Civ6)/Civilopedia

While the area around Seoul has been settled since the Paleolithic Age, the city wasn’t officially founded until 18 BC when the kingdom of Baekje built its capital Wiryeseong on the site. In time, Baekje developed from a minor state into one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, a group of countries which dominated the peninsula for most of the first millennium AD. Over time, Seoul grew into a formidable city with great political, cultural and commercial significance.
Eventually the Three Kingdoms were consolidated under one rule, and in 1394 AD the capital of this new entity was moved to Seoul. Large walls were built around the city, as much to keep out thieves as well as bears and other large, scary animals … such as those annoying barbarians. Eventually, Seoul opened its gates to the influx of westerners arriving in the Far East during the late 1800s, and the city quickly modernized. In fact, Seoul was the first Asian city to have electricity, running water, and the telephone.
But this isn’t surprising, since Seoul has been the center of technological advances for centuries. The civil minister Choe Yun-ui invented moveable metal type there in 1234 AD to print 50 copies of the Sangjeong yemun … long before Gutenberg stumbled onto the same idea. The Joseon dynasty saw the invention of the water clock, the sight glass, the udometer and lots of other clever gadgets. In 1442, the apex of astronomical advances was reached with the Chiljeongsan, a compilation of computations on the courses of the seven heavenly objects. Then there’s the world’s first ballistic vest invented in the 1860s, a boon to the Korean army.
With the likes of Samsung and LG Corporation and others headquartered in the city, scientific tinkering hasn’t slowed much since. In 2008 South Korea had the fifth highest R&D expenditure in the world, much of that centered in Seoul. In electronics, computers, robotics, renewable energy and many other fields, Seoul is the cutting-edge for ever more discoveries.