Seoul Tourist Information

Citiespedia represent a whole portal of information about italian, european and international tourism.
For example you can have  Seoul Tourist Information: a Seoul guide, a detailed travel guide for tourists to visit Seoul (South Korea) with info about Seoul history, population, geography and much more.
You can know in all aspect Seoul: Seoul guide, Seoul tourist information, Seoul history, Seoul travel guide, Seoul town. All information about  tourism in Seoul.

Seoul Tourist Information

"Seoul

Seoul is the capital and largest city of South Korea. With a population of over 10 million, it is one of the world's largest cities and the second largest mega city in the world. The Seoul National Capital Area, which includes the major port city of Incheon and satellite towns in Gyeonggi-do, has 24.5 million inhabitants and is the world's second largest metropolitan area. Almost half of South Korea's population live in the Seoul National Capital Area, and nearly a quarter in Seoul itself, making it the country's chief economic, political, and cultural center.

Located on the Han River in the center of the Korean Peninsula, Seoul has been an important settlement for over two thousand years, with its history dating back to 18 BC, when Baekje, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, established its capital in what is now south-east Seoul. The city then became the capital of Korea during the Joseon Dynasty and the Korean Empire. The Seoul National Capital Area includes three UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Changdeokgung, Hwaseong Fortress and the Jongmyo Shrine. Seoul's historical attractions and the Korean wave phenomenon is making the city a popular tourist destination; it received nearly 5 million tourists in 2007, more than double that of Tokyo, Athens and Sydney.

Seoul's influence in business, international trade, politics, technology, education and entertainment all contribute to its role as a leading global city. It is the iconic city of the Miracle on the Han River and hosted landmark international events such as the 1988 Summer Olympics and the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Seoul is one of the world's top ten financial and commercial cities and is home to some of the world's largest conglomerates such as Samsung, LG and Hyundai-Kia. In 2005, the Seoul National Capital Area generated a total GDP of over $460 billion, larger than the economies of New Zealand, Singapore and Switzerland combined. In 2008, Seoul was named the world's sixth most economically powerful city by Forbes.com, ahead of Paris and Los Angeles. It is also the world's fifth most expensive city and the second most expensive city in Asia.

Seoul has one of the world's most technologically advanced infrastructures and is often called the "Tech capital of the world". The Digital Media City in Mapo is the world's first complex for high-tech technologies and a test-bed for futuristic IT and multimedia applications. Today, Seoul is the only city in the world featuring DMB, a digital mobile TV technology and WiBro, a wireless high-speed mobile internet service, as well as a 100Mbits fibre-optic broadband network, which is being upgraded to 1Gbps by 2012. Seoul Station houses 350 km/h KTX high-speed rail and the Seoul Subway is the third largest in the world, with over 2 billion passengers every year. Seoul is connected to Incheon International Airport via AREX, which has been consecutively rated as the world's best airport by ACI since 2006.

Name

The city has been known in the past by the names Wirye-seong (위례성; 慰禮城, Baekje era), Hanju (한주; 漢州, Silla era), Namgyeong (남경; 南京, Goryeo era), Hanseong (한성; 漢城, Baekje and Joseon era), Hanyang (한양; 漢陽, Joseon era), Gyeongseong (경성; 京城, Joseon and Japanese Occupation era). Its current name originated from the Korean word meaning "capital city," which is believed to be derived from Seorabeol (서라벌; 徐羅伐), which originally referred to Gyeongju, the capital of Silla.

Unlike most place names in Korea, "Seoul" has no corresponding hanja (Chinese characters used in the Korean language). The recently chosen Chinese name for Seoul is 首尔 (simplified), 首爾 (traditional) (Shǒuěr), which sounds somewhat similar to "Seoul" when pronounced in Mandarin Chinese.

Geography

Seoul is in northwest South Korea. Seoul proper comprises 605.39 km² of area, roughly bisected into northern and southern halves by the Han River. The Han River and its surrounding area played an important role in Korean history. The Three Kingdoms of Korea strove to take control of this land, where the river was used as a trade route to China (via the Yellow Sea). However, the river is no longer actively used for navigation, because its estuary is located at the borders of the two Koreas, barred for entrance by any civilian. The city is bordered by eight mountains, as well as the more level lands of the Han River plain and western areas.

Demographics

Nearly all of Seoul's residents are Korean, with some small Chinese and Japanese minorities. A rapidly growing population of international residents now represent about 2% of the total population. The city’s population surpassed 10,421,000 as of the end of 2007 and the number of foreigners was 229,000, constituting 2.2 percent of the population.

The two major religions in Seoul are Buddhism and Christianity. Other religions include Shamanism and Confucianism, the latter seen more as a pervasive social philosophy rather than a religion."