Espartero Yun

Espartero Yun (Gohangukian Yun Seung-cheol [윤승철 hanja 尹承哲] - born 1799, Gyeongju, Gohanguk; died 1866, Elegantia, Zylanda) was an early Gohangukian immigrant to the Ardisphere, who ended up leading the Gohangukian autonomists during the Ardispherian Civil War (1855-1859) and died in exile in Zylanda. He is most noted for having founded many of the Gohangukian settlements in what is now called the Jeongto Valley in the Colonia Coreana, including the city of Jeongto.

Biography

Early Years

Yun's family originally settled - along with so many other Gohangukian immigrants in the first wave of immigration during the last part of the colonial era - in the area east of Puerto Nuevo and Faro that later became the Barrio de Coreanos and Barrio Exiliados in modern Villa Constitución. Although born in Gohanguk, his family came to the Ardisphere when he was 7 years old, in 1806, and he even attended a Castellanese-language school for a time before quitting school to work in his mother's dry-goods store. Aged 15 when the Ardisphere declared independence from the colonial power, like many immigrants he avoided declaring sides in the conflict, but he became active among the radical secularists in the 1820s who were forming as a backlash against the oppressive nature of Ortholicism during the colonial period.

Separatism

By 1825 he was the leader of a Chogué revival temple in what was then largely farmland around modern Parque Quichago. He also had become involved in groups of radical separatists He is credited with being among the first separatists to suggest migrating to the interior of the country to found a Gohangukian "colony" that would stand separte from the new federal structure being established for the Ardisphere. In 1831 he was among a large group of Gohangukians who tried to settle the south shore of Lago Aigosa (now called Lago Libertad) near what is the modern town of Villa Libertad, but conflict with native Altazorians still living in the region forced the Gohangukian settlers farther north, to the eastern shore of the Marverde, which at that time was part of Departamento Boreal, in what is the modern Bujugun.

Tierra Pura and Colonia Coreana

Finally, in 1840, Yun took charge of a group who moved up the Río Buntogra (now called Río Tierra Pura [정토강]) from the north end of the Marverde and established the city he called Ciudad Tierra Pura [정토시 = Jeongtosi] after the Gautamic "Pure Land" concept - similar to the "Kingdom on a Hill" of Ortholic eschatology. There was already a small, marshy lake at that location, but he conceptualized (although only began to implement) the dam across the river that raised the lake level several meters, thus when he laid out his city on the remains of an abandoned Altazorian settlement, several kilometers west of the colonial village of Iglesia Blanca (modern 흰색 교회리 [Huinsaek Gyohoe-ri]), he focused it on the projected lakeshore rather than shore as it existed at that time. The dam was finally completed in 1887, giving the lake its modern shape.

Civil War

His "colony" was progressing well, with many Gohangukians arriving through the 1840s, but progress was interrupted in 1855 by the advent of the Ardispherian Civil War. Yun made the fateful decision to throw his lot in with the autonmists, and after a secret meeting with governor Reina McQueen, who was the de facto leader of the southern autonomists in 1856, Yun and a group of Gohangukian volunteers opened a "northeastern front" in the civil war, causing great distress for the federalists and winning many early victories, including capturing most of the territory of Departamento Boreal (which included modern Colonia Coreana). Yun was notably effective at leveraging the dissatisfaction of native peoples, who were still a majority in the region, against the federalist troops, and even briefly occupied the city of Altazor in 1857, where a faction of Ardispherian First Peoples temporarily raised Quichago's old Cualahualú flag ("Cualahualú" being the name of a kind of idealized post-Castellanese Altazorian homeland, incidentally used as the name of the town and comuna in southeastern Departamento del Centro).

Exile and Death

By 1858, however, the autonomists were clearly losing, and Yun realized he had adopted the wrong side of the conflict. Knowing the Federalists would be unforgiving of his leadership role during the rebellion, he left his "colony" and fled abroad, first northward over land through Dandria to Elegantia in Zylanda. He remained in exile until his death of pneumonia, while staying in a small house owned by a Gohangukian shopkeeper family he'd met there, in the area near Lämmermaakt.

Legacy

Yun's legacy in the Ardisphere has been huge, since he essentially started what eventually became the modern federal subject of Colonia Coreana and the metropolis at Jeongto, which today is second only to the capital in economic importance in the country.

His name is attached to many geographic features in the country, including the town of Espartero Yun, DL, as well as the reservoir lake 윤승철호수 (Yun Seung-cheol Hosu).