In April 1885 the British navy seized the small archipelago of Port Hamilton (now Geomundo) off Korea, an incident dubbed the Port Hamilton Affair. This book, the first full-length study of the incident, is based around contemporary material varying from printed dispatches and government reports to original archival manuscripts. This enables the book's scope to range from setting the Port Hamilton Affair into its context within the high geopolitics of East Asia through study of the life of the garrison stationed on the islands to relations between the powerless indigenous islanders and their British occupiers.

Stephen A. Royle is Emeritus Professor of Island Geography, School of Natural and Built Environment, Queen's University Belfast.

1 Mercantilist imperialism in East Asia in the late nineteenth century

2 Opening up the 'hermit kingdom'

3 'On the alert': not taking Port Hamilton in 1875

4 The annexation of Port Hamilton in 1885

5 Port Hamilton as a British possession

6 Hauling down the Jack: leaving Port Hamilton, 1887

7 Conclusion: 'the impact of the occupation lingered on'

Appendix