ABASTRACT Korea remained inaccessible and isolated from the world for centuries, until 1882. That same year, William Elliot Griffis, an American orientalist, published Corea: the Hermit Nation and provided an encyclopedic introduction of Korea to the world. Despite the author's noble intention however, Korea was misrepresented, due to the author's lack of first-hand experience of the country. His knowledge of Korea was reliant on his missionary experience in Japan and the network of Japanese leaders he maintained since his visit. However, his Japanese contacts being a post Hideoyshi generation living in the Meiji Restoration period, the stories and documents he retrieved through them would likely have been products of altered history and of the Japanese war legends. Therefore, this thesis project will provide an analytical assessment of his book by examining the context of his view of Korea to help the modern historians gain academic discernment in their reference to Corea, the Hermit Nation. V