Archaeological investigations in the Greater Daegu area have revealed a large number of settlements and burials of the prehistoric Mumun Pottery Period (c. 1500-300 BC.).
In fact, some of the earliest evidence of Mumun settlement in Gyeongsang Province have been unearthed in Daegu at Siji-dong and Seobyeon-dong (YUM 1999a).
[1] We know of this incident through only a single line in the Samguk Sagi, but it is presumed that it indicates the entrenched resistance of the Gyeongju political elites to such a move.
In 927, northern Daegu was the site of the Battle of Gong Mountain between the forces of Goryeo under Wang Kŏn and those of Later Baekje under Kyŏn Hwŏn.
[4] Always an important transportation center, in the Joseon dynasty Daegu lay on the Great Yeongnam Road which ran between Seoul and Busan.
Traders from Japan, who were not permitted to leave the Nakdong River valley, hired messengers to visit the market on their behalf.
In 1895, Daegu became the site of one of the country's first modern post offices, as part of the reforms pushed by the Japanese after the murder of Queen Min.
[5] Beginning in the late 1890s, many Japanese merchants and workers came to Daegu, which lay on the newly constructed Gyeongbu Line railroad connecting Seoul and Busan.
[6] As the demise of the Korean Empire approached in 1907, local citizens led by Seo Sang-don organized the National Debt Repayment Movement.
[3] Daegu and all of North Gyeongsang saw heavy guerrilla activity in the late 1940s, as thousands of refugees arrived from the fighting in Jeolla.
In the second half of the 20th century, the city underwent explosive growth, and the population has increased more than tenfold since the end of the Korean War.
The 1995 Daegu gas explosions killed 101 people, including middle school students, become one of the worst mass casualty incidents in Korean history.
In 2003, a mentally ill man set fire to a train of the Daegu Metropolitan Subway stopped at Jungangno station.
The resulting blaze killed nearly 200 persons, making the Daegu subway fire one of the worst disasters in South Korea since the end of the Korean War.