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Chinese | 流求 琉求 琉球 留求 瑠求 | ||||||||||
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Liuqiu or Lewchew was a realm said to have existed in the East China Sea. During the 18th and 19th centuries,it was referred to as Liukiu in English;and,Lieou-kieou in French. [1] Referenced in various historical Chinese texts such as the Book of Sui ,it is variously identified with Taiwan Island,the Penghu Islands (Pescadore Islands),and the Ryukyu Islands.
While this small independent monarchy of seafaring traders was similar to the settlements found in Japan's southern islands,its culture was more strongly influenced by the Mainland Chinese. [2]
A detailed description of an island kingdom called "Liuqiu" may be found in the Book of Sui . [3] The Book of Sui places the report on Liuqiu second to last within the chapter on "Eastern Barbarians" (Dongyi),following the report on Mohe and preceding the report on Wa (Japan). The text describes the territory of Liuqiu and its people as follows:
There is no scholarly consensus on what specific territory "Liuqiu" refers to in the Book of Sui and History of Yuan . Chang Biyu notes that "Some scholars believe that the record of 'Liuqiu' referred to the Liuqiu Island near Taiwan,while some say it was a reference to what are now the Ryukyu Islands ... and others suggest that it was a general term referring to islands in the East China Sea and nearby waters". [4]
In Japanese and Western scholarship,however,it is often assumed that the Book of Sui referred directly to what would later become the Ryukyu Kingdom. [5]
In his Daoyi Zhilüe (1349),Wang Dayuan clearly used "Liuqiu" as a name for Taiwan or the part of it near to Penghu. [6] In Liuqui Guo Zhilue,it was identified as Ryukyu with specific reference to an island of Gumishan (Kume Island) ruled by a Gumi chief. [7] This text also described this area around 1644 as under strict control of the Japanese shogunate - which is true for the Ryukyu Kingdom (See Invasion of Ryukyu). [7]
In later works,the name refers to the Ryukyu Islands in general or Okinawa,the largest of them. After ShōHashi unified the three kingdoms on Okinawa,the Xuande Emperor gave him the title "King of Liuqiu" in 1428. [8] Indeed,the name "Ryukyu" is simply the Japanese form of Liúqiú. Early modern Chinese sources also specifically called Okinawa (the largest of the Ryukyus) as "Greater Liuqiu" and Taiwan Island as the "Lesser Liuqiu". [9]
The name Liuqiu,in intermittent use since the Ming Dynasty,also remains the official name for Xiaoliuqiu Island southwest of Taiwan. There are sources that refer to Xiaoliuqiu (little Liuqiu) as the old Chinese name for Taiwan. [10]
Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan. It has a population of 1,457,162 and a geographic area of 2,281 km2.
The history of the island of Taiwan dates back tens of thousands of years to the earliest known evidence of human habitation. The sudden appearance of a culture based on agriculture around 3000 BC is believed to reflect the arrival of the ancestors of today's Taiwanese indigenous peoples. People from China gradually came into contact with Taiwan by the time of the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) and Han Chinese people started settling there by the early 17th century. Named Formosa by Portuguese explorers, was colonized by the Spanish, who built a settlement in the north which lasted until 1642, and was also colonized by the Dutch. The Dutch colonial administration encouraged an influx of Hoklo and Hakka immigrants from Fujian and Guangdong.
The Ryukyuan people are a Japonic-speaking East Asian ethnic group native to the Ryukyu Islands, which stretch between the islands of Kyushu and Taiwan. Administratively, they live in either Okinawa Prefecture or Kagoshima Prefecture within Japan. They speak one of the Ryukyuan languages, considered to be one of the two branches of the Japonic language family, the other being Japanese and its dialects.
Gusuku often refers to castles or fortresses in the Ryukyu Islands that feature stone walls. However, the origin and essence of gusuku remain controversial. In the archaeology of Okinawa Prefecture, the Gusuku period refers to an archaeological epoch of the Okinawa Islands that follows the shell-mound period and precedes the Sanzan period, when most gusuku are thought to have been built. Many gusuku and related cultural remains on Okinawa Island have been listed by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites under the title Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the Kingdom of Ryukyu.
This article is about the history of the Ryukyu Islands southwest of the main islands of Japan.
The Ryukyu Kingdom was a kingdom in the Ryukyu Islands from 1429 to 1879. It was ruled as a tributary state of imperial Ming China by the Ryukyuan monarchy, who unified Okinawa Island to end the Sanzan period, and extended the kingdom to the Amami Islands and Sakishima Islands. The Ryukyu Kingdom played a central role in the maritime trade networks of medieval East Asia and Southeast Asia despite its small size. The Ryukyu Kingdom became a vassal state of the Satsuma Domain of Japan after the invasion of Ryukyu in 1609 but retained de jure independence until it was transformed into the Ryukyu Domain by the Empire of Japan in 1872. The Ryukyu Kingdom was formally annexed and dissolved by Japan in 1879 to form Okinawa Prefecture, and the Ryukyuan monarchy was integrated into the new Japanese nobility.
Liuqiu, also known by several other names, is a coral island in the Taiwan Strait about 13 kilometers (8 mi) southwest of the main island of Taiwan. It has an area of 6.8 km2 (2.6 sq mi) and approximately 12,200 residents, the vast majority of whom share only 10 surnames. It is administered as a township of Pingtung County in Taiwan Province, Republic of China. As of 2019 the township chief is Chen Lung-chin.
The Dongyi or Eastern Yi was a collective term for ancient peoples found in Chinese records. The definition of Dongyi varied across the ages, but in most cases referred to inhabitants of eastern China, then later, the Korean peninsula and Japanese Archipelago. Dongyi refers to different group of people in different periods. As such, the name "Yí" 夷 was something of a catch-all and was applied to different groups over time. According to the earliest Chinese record, the Zuo Zhuan, the Shang dynasty was attacked by King Wu of Zhou while attacking the Dongyi and collapsed afterward.
The Ryukyu independence movement or the Republic of the Ryukyus is a political movement advocating for the independence of the Ryukyu Islands from Japan.
The Ryukyu Islands, also known as the Nansei Islands or the Ryukyu Arc, are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands, with Yonaguni the westernmost. The larger are mostly volcanic islands and the smaller mostly coral. The largest is Okinawa Island.
Shō Hashi was the last King of Chūzan and the first king of the Ryukyu Kingdom, uniting the three polities of Chūzan, Hokuzan, and Nanzan by conquest and ending the Sanzan period.
Kikaijima is one of the Satsunan Islands, classed with the Amami archipelago between Kyūshū and Okinawa.
Eiso was a semi-legendary ruler of Okinawa Island. He was the founding monarch of the Eiso dynasty.
A map of Japan currently stored at Kanazawa Bunko depicts Japan and surrounding countries, both real and imaginary. The date of creation is unknown but probably falls within the Kamakura period. It is one of the oldest surviving Gyōki-type maps of Japan. It reveals Japan's self-image and the understanding of neighboring countries after the Mongol invasions of 1274 and 1281
Kamuiyaki ware (カムィヤキ), from Tokunoshima kamïyaki, is grey stoneware produced in Tokunoshima, the Amami Islands, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan, from the 11th century to the early 14th century, or from the late Heian period to the Kamakura period.
Liuqiu or Lewchew is a Chinese place-name variously denoting:
Okinawa (沖縄) is a name with multiple referents. The endonym refers to Okinawa Island in southwestern Japan. Today it can cover some surrounding islands and, more importantly, can refer to Okinawa Prefecture, a much larger administrative division of Japan, although the people from the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands still feel a strong sense of otherness to Okinawa.
The Hyōtō Ryūkyū-koku ki (漂到流球国記) was a book written by Japanese Buddhist monk Keisei in 1244. He interviewed travelers who, during a sea voyage to Song China, drifted to what they believed to be Ryūkyū. It reflects the long-lasting Japanese perception of Ryūkyū as the land of man-eating demons.
The earliest confirmed descriptions of visits by Han Chinese people to Taiwan occurred during the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) and Chinese objects such as pottery were found there, suggesting trade between Taiwanese indigenous peoples and the Han Chinese in prior periods. Trade between Han and Taiwanese indigenous peoples increased during the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). Pirates and fishermen also started visiting Taiwan. By the early 17th century, there were 1,500–2,000 Han people inhabiting one or two villages in southwestern Taiwan. Most of them were engaged in seasonal fishing and left afterwards but some stayed and planted crops.
The military history of Taiwan spans at least 400 years and is the history of battles and armed actions that took place in Taiwan and its surrounding islands. The island was the base of Chinese pirates who came into conflict with the Ming dynasty during the 16th century. From 1624 to 1662, Taiwan was the base of Dutch and Spanish colonies. The era of European colonization ended when a Ming general named Koxinga retreated to Taiwan as a result of the Ming-Qing War and ousted the Dutch in 1661. The Dutch held out in northern Taiwan until 1668 when they left due to indigenous resistance. Koxinga's dynasty ruled southwestern Taiwan as the Kingdom of Tungning and attacked the Qing dynasty during the Revolt of the Three Feudatories (1673–1681).