Ryūkyū

The Ryukyuans are the Japonic-speaking people of the Ryukyu Islands, stretching from Kyushu toward Taiwan, who call themselves Uchinaanchu on Okinawa. Rice cultivation reached the islands in the twelfth century, and society kept strong matriarchal elements, with priestesses called noro tending an ancestor cult.

In the fourteenth century Okinawa was divided among Hokuzan, Chūzan and Nanzan; Chūzan opened tributary relations with Ming China in 1372. Its king Shō Hashi conquered Hokuzan in 1416 and Nanzan in 1429, founding the Ryukyu Kingdom at Shuri. Under Shō Shin, who reigned from 1478 to 1526, the kingdom prospered through maritime trade linking China, Japan and Southeast Asia.

In 1609 Satsuma invaded and carried off the king. The Amami Islands were annexed and Ryukyu survived as a dual vassal, paying tribute to Qing China while answering to Satsuma into the early nineteenth century.