East Asia · Ming, Joseon, Ryukyu and the later steppe
Ryukyu Kingdom
1429–1879
The Ryukyu Kingdom (1429–1879) unified Okinawa under Shō Hashi and ruled the Ryukyu Islands from Shuri Castle. A maritime trading state, it thrived as an entrepôt linking China, Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia, sending tribute to Ming/Qing China.
- Existed
- 1429–1879
- Shown on the map
- 1429–1520
- Peak area
- 3k km²
- Region
- East Asia
Overview
The Ryukyu Kingdom (1429–1879) unified Okinawa under Shō Hashi and ruled the Ryukyu Islands from Shuri Castle. A maritime trading state, it thrived as an entrepôt linking China, Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia, sending tribute to Ming/Qing China. The Second Shō dynasty (from Shō En, 1470) and Shō Shin (r. 1477–1526) marked its golden age. Invaded by Satsuma (Japan) in 1609, it became a dual tributary. It was annexed by Meiji Japan and abolished as Okinawa Prefecture in 1879.
Common questions
- What was the Ryukyu Kingdom?
- The Ryukyu Kingdom (1429–1879) unified Okinawa under Shō Hashi and ruled the Ryukyu Islands from Shuri Castle. A maritime trading state, it thrived as an entrepôt linking China, Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia, sending tribute to Ming/Qing China.
- When did the Ryukyu Kingdom exist?
- The Ryukyu Kingdom existed 1429–1879. On this map it is drawn 1429–1520.
- How large was the Ryukyu Kingdom?
- At its greatest extent drawn on this map, the Ryukyu Kingdom covered about 3,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.
Sources
This compendium cites its sources once for the whole document rather than per territory. Its bibliography names the English Wikipedia article for each polity as the basis of these profiles, supplemented by Encyclopaedia Britannica, chinaknowledge.de, the World History Encyclopedia, museum and university sources, and the academic works it lists. The article this entry is anchored on:
- Wikipedia — Ryukyu Kingdom en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryukyu_Kingdom
This entry was last updated .
This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made
Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.
Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).
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