Shell mound eras Early Okinawan history is defined by
midden or shell heap culture and is divided into Early, Middle, and Late Shell Mound periods. The Early Shell Mound period was a
hunter-gatherer society, with the wave-like opening
Jōmon pottery. In the latter part of this period,
archaeological sites moved near the seashore, suggesting the engagement of people in fishing. On Okinawa, rice was not cultivated until the Middle Shell Mound period. Shell rings for arms made of shells obtained in the
Sakishima Islands, namely
Miyakojima and
Yaeyama islands, were imported by Japan. In these islands, the presence of shell axes from 2,500 years ago suggests the influence of a southeastern-Pacific culture. , the capital of
Tokugawa shogunate After the late Shell Mound period, agriculture started about the 12th century, and the population center moved from the seashore to higher places. This period is called the Gusuku period.
Gusuku is a term used for the distinctive Ryukyuan form of castles or fortresses. Many
gusuku and related cultural remains in the Ryukyu Islands have been listed by
UNESCO as
World Heritage Sites. There are three perspectives regarding the nature of
gusuku: that they were holy places, dwellings encircled by stones, and castles of the rulers. In this period,
porcelain trade between Okinawa and other countries became commonplace, and Okinawa was an important relay point in eastern-Asian trade. Ryukyuan kings, such as
Shunten and
Eiso, were important rulers. An attempted Mongolian invasion in 1291 during the Eiso dynasty failed.
Hiragana was imported from Japan by
Ganjin in 1265.
Noro, village priestesses of the
Ryukyuan religion, appeared.
Sanzan era and Ryūkyū Kingdom The
Sanzan period began in 1314 when the kingdoms of
Hokuzan and
Nanzan declared independence from
Chūzan. The three kingdoms competed with one another for recognition as a vassal state of
Ming China. King
Satto, leading Chūzan, was very successful, establishing relations with Korea and Southeast Asia as well as China. The
Hongwu Emperor of China sent a large population of Chinese migrants, primarily consisting of 36 large families from
Fujian Province, in 1392 at the request of the Ryukyuan king. The purpose of the migration was to increase the population of the Ryukyuan kingdom as well as enhance maritime relations between the Chinese empire and the Ryukyuan kingdom. The Chinese migrants assisted the Ryukyuans in developing their technology and diplomatic relations. In 1407, however, a man named Hashi overthrew Satto's descendant, King
Bunei, and installed his father,
Shishō, as king of Chūzan. In 1429, King
Shō Hashi completed the unification of the three kingdoms and founded the Ryūkyū Kingdom with its capital at
Shuri Castle. His descendants conquered the
Amami Islands. In 1469, King
Shō Taikyū died, so the royal government chose a man named Kanemaru as the new king, who chose the name
Shō En and established the Second Shō dynasty. His son
Shō Shin conquered the Sakishima Islands and centralized the royal government, the military, and the
noro priestesses.
Satsuma Domain In 1609, the Japanese
Satsuma Domain launched the
invasion of Ryukyu, ultimately capturing the king and his capital after a long struggle. Ryukyu was forced to cede the Amami Islands and become a vassal of Satsuma. The kingdom became both a tributary of China and a tributary of Japan. Because China would not make a formal trade agreement unless a country was a tributary state, the kingdom was a convenient loophole for Japanese trade with China. When Japan officially closed off trade with European nations except for the Dutch,
Nagasaki,
Tsushima, and
Kagoshima became the only Japanese trading ports offering connections with the outside world.
18th and 19th centuries Several Europeans visited Ryukyu starting in the late 18th century. The most important visits to Okinawa were from Captain
Basil Hall in 1816 and Commodore
Matthew C. Perry in 1852. A Christian missionary,
Bernard Jean Bettelheim, lived in the
Gokoku-ji temple in Naha from 1846 to 1854. In 1879, Japan annexed the entire Ryukyu archipelago. The
Meiji government then established
Okinawa Prefecture. The monarchy in
Shuri was abolished, and the deposed King
Shō Tai was forced to relocate to
Tokyo.
Pacific War Okinawa Island had
the bloodiest ground battle of the
Pacific War from 1 April to 22 June 1945. During this 82-day-long battle, about 95,000
Imperial Japanese Army troops and 20,195 Americans were killed. The
Cornerstone of Peace at the Peace Memorial Park in
Itoman lists 149,193 persons from Okinawa—approximately one quarter of the civilian population—were either killed or committed suicide during the
Battle of Okinawa and the Pacific War. Very few Japanese ended up in
POW camps. This may have been because of Japanese soldiers' reluctance to surrender. The total number of casualties shocked American military strategists. This made them apprehensive to
invade the other main islands of Japan, because it would result in very high casualties.
American occupation Japan became a
pacifist country with the
1947 constitution, so America decided to step into the role of protecting Japan against foreign threats. During the
American military occupation of Japan (1945–1952), which followed the
Imperial Japanese surrender on 2 September 1945, in Tokyo Bay, the United States controlled Okinawa Island and the rest of the Ryukyu Islands. The Amami Islands were returned to Japanese control in 1953. The remaining Ryukyu Islands were returned to Japan on 17 June 1971. America kept numerous U.S. military bases on the islands. There are 32
United States military bases on Okinawa Island by the
U.S.-Japan alliance since 1951. U.S. bases on Okinawa played critical roles in the
Korean War,
Vietnam War,
Laotian Civil War,
Cambodian campaign,
War in Afghanistan, and
Iraq War.
1995 rape incident On 4 September 1995, two Marines by the names of Rodrico Harp and Kendrick Ledet, were convinced by Seaman Marcus Dion Gill to search for a local to abduct and rape. This resulted in them targeting a 12-year-old girl walking home alone in the town of
Kin. After forcing the victim into a rental van, the trio drove to Blue Beach Training Ground where Gill beat her until she lost consciousness and then raped her. Once finished, he joked about the event with Ledet and Harp, who were alleged to have had reservations about going through with the rape after getting into the vehicle. After dumping her out of the van and driving off, the victim called the police immediately, who had little trouble tracking them down. As a result, the three would become the center of an internationally observed trial that ignited months of protest from anti-base Okinawans. At the conclusion of the trial, the three received sentences to serve between 6.5 and 7 years of hard labor. Although the typical sentence length for rape by Japanese standards at the time, the young victim and her family had begged the panel of judges to pass life sentences.
21st century In 2013, following escalating tensions following
competing claims to the uninhabited
Senkaku Islands, the
People's Republic of China began questioning Japan's sovereignty to the island of Okinawa, citing its past as the independent tributary state of Ryukyu. On 31 October 2019, the main courtyard structures of
Shurijo were destroyed in a fire. It marked the fifth time that Shurijo was destroyed following previous incidents in 1453, 1660, 1709 and 1945. The 2019 fire burned down sections of
Shuri Castle: "Six castle buildings occupying some in total were gutted." ==Demographics==