Ryukyu Islands - Names and Extents - Ryukyu

Ryukyu

The name of Ryūkyū is strongly associated with the Ryūkyū Kingdom, a highly centralized kingdom that originated from the Okinawa Islands and subjected the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands, and the Amami Islands for some time. The name is generally considered outdated in Japanese although some entities of Okinawa still bear the name, such as the local national university.

In geography, the Ryukyu Islands (琉球諸島, Ryūkyū-shotō?) cover the Okinawa, Miyako, and Yaeyama Islands. Some variant definitions include the Amami Islands and/or the Daitō Islands. In contrast, the northern half of the island chain is referred to as the Satsunan ("South of Satsuma") Islands. In natural science, Ryukyu sometimes refers to the entire island chain.

Humanities scholars generally agree that the Amami, Okinawa, Miyako, and Yaeyama Islands share much cultural heritage, though they are characterized by a great degree of internal diversity as well. There is, however, no good name for the group. The native population do not have their own name, since they do not recognize themselves as a group this size. Ryukyu is the principal candidate because it roughly corresponds to the maximum extent of the Ryūkyū Kingdom. However, it is not necessarily considered neutral by the people of Amami, Miyako, and Yaeyama, who were marginalized under the Okinawa-centered kingdom. The Ōsumi and Tokara Islands are not included because they are culturally part of Kyushu. There is a high degree of confusion in use of Ryukyu in English literature. For example, Encyclopedia Britannica equates the Ryukyu Islands with Japanese Ryūkyū-shotō or Nansei-shotō in the definition but limits its scope to the Amami, Okinawa and Sakishima (Miyako and Yaeyama) in the content.