Ryukyu Kingdom - Major Events

Major Events

  • 1372 The first Ming dynasty envoy visits Okinawa, which had been divided into three kingdoms, during the Sanzan period. Formal tributary relations with the Chinese Empire begin.
  • 1416 Chūzan, led by Shō Hashi, occupies Nakijin gusuku, capital of Hokuzan.
  • 1429 Chūzan occupies Shimajiri Osato gusuku, capital of Nanzan, unifying Okinawa Island. Shō Hashi establishes the Kingdom of Ryukyu, ruling as king with his capital at Shuri (now part of modern-day Naha).
  • 1470 Shō En (Kanemaru) establishes the Second Shō Dynasty.
  • 1477 The third king, Shō Shin, ascends to the throne. Golden age of the kingdom.
  • 1609 (April 5) daimyō (Lord) of Satsuma in southern Kyūshū conquers the kingdom. King of Ryukyu becomes a Japanese vassal.
  • 1624 Lord of Satsuma annexes the Amami Islands.
  • 1846 Dr. Bernard Jean Bettelheim (d. 1870), a British Protestant missionary, arrives in Ryukyu Kingdom. He establishes the first foreign hospital on the island at the Naminoue Gokoku-ji Temple.
  • 1853 Commodore Matthew Perry of the US Navy visits the kingdom. Bettelheim leaves with Perry.
  • 1866 The last official mission from the Qing Empire visits the kingdom.
  • 1872 The Japanese government unilaterally abolished the Ryukyu Kingdom, and declared the islands to be the Ryukyu Han (Ryukyu fief), with Shō Tai (尚泰?) as the head of the fief 藩王 (Han'ō?).
  • 1874 The last tributary envoy to China is dispatched from Naha.
  • 1879 Japan replaces the Ryukyu han with Okinawa Prefecture, formally annexing the islands. The former monarch is granted the Japanese title of marquis (侯爵?) and relocated to Tokyo.

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